Jiufen

The lane is roofed over, so umbrellas come down as you enter. It runs about two metres wide, and on a weekend afternoon the crowd only flows one way. Most shops shut between 6pm and 7pm, so arriving late means looking at shutters.

A stone stair drops straight down the hillside with teahouses stacked either side. When the red lanterns come on, people stop mid-flight to photograph them and the stair jams. It is widely said to have inspired Spirited Away. The studio never accepted that.

A theatre rebuilt on this spot in 1934, with nothing to pay now. The wooden tip-up seats, the ticket window and the projector are all still there, with a black-and-white film running. It stands among the lanes, so people wander in, sit a while and leave.

A 220-kilogram gold bar sits in a case with a hole cut in it so a hand can reach through and touch it. A separate route walks into one stretch of the old workings, where it stays cold; the bus from Jiufen takes fifteen minutes.

A timber lodge raised in 1922 for a visit by the Japanese crown prince that in the end never took place. The interior is shown to small groups at fixed times, so ask at the ticket desk which slots are left.

Water draining out of the mines carries iron and copper and has stained the rock and the stream the same yellow. Signs tell you to stay out, and the water really is acidic. It is right by the road, a few steps from where you park.

Inside the bay the water is yellow, outside it is blue, and the line between them is visible from the road. A board at the viewpoint puts it down to iron washed out of the mines settling in the shallows.

The smelter ruin rises in stacked tiers and nobody is allowed inside it. At night it is lit so that only the outline reads. The lighting runs to a timetable, which is why people wait for it from the roadside.

A 588-metre peak, an hour and a half up and down, stairs from the first step to the last. There is almost no shade, which makes the climb hard going by noon. From the top the roofs of Jiufen lie under you and the coastline runs on toward Keelung.

Five minutes from the car park to the lookout. Short as it is, that one spot takes in the sea, the smelter ruin and the Yin Yang Sea at once.

Pingxi Line trains run right through the street; people step off the rails. Sky lanterns with wishes brushed on four sides rise over the tracks, each colour meaning something. The Pingxi lantern festival falls around the first lunar month's 15th day.

A broad curtain of water 40m wide, which earns it the name Niagara of Taiwan. On sunny mornings a rainbow often hangs in the spray. From Shifen Old Street you cross a suspension bridge and follow the river on foot.

The coal mine closed in 1990 and the village was emptying until its cats multiplied and visitors returned. Cross the cat-shaped footbridge from the station and cats nap all over the hillside lanes. The ruins of the old coal-washing plant stand by the station.

The last stop on the Pingxi Line, its wooden station of 1931 still standing. Bamboo tubes inscribed with wishes dangle by the hundred from the station fence and eaves. Far fewer people come than to Shifen, so the trackside teahouses are quiet.

A night market that grew in front of Dianji Temple in Keelung, every stall hung with a matching yellow lantern showing its number and signature dish. As a port, it leans on seafood. Ride the bus down from Jiufen for dinner, then take the train to Taipei.

A small island at the mouth of Keelung harbour where Spain built a fort in 1626. Shore rocks are worn into mushroom and tofu shapes, and a seawater pool carved from the shoreline is for summer swimming. A bridge links it, so buses cross over.

The hill behind Jinguashi, its summit rock shaped like a teapot without a lid. The stepped path from the Gold Museum takes about an hour, and the last rocky stretch means hauling up on ropes. The ridge looks down on the Yin Yang Sea and the capes beyond.