Discover the amazing Nangang District in 4 steps
Once known as the “Black Town” due to it’s former large settlement of all kind of industries, producing emissions of thick, black smoke, luckily has changed a lot since back then. Nowadays it’s known for it’s agriculture and is the hub for humanities and technology. Even education recognized that, letting the Chinese University of Science and Technology deciding to settle down in this district.
In this article I’ll work through some of the best places of this urban district to give you an idea what to expect if you’re planning to move or travel here!
The topics we will be going over:
- How to get around
- Historical sights and tourism
- Where to eat
- Nightlife
How to get around
There are some options of transportation in Nangang. The district is home to Nangang Station, which is one of only a few locations for the High-Speed-Trains in Taipei. There are two MRT lines going through the district, the blue and the brown line. For other ways of transportation you can still make use of the public buses and if needed taxi’s, of course depending on your needs
Historical sights and tourism
Academica Sinica
The Academica Sinica is the national academy of the Republic of China and houses various research facilities, ranging from mathematical and physical sciences, to life sciences, and to humanities and social sciences. It’s also providing scholarships and PhD Training through the English-language Taiwan International Graduate Program. Nangang is the headquarter of the research valley, having some institutes also outside of the the district and Taiwan.
It holds numerous academic events and the Lingnan Fine Arts Museum is situated there. The museum features the first professional archive of Lingnan paintings in Taiwan, famous for its innovation in modern Chinese art history. Lingnan focuses on “presence of both the real and the surreal”, and “paying attention to the places without ink”. Its goal is achieving magnificence and vividness and it’s strokes are complex and anti-tradition. Plus, it’s characterized by its influence of impressionism, meaning it’s focusing on light performance using in general mostly bright colours.
Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center
As the word exhibition already explains, the center holds temporary exhibitions, varying from art to all other kind of professional or consumer based reasons. Still, there are some permanent art works in and around the center, even the MRT station was transformed into an public art project. The design theme of the station is “Light and shadow”, the art consisting of three theme pieces: “Fleeting Light”, “Flying Shadow”, and “River in the Sky”.”Fleeting Light” uses images of flowing water to decorate the entrance columns, “Flying Shadow” is located outside the curtain wall, and “River in the Sky” (above the Neihu Line platform) shows the flickers of flowing water.
The artwork within and around the exhibition center is all about the Rhythm of Nature; the Beat of Civilization, consisting of The Song of Four Seasons, The Dance of Life, The Space between Thoughts, Oneness of Materials and Beings and The State of Union between Heaven and Humans. You can find more about the art work on the official website.
Nangang Tea Mountain
Nangang tea mountain is a large mountain area that offers pleasant hikes, great views, historical buildings, no crowds, and most of all tea. It is one of only two mountain tea growing areas in Taipei City, the other being Maokong in Wunshan district, more about it here. The mountain starts in Jiuzhuang village and is one of the less known and advertised attractions of Taipei. You don’t have to like tea to visit the place, there are a lot of interesting spots to see in that area.
Natural parks
There are a lot of beautiful natural places, not only tea mountain, in Nangang, like the Nangang Park, the Nanhu Riverside Park, the Nanxing Park and the Shanshuilu Eco Park. Every spot is worthwhile checking out and planning on spending time there.
Where to eat
Due to its high importance for science and business, there are a lot of famous restaurants and shopping centers in the district. You can find a lot of normal street food restaurants, but also a ton of fancy high-end restaurants around. I will list here a few of the best ones according to tripadvisor.
Courtyard by Mariott
This Super big fancy hotel has a few different restaurants and all of them are within the top 10 restaurants in Nangang. It’s recommended to make a reservation beforehand, because it’s a super busy place. The price range differs from average to really pricey. According to the reviews of the number one, the Chinese restaurant, “it’s the best Chinese restaurant in the city. This is one restaurant that delivers elegant, flavorful dishes without over-salting or adding excess oil for flavor.”
CTBC Financial Park Mall
This is probably the most popular mall of the district, also housing a lot of different kind of restaurants, bakeries and so on. Doesn’t matter if you only want to eat or also need to go shopping, you’ll find everything there you can imagine.
Nightlife
Nangang is not really the star of night life, there are no clubs and the previous famous Tutumoto Jazz Bar was permanently closed. Still there are a few strayed bars and karaoke places around the district, most of them near Nangang station, but none of them really famous, except for maybe the bars in the Courtyard.
Bravo Cafe Bar
Located in the Global Mall Nangang Station Store, there’s a nice bar part of the Bravo brand. They have a lot of different kind of beer and is a nice cozy place near Nangang station.
The Lounge Lobby Wine Bar
Located in the Courtyard, also near Nangang train station is this cozy and fancy bar, it has great reviews and as part of the Mega Hotel also in the higher price range.
Who is going to like in Nangang district
Nangang district is probably most suitable for people studying at the Chinese University of Science and Technology or people working in the modern humanities and technology institutes, like the Academica Sinica. It could also be attractive for people who like parks and mountains, though there are a few other districts more suitable for nature lovers. There are a lot of shopping facilities and some art places and the Nangang station makes public transport really good there.
If you’re looking for a room, we also offer rooms for rent all around Taipei! Maybe we have a room free in Nangang district in case you’re planning on moving to this district!
Sources
- Picture 1: https://pix10.agoda.net/city/4951/4951-7×3.jpg?s=1920x
- Picture 2: https://chinapost.nownews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/S__28958767.jpg
- Picture 3: https://image.taiwantoday.tw/images/content/img20180206171049876_800.jpg
- Picture 4: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/%E9%AB%98%E5%8A%8D%E7%88%B61.jpg
- Picture 5: https://www.tkhunt.com/sites/default/files/styles/l/public/venue/image/20150415/094709-5d0c88d26b5b5074e63cdec45d32b248101fdd56-23/twtc-nangang.jpg?itok=oqs3r-3R
- Picture 6: https://www.travel.taipei/image/65523/1024×768
- Picture 7: https://q-cf.bstatic.com/images/hotel/max1024x768/175/175714285.jpg
- Picture 8: https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/10/e2/57/d0/caption.jpg
- https://www.tainex1.com.tw/en/aboutus
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingnan_School
- https://english.gov.taipei/cp.aspx?n=AA354FEE1150E02F
- https://www.foreignersintaiwan.com/blog-370963385326684/nangang-tea-mountain
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nangang_District,_Taipei
- https://www.tripadvisor.com.tw/Restaurants-g13806753-Nangang_Taipei.html
- https://www.bravobeer.com.tw/shop.php
