The Hot Springs Museum was built as the Beitou public bathing house in 1913 as Taiwan’s first public Bath House during the Japanese imperial ruling period. After the Japanese left Taiwan, the Bathing facility underwent a numerous transformations from a police station, KMT party headquarters to a reception house for local county administration also known as the Zhongshan House, but eventually due to corrosion caused by the hot springs and lack of proper maintenance, the building was forced to be closed and abandoned. The Public Baths Building was then discovered again by a group of teachers and students from a Local Elementary School on their field trip. As their attempts to get the attention of government officials were no success, they turned to cultural workers and historians from Beitou area for help in restoring the baths building to its former glory. The building was then declared as a class 3 historical site by Ministry of Interior in February 1995, but it wasn’t until March 1998 where serious makeover was initiated and was finally completed with the official opening of Beitou Hot Springs Museum in October 1998.

The Beitou Hot Springs Museum is a Victorian-style building which’s built with red bricks and wooden weatherboards. The museum is divided into 2 stories, on the 1st floor visitors are able to see the public bath which is not long in use along with introduction of Hot Springs history, Hot springs facilities, appliances used in Hot springs, Beitou Stones and the bathing space. The 2nd floor offers 6 different exhibition areas including Beitou History where pictures, news articles and relevant equipments and accessories representing Beitou are on display, Look out balcony offering visitors a place to see Beitou’s beautiful scenery, Taiwanese Hollywood introducing a hundred or so films that were shot in Beitou during the 50’s and 60’s, Exhibition area B displaying other related exhibitions, Multi-media room showing the documentary of Beitou Hot Springs Museum and Tatami-floor recreation area where people used to chill out after their hot baths.
The Beitou Hot Springs Museum is located in the Beitou Hot Springs area behind Beitou Park on Zhongshan Rd., Beitou District, Taipei City. It is definitely an ideal place to start exploring the rich variety of Hot Springs, Taiwan. So come visit Beitou, Taipei and experience one of the greatest pleasures nature has to offer!