Yingge & Sanxia Old Streets: Going Off The Beaten Track In Taipei

Welcome to the world of ceramic

From Yingge train station, take a slow 10-minute walk and you will get to Yingge Old Street.

Yingge Old Street, also known as ceramic street, is famously known for its potteries. Spend your time along the streets and get lost in the maze of pottery shops. For ceramic lovers, you may also want to visit the ceramic museum before visiting the street. Besides the ceramic, there are also many interesting stalls selling products made from wood. One of the stalls offers you a chance to make your own pen using their natural wood; each lesson takes about 2 hours and costs 1,500 TWD (46 USD) to 2,500 TWD (77 USD) depending on the wood selection.

Get into the mood of "Unchained Melody"

If you have some free time, take the challenge of a pottery class. You may remember the classic scene in the movie “Ghost” with Unchained Melody as the background music while Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze worked romantically on their pottery. Couples may want to try that out when in Yingge!

These guided lessons are available in several shops along Yingge Old Street and each lesson is around 1.5 - 2 hours. The lessons and the materials are generally cheap (around 250 TWD / 7.80 USD) and another 100 TWD (3 USD) to dry it in the kiln for 6 weeks. The shops are able to ship your completed piece internationally but the shipping fees may cost more than 1000 TWD (31 USD) depending on the location. The total cost may be slightly high but it’s a piece of art that you have created with your own hands!

Check out the sleek Shu's Pottery

The Shu’s Pottery is a very pretty shop along the street and you can spot it easily from the outside with its sleek white design. Besides offering creative pieces of ceramic figurines and mugs, The Shu’s Pottery also offers a pottery workshop. There is an allocated time every day, so you may want to call them up to check on the timing first.

Explore the next nearby old street

From Yingge Old Street, it is possible to walk to Sanxia Old Street, but it will take more than 40 minutes if you wish to explore the town. For convenience sake, grab a taxi and you will get there in 10 minutes. The 200-meter street is made up of arched red-brick buildings and is one of the largest old streets in Taiwan. The street was renovated and reopened to tourists in 2007. Walking along these sheltered streets is easy as well.​

Try out the horn bun!

The horn bun is one of the speciality snacks in Sanxia Old Street and you will find many bakeries selling buns shaped like a bull’s horn. Each horn is deliciously baked with a different filling, such as chocolate, nuts, green tea, and many more. The buns are very fresh and fragrant so you must try the various flavors when you are there!

Miss your childhood toys and candies?

There is a shop along the street, near the entrance, selling childhood toys and candies that most Asian children used to enjoy before the 1980s. These simple toys, such as board games or paper planes, were the joy of all children before computer games or iPads had been invented. Walk into the shop and visualize the games that children used to play and see how simple life was back then. Besides the toys, the shop also offers retro-style candies and chocolate, which are perfect as gifts for those born before the 1980s to reminisce about the past.