Best Pubs in Jiufen: Where Locals Actually Drink
Words by
Wei-Chen Lin
I have spent more evenings than I can count wandering up and down Jiufen's stone staircases with a cold drink in hand, and after years of living in these narrow lanes, I can tell you exactly where the best pubs in Jiufen actually are. Forget the tea houses for a moment. When the lanterns dim and the tourist buses leave, the real drinking culture kicks in, and knowing where locals actually go will change your entire experience of this mountain town.
Jiufen sits on a steep hillside in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, crammed along winding stone-paved lanes that connect tea houses, snack stalls, and a surprising number of small drinking spots tucked into the seams. The town grew around gold mining in the Japanese colonial era, then emptied out, then came back because a movie made it famous. That layering, boom, Then it went bust, then cinema made it legendary, that history seeps into every bar stool and low wooden table where someone is nursing a Taiwan Beer at eleven at night.
Here is my honest guide to the best pubs in Jiufen, the top bars Jiufen offers, and where to drink in Jiufen when you want what locals really choose.
1. Jiu Fang Kuan (九份咖啡館＆酒吧) — Jishan Street (基山街)
Jiu Fang Kuan sits on Jishan Street, a lane that transforms from tourist chaos into something quieter once the shops shut their metal shutters. This spot functions as a cafe during the day and shifts fully into bar mode after dark. The owner keeps the lights low and the music mellow, usually jazz or old Taiwanese pop played just loud enough to fill the room without shouting over.
Most nights after 8 p.m., you will find a mix of local creatives, a few returning expats who left Taipei for the mountain air, and the occasional solo traveler who wandered past the main drag. I have spent many a winter evening here because the owner keeps a small electric heater running even when it is not strictly cold, which says something about how he runs the place.
Order the house pour of local red wine, whatever the owner has open that week. He rotates stock based on what he picks up from distributors in Ruifang, so it is never the same bottle twice. The beer selection is straightforward, but he knows his whiskeys and will pour you a solid measure without asking if you sit at the bar. The interior has a warm wooden palette, exposed stone on one wall that dates back to the original mining-era building, and a small balcony overlooking the alley below. On a clear night the lanterns on Jishan Street cast a glow that makes the whole lane feel like a film set.
One thing most visitors never realize: the owner closes whenever he feels like it. There is no fixed last call. If the crowd is good and the conversation flows, he stays open past midnight. If it is dead by 10 p.m., he leaves. I have shown up at 11 p.m. to find the door locked. Your best bet is to come between 7 and 9 p.m. on a Thursday or Friday.
Local Insider Tip: Sit at the far end of the bar near the old stone wall. That spot catches the best cross-breeze in summer and the owner keeps the good glasses back there, the ones he does not put out until someone he trusts is sitting nearby. Also, never order a cocktail here. Stick to beer, wine, or whiskey. The owner does not have a trained bartender after 10 p.m. and the mixed drinks suffer.
The reason this place matters in Jiufen is that it represents the independent spirit of the town, a space decided by one person's taste, not a brand, not a tourist formula, just a room someone fills with sound and drinks.
2. Jiufen Bar (九份小酒吧) — Qiche Street (汽車路)
Qiche Street runs along the ridge above the main tourist lanes and most visitors never walk its full length because it does not have the shops. That is exactly why locals who live here prefer it. Jiufen Bar sits about halfway up Qiche Street, a low-key spot with minimal signage. If you did not know it was there, you would walk past it. The interior is small, maybe eight seats at the bar and four tables, and on a Saturday night every seat fills up fast.
The owner is a retired fisherman from the nearby coast who moved to Jiufen about a decade ago and opened this place with savings. He pours generously and has a soft spot for anyone who sits and talks story with him. His Taiwan Beer is always cold, and he stocks a few bottles of single malt that he rotates based on what friends bring him. On any given night, someone might be playing guitar in the corner, unannounced, just because they brought their instrument along for the walk up the hill.
What makes this spot special is the view from the back window. You look out over the rooftops toward the ocean, and on clear nights the lights of Keelung and the fishing boats blink in the distance. It is not a dramatic panoramic view, it is a quiet, honest slice of coastline that most tourists never see because no one sells tickets to it.
The best time to come is after 9 p.m. on a weekend. The owner usually opens around 8 p.m. but takes his time setting up. Do not rush him. One complaint I will mention: the single bathroom is tiny and the plumbing groans. It works, but give yourself a buffer if you have had three beers.
Local Insider Tip: Bring your own snacks if you plan to stay a while. The owner does not serve food, but he does not mind if you bring something from the street stalls on Shuqi Road. He keeps a small fridge of pickled sides in the back and will offer them to regulars without asking. Just ask and he will share. On slow Tuesday or Wednesday nights, you might have the whole place to yourself, which is not the worst thing in the world.
This bar connects to Jiufen's post-mining identity, the era after the gold ran out and before the tourists came, when locals like this owner just lived here because the rent was cheap and the air was clean.
3. Lai A Po's Place — Next to Jiufen Morningside Cafe (A-Guang Street Area)
Lai A Po is not officially a bar, but everyone in Jiufen drinks there. She runs a small stall near A-Guang Street, the area behind the main Jishan Street drag, selling homemade rice wine, fruit liquors, and sometimes just cold tea with a generous splash of something stronger. Her setup is a folding table, a plastic stool, and a cooler. That is it.
But on Friday and Saturday evenings, her corner becomes the most social drinking spot in the lower part of Jiufen. Locals, shop workers finishing their shifts, a few artists who rent studio space nearby, they all migrate to Lai A Po's corner. Her plum wine is what everyone orders. She makes it herself from plums grown on a tree behind her house on the hillside above town. It is tart, slightly sweet, and stronger than you expect. Three cups and the staircase back to the bus stop becomes an adventure.
The real reason to drink here is the atmosphere. This is where Jiufen's actual residents gather, not visitors. Conversations happen in Taiwanese Hokkien, switching to Mandarin if you join in. Lai A Po knows everyone's name and most people's business. She will ask where you are from before she pours your first cup. The best time to show up is between 6 and 8 p.m. on a weekend, right after the day shops close but before the lantern crowd arrives.
One small warning: her stall does not have seating in the traditional sense. You stand, lean against a wall, or sit on the stone steps nearby. If you need a chair, bring your own or do not plan to stay long.
Local Insider Tip: Bring cash, small bills only, 100 and 500 NT notes. She does not give change for 1,000s if the bill is small, not because she is trying to cheat you but because she runs out of change fast on busy nights. Also, if you come back a second night, she will remember your face and probably your drink. Tip well and she might pour you an off-menu cup of something she is experimenting with.
Lai A Po's stall embodies something essential about Jiufen's drinking culture, it happens wherever someone decides to pour, not in buildings with licenses and menus but on corners, steps, and the margins.
4. The Evening Staircase Gathering — Zhongyang Street (輕便路) Stone Steps
This is not a venue. It is a location, and in Jiufen, location matters more than venue. The stone steps of Zhongyang Street, also known as Qingbian Road, are where I have had some of my favorite drinking evenings in town, sitting on ancient stone worn smooth by a century of foot traffic, sharing a bottle of whatever someone brought.
During summer weekends after 10 p.m., these steps become an impromptu open-air bar. Locals bring beer from the 7 Eleven on Qiche Street, someone pulls out a bottle of kaoliang, and the conversation drifts. Tourists occasionally wander through and look confused, which is understandable. There is no signage, no menu, no one taking your order. You have to bring your own drinks or be lucky enough to be offered one by someone local.
The steps face west toward the ocean and catch the last light on clear evenings. The stone retains warmth long after sunset, which matters in winter when Jiufen gets damp and cold. In summer, a breeze rolls up from the coast and makes this spot genuinely comfortable. Young couples occupy the lower steps, older locals claim the upper ones near the small shrine. Everyone has their spot.
I come here most often in the off-season, November through February, when Jiufen is quiet and unpretentious and the steps are mostly empty except for a few regulars. The best time to visit is between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on any clear night. Bring your own cup and bottle.
Local Insider Tip: Do not bring glass bottles. The stone steps are uneven and a dropped bottle becomes a hazard in the dark. Plastic cups and cans. Also, clean up after yourself. The elderly woman who lives in the blue house at the top of the steps has been known to scold people who leave trash. She is right, and everyone knows it.
This spot connects to Jiufen's original identity as a mining settlement. These steps were built during the Japanese era to connect workers' housing to the mine entrances above. Every drink taken here is on ground shaped by that history.
5. Mountain Top Cafe & Bar (In the Viewing Platform Area above Jiufen)
Above Jiufen's main cluster of streets, past the last row of shops, a few establishments sit near the viewing platforms that look out over the coast. One of these transitioned over the past few years from a daytime tea spot into a legitimate evening bar. The owner is a Taipei transplant who fell in love with the mountain air and decided to stay.
This is a good pick if you want something that feels more like a conventional Taipei bar but perched above Jiufen with a view that stretches to the horizon. The cocktail menu is short but competent. A gin and tonic with local botanical gin runs around 220 NT. Beer is standard Taiwan Beer and a rotating craft option. Whiskey sours are the owner's signature and actually well balanced.
The best seat is the corner bench facing northeast, where you catch the ocean and the ridgeline simultaneously. On weeknights it is quiet enough that you will share the space with maybe two other people. Weekends after 9 p.m. bring a younger crowd from Taipei, day-trippers who decided to stay. The outdoor seating gets very windy after sunset, which is a problem in winter. In summer it is glorious.
One honest complaint: prices here run about 30 to 40 percent higher than spots in the lower streets. You are paying for the altitude and the view. That is fine, but do not expect local prices.
Local Insider Tip: If you are walking up from the main Jishan Street area, take the path past the old elementary school, not the main road. It is less steep and poorly lit, so bring your phone flashlight. Also, ask the owner what he recommends from the craft beer selection. He buys small batches from breweries in Yilan and they sell out fast. If he has something he does not list on the board, it is probably worth trying.
This bar reflects Jiufen's newer identity, the second life it found after the 1989 film "A City of Sadness" and later tourism turned it into one of Taiwan's most visited small towns.
6. Qiche Street Convenience Store Run — The Unofficial Pre-Game
Every local knows this. If you are planning a long night in Jiufen, you do not start at a bar. You start at the 7 Eleven or FamilyMart on Qiche Street, grab a bag of cold Taiwan Beer, maybe a few cans of the fruit-flavored malt drinks that cost 35 NT each, and you walk. Walking and drinking is perfectly acceptable here. There is no open container enforcement on these winding streets, and at night the paths are too narrow for vehicles.
The Qiche Street 7 Eleven runs 24 hours. The beer fridge is on the left wall, well stocked even late at night. The bread and onigiri section is decent. This is where locals stock up before heading to any of the spots I have mentioned here, or before settling onto the Zhongyang Street steps with their own supply.
I have started more nights than I could count standing in the 7 Eleven parking lot, cracking the first can while discussing where to go next. The store clerk knows the drill. On busy holiday weekends, the beer shelves empty fast. Show up before 8 p.m. on long weekends or settle for warm six-packs.
Local Insider Tip: The 7 Eleven is cheaper than any bar in Jiufen, and the Taiwan Beer Cold Draft cans, the tall silver ones, taste noticeably better than the regular ones. Stock up on those. Also, the second floor of the FamilyMart next door sometimes has seating with a view, and no one checks if you brought your own drinks upstairs.
This is the most local thing you can do, drink store-bought beer on public streets with the mountain air and the sound of frogs from the hillsides mixing with distant music from the bars below.
7. Old Street Bar (九份老街酒吧 area — Upper Jishan Street)
Up near the top of Jishan Street, past the point where most tourists turn back because the steps get steep and the lanterns thin out, there is a small establishment that has gone through several owners and names over the years. As of my last visit in late 2024, it functions as a simple bar with stools, a refrigerator, and a record player that the current owner inherited from the previous one.
The music policy is eclectic, sometimes西方 rock, sometimes enka, sometimes silence while the owner reads. He pours measured pours and does not rush anyone. The beer selection is basic, Taiwan Beer 18-Day Draft if he has it, Taiwan Beer standard if he does not. Wine is house red from a box on the counter. Whiskey is a local Taiwan brand that costs almost nothing and tastes like it.
This place is not on Google Maps under any consistent name. You find it by going to the top of Jishan Street, past the sign for the old mining exhibition, and looking for the door with the blue cloth curtain. If the lights are on and you hear music, go in. The best time to visit is between 8 and 10 p.m. on a weeknight.
I will be honest: this spot is hit or miss depending on the owner's mood. Some nights it is the best conversation you will have in Jiufen. Some nights you drink your beer in near silence and leave after thirty minutes. That unpredictability is part of its character.
Local Insider Tip: If the blue cloth curtain is down and the lights are off, walk away. The owner takes personal days without notice and does not post anything online. Your best bet is a Monday or Tuesday, when he is most reliably open because he has nothing else to do. Also, do not ask for a cocktail menu. There is not one. Tell him what spirit you want and he will figure out the rest, or he will hand you a beer and that is that.
This corner of Jishan Street still belongs to Jiufen's older residents, the people who were here before tourism defined the town. The bar reflects their ethos. No pretense, no performance, just a seat and a drink.
8. Night Market-adjacent Drinking Stalls — Jiufen Old Street Entry Area (Shuqi Road entrance)
At the bottom of Jiufen, near where Shuqi Road meets the main pedestrian entrance to the old street, a handful of food vendors double as informal drinking spots after their primary food service slows down. The taro ball vendors, the ones with the big metal pots, sometimes have a cooler of beer behind their stall. Some of the grilled squid operators keep a stash of sake or Taiwan Whisky for certain customers.
This is not a scene tourists typically access because it happens at the margins of the food stalls, behind the counter, in the gaps between businesses. But if you are friendly and you have been buying food from the same vendor all evening, one of them might pull out a bottle. I have been offered sake by a squid vendor on three separate occasions, always without prompting, usually around 9 p.m. when the tourist flow slows and the staff can finally breathe.
The drink itself is secondary. What matters is the interaction, the sudden shift from vendor-and-customer to something more human. These workers spend all day serving visitors. After dark, when the pace drops, they become people again. Sharing a drink with them is one of the most genuine things you can do in Jiufen.
The best time is after 9 p.m. on a weekday, when the stalls are staffed but not overwhelmed. Never push. If they offer, accept graciously. If they never offer, enjoy the taro balls and move on.
Local Insider Tip: Buy at least two or three items from a vendor's stall before the evening winds down and greet them in Mandarin or Hokkien. Do not hover or look expectant. The offer, if it comes, comes naturally. Also, if a vendor has a small stool next to their setup and they gesture for you to sit, that is a genuine invitation. Take it. Do not drink standing up and staring at them. Sit, eat, and talk.
This connects to the deeper Jiufen. Before it was a destination, it was a working town. These vendors are the contemporary version of the miners, shopkeepers, and porters who lived here because of what the mountain provided.
When to Go / What to Know about Drinking in Jiufen
Jiufen gets cold and damp from November through March. Any outdoor drinking, like the Zhongyang Street steps or Lai A Po's corner, becomes a wind-challenge after sunset. Bring a warm layer. From April through October the weather improves significantly, and the outdoor options become genuinely comfortable.
Weekdays are better than weekends. On Saturdays during peak tourist season, the top bars in Jiufen fill with visitors, and the local spots get harder to access because the streets themselves are shoulder-to-shoulder. Sunday evenings after 7 p.m. are calm, many tourists have returned to Taipei, and locals reclaim the lanes.
Budget-wise, expect to pay 100 to 150 NT for a beer at a sit-down bar, 150 to 250 NT for a basic cocktail at the higher-elevation spots, and 35 to 50 NT per can if you go the convenience store route. Wine by the glass runs 150 to 200 NT depending on the venue.
Always carry cash. Several of the local pubs in Jiufen do not accept cards and do not have LINE Pay. Small bills, especially 100s and 500s, make life easier for everyone.
The nearest train station is Ruifang, and the bus from Ruifang to Jiufen takes about 15 minutes. The last bus back to Ruifang departs around 9:30 to 10:00 p.m., depending on the schedule, so plan your night accordingly or budget for a taxi back to Ruifang, which costs around 300 to 400 NT depending on the night.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the tap water in Jiufen safe to drink, or should travelers strictly rely on filtered water options?
Tap water in Jiufen comes from Taiwan's public water system, which is treated and meets national standards, but locals generally do not drink it unfiltered. Most residents and businesses use filtered water or boiled water. Travelers should rely on bottled water or use the free water refill stations available at convenience stores and some public restrooms near the bus drop-off points. The mountain's aging pipe infrastructure in some older buildings can affect taste and clarity, so filtering is a sensible precaution even if the baseline supply is technically safe.
What is the one must-try local specialty food or drink that Jiufen is famous for?
Taro balls, known locally as yu wan (芋圓), are the signature specialty of Jiufen and appear in every dessert shop along Jishan Street. They are made from taro, sweet potato, and potato flour, served hot in winter or over shaved ice in summer with red beans, green beans, and condensed milk. Almost every local has a preferred vendor, and the debate over whose taro balls are best is a recurring topic at every bar and gathering spot in town. For a drink, the locally made plum wine sold by small vendors and some bars is the closest thing to a Jiufen-specific alcoholic specialty.
Is Jiufen expensive to visit? Give a realistic daily budget breakdown for mid-tier travelers.
A mid-tier daily budget for Jiufen runs approximately 1,500 to 2,500 NT per person. This covers bus transport from Ruifang at around 15 NT each way, meals at street stalls and small restaurants at 150 to 300 NT per sitting, two to three drinks at local bars at 100 to 250 NT each, and a modest souvenir or snack budget of 200 to 400 NT. Accommodation is the variable. A basic guesthouse room costs 800 to 1,500 NT per night, while a nicer renovated space runs 2,000 to 3,500 NT. Day-trippers who stay in Taipei and take the bus up can manage on under 1,000 NT excluding transport from their home base.
Are there any specific dress codes or cultural etiquettes to keep in mind when visiting local spots in Jiufen?
There is no formal dress code at any bar or drinking spot in Jiufen. Casual clothing is standard everywhere. The main etiquette consideration is volume and behavior on the narrow streets, especially near residential areas on Qiche Street and the upper lanes after 10 p.m. Locals live directly above and beside the bars, and loud groups walking the stone steps late at night draw complaints. Remove your shoes if you enter any space with a raised wooden floor or visible shoe rack at the entrance. When drinking at informal spots like the Zhongyang Street steps or vendor areas, always carry out your trash and avoid blocking the narrow pathways for other pedestrians.
How easy is it to find pure vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based dining options in Jiufen?
Vegetarian and vegan options in Jiufen are limited but not absent. Several tea houses and dessert shops along Jishan Street serve plant-based items, including taro balls, grass jelly desserts, and fruit-based shaved ice, which are naturally vegan. A small number of restaurants offer Buddhist vegetarian meals, usually labeled as su shi (素食) on the menu, and these can be found near the temple areas and along Qiche Street. However, dedicated vegan or fully plant-based restaurants are rare. Travelers with strict dietary needs should plan to eat at larger restaurants in Ruifang or bring supplementary snacks, as cross-contamination with meat-based broths is common in smaller local kitchens.
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