Houtong Cat Village

A paradise for cat lovers such as myself! When researching things to do during our trip, I couldn't believe there was a cat village and knew I had to come! There are a ton of cats everywhere, many more than I expected. We even saw some in the train station after you leave the platform. There are some shops and cafes right when you exit the station, as well as scattered throughout the village. You can buy different flavors of squeezable cat treat packets at one of the first shops, only 100 NTD for a bag of 4 packets at the time of my visit. Some of the cats are on the shier side, but many of them will start following you around once you have the cat treats. Some of the cats had pretty funny personalities! One would bite down on the packet and pull super hard in an attempt to steal the packet. I saw quite a few successes where it would bring the packet back to its stash in the bushes. Another would butt its head in front of any cat being fed to try and take the treats for itself. And quite a few of them didn't know how to properly eat from the packet; instead of licking the front, they would chew on the middle, poking holes everywhere and barely getting any of the treat, but making the packet pretty much useless. All the cats I fed were friendly and let us pet them. We didn't think we would spend any more than 20-30 minutes here, but the village itself is actually much larger than we expected. Because we were also squeezing Jiufen and Keelung into the same day, we were strapped on time and only ended up seeing maybe 2/3 of the village. I know there's a whole section we missed because there was a certain cat figure I wanted to take a picture with that we didn't get to see. But we got to see maybe 20-30 cats, and that's without even seeing the entire village! My only complaint is that I wish there was more cat-specific merch available in the shops. I was excited to buy a ton of things, but the shops we went to mostly just had generic Taiwan souvenirs. It's possible that maybe some of the cat-specific souvenir items were located in the section we missed though! I would've liked to try some of the cat themed food too, but wanted to save my stomach since we were going to Jiufen Old Street right after. Overall, a great place for cat fanatics. It's a bit of a ways out from Taipei, so not sure if it would be worth it to make the trip out just for this. Jiufen and Keelung are relatively around the same part of Taiwan, so we made a day trip of the 3, but it was definitely tight fitting these all into a single day.

Gayle and I came here the other day and led by my Brother, who has lived in Taiwan for over 30 years. You can get the the Cat Village by train, but Tom drove us here on a rainy day. As such, a lot of the cats had retired to their provided "condos", but there were still enough felines around to make it interesting (on both sides of the tracks). We also snacked at a local cat cafe of which there were 2 much more domesticated (and maybe overfed) kitties inside. This is an old mining town of which their modern museum is outstanding. So if you're inclined to move on from the cats, please take a look here. The residences that maintain the cat population are old and worn, and probably former family homes for the miners. As my niece loves cats, this is a popular place for my Brother's family to come and a Cat Village is certainly one way to breathe life into a former mining community. There are lots of gift shops and places for refreshments around, some of them in better shape than others. A number of them were closed during our wet Monday visit. Note: Gayle and I are proud owners (back home) of 2 felines: Catticus Finch and Scout. And of course we were thrilled to be here, even after I advised Gayle that we couldn't take any of them home.

We went in December 2024, a cold day thus maybe the cats were hiding. They say there are over 200 cats roaming the hillside village that sits across from the railroad tracks. Watch for the worn-out faded sign when you immediately exit the station, the sign points you to a pedestrian overpass that leads you to the hillside cat village. We roamed the trails which traverse laterally side-to-side up the hillside. Cats were interspersed through the area but we saw maybe 30 at the most. The village is home to a few families and we were sad to see many empty and collapsed roof dwellings. I don't know if the run down feel gives me a happy village feeling or a sad empty village feeling. Nice if you really love cats a lot and the village has a lot of potential if they fix some of the properties. Not appealing seeing a cat walking through a collapsed room, but the cats appear happy & healthy and that's all that matters. Side note: the mining property on the other side of the train tracks has gift shops and simple food stalls along with access to the nearby river. There's a model of what they plan to do for this old mining depot. Lots of potential for this village....

If you like cats, this is a nice place to visit. The cats here are friendly and some will even sit on the paths where tourists travel just so you can bend down and pet them. They have nice fur and are very clean. They are well-taken care of and fed by the villagers. You can even say the cats are pampered here. There are some decent landscape views at higher elevations. There's a cute souvenir shop here as well.

Our driver causally mentioned this cat village and I asked immediately if we could make a stop for this. I had an awesome time in a cat cafe in Korea. I am thinking it would be a blast if it were a cat VILLAGE!! I guess he didn't want to disappoint me and quickly clarified this place is a cute stop. Maybe an hour would be more than enough. He did suggest to grab a cool drink in one of the coffee shops as the mining museum is fairly small. We saw maybe two cats ran around the place. I think the weather has to do with it too since it's melting hot. We toured the mining museum in 10 mins (AC is blasting and it's free. THANK YOU！) we walked back to the coffee shop (look for their giant cat - see pic) to take a rest. We LOVE our drinks. In fact, my hubby still talks about his passions fruits drink. Mine is coffee floats. It hits the spot in this hot summer day! We did a little shopping at the shop as well. They have many cat theme cutesy. If you are returning from Shifen to Taipei, you should absolutely make a stop there. Please support local businesses as I don't think they get a lot of tourists. 10/5 for this stop!!

All the catlovers must go here!!! This place is so cute and so well maintained. It's a small village, probably can finish walking the entire place in an hour. there are only a few small shops and couple coffee shops. It's not a tourist spot unless you love cats because that's the main point! There are cats everywhere, they are all so friendly and well fed. You can tell the cats are so happy here, they would sleep right in front of you or groom their hair. Most of the cats are not afraid of strangers but remember cats have their temperament so you gotta know when to pet them or stop otherwise it's your own fault of they get irritated. There are plenty of shops that offer food to feed the cats, please don't bring your own food to feed them. Couple things to pay attention to if you are not familiar with cata. 1.keep quiet and talk in a gentle voice. 2.Do approach the cats slowly because they are scare of sudden movements. 3. feed 1 bag of wet snack to only 1 cat 4. Don't use flash. Have a great time there, I love it and I'm sure you will too :)

Fun stop in Taiwan if you're visiting. This village is a short stop on the train and is full of wild and domesticated cats. The entire village is full of cafes and stores paying tribute to cats. There are small imprinted cat footprints on the ground! The food here is a little overpriced since it's a very touristy area, and mostly include Americanized options. You don't come here for the food though, just definitely to check out the cute kittens!

Like cats? Come to Houtong Cat Village. While the village part is not meant to be taken literally, the Houtong Cat Village does offer a variety of fun options while there. Though, many of those options are just different ways of looking at cats. Please keep in mind that if you plan to visit this area, and if you are on a bus tour of some kind, you will need to be prepared to walk, as buses are not allowed to go up into the area, and only smaller vehicles may enter, and park in front of the entrance area. The scenery is pretty great though as you make your way passed that first tunnel and walk up to the welcoming area, so for those who want some nice photo opps, feel free to go this route too. This location is also not terribly easy to get to. We were in the area previously to do the sky lanterns, so I'd definitely recommend if you're planning to come to Houtong Cat Village to also partake in that too since they're close. There is also a train that goes to this stop, though, I didn't take it, and it's not MRT, so not too sure which line, or where specifically to get on as it's way in the mountains. Now, let's get to the cats. The area is split up into several parts. There's the main welcoming area, with the parking lot right in front of the place. There will be some cats wandering around there, half of them were very friendly, some even got lifted up and made to do a dance for the tourists, because those tourists were jerks. And some just wanted to hang out and watch people passing, and get fed. Decent way to welcome the guests. The next area is the eating and gift shops area. It's not a large area, but does have several food options right there, and local cuisine options, so not a bad place for eating. There's also a convenience store here, so if you need to restock for your drive, there will be a place for you to do so here. The gift shops are cute. Some cat cakes (cat shaped cakes), and other cat trinkets and what nots. Finally, the last part is when you get to the "village" area, where you will find the center of the fun. This final area will take a bit of a trek to get to, as you need to walk up several flights of stairs, then make your way over a bridge, to finally get to the entrance, afterwards you will continue to walk up and down the area. Lots of cats up here too of course, though it had been rainy that day, and I was told there wasn't as many as there would usually be. The other part is that the majority of the cats do not have owners, and it's clear they're easily able to feed themselves from the tourists here as there are packs that are always purchase to feed our feline friends for photo ops. A fair number of cats, but not exactly what I was looking forward to, but if they are just cats in the wild, it's hard to make them just come out because there are people, so that's understandable. Lots of gift shops up here too, though the eating areas aren't as plentiful. All in all, it's a fun time to be had, and interesting place to visit for cat enthusiasts, but even if you're not, might still be fun. I would highly recommend trying to bundle it up with a sky lantern trip so it wouldn't end up a total, catastrophe...oh come on, you knew I had to put at least one in there.

Houtong started out as a mining town, and now it's gaining popularity as a must visit spot for Cat Lovers! Like its namesake, Cat Village has many cats strolling around, sunbathing, napping, and people watching. Although not as developed as Jiu-Fen (九份), this small town is charming and really cute place to enjoy a relaxing afternoon, checking out cat souvenirs, trying cat-shaped pineapple cakes, and admiring the historical sites and murals. During foggy times, it's especially mystic and enchanted as if stepping into Miyazaki Hayao's film. There are signs posted to remind visitors not to touch the cats, and the map/direction is easy to follow. How to get there: Take the PingXi line to Houtong Train Station 猴硐火車站. Once arrived, go towards the overpass to explore the village.

Everybody and their mom needs to go here!!!! This place is so awesome and cute! There are friendly cats all over the place, and they are very clearly well treated. I wish we had something like this at home in Vancouver! If you are vegan, make sure to bring some food because there aren't really any vegan food options. I love it and recommend to all who love cats !

What: an entire town devoted just to cats?? Wow! my kinda place! Their Cinderella story begin in 2008 when amateur photographer Peggy Chien begin posting photos of some of the town's rumored 200+ stray cats on social media hoping to find good homes for them. The response was so over whelming that in less than two years this once dying mining town became a popular tourist attraction for cat lovers everywhere. Directions: Take the MRT to Rui-Fang and from there transfer to Houtong. It's about $3 USD. The first thing you will notice is the adorable cat theme train station. There are cartoon cat plaques all through out the walkways into and out of the station. (Some of them look like they were done by local school children). Also if you are lucky as we were-you will see a few cats sleeping through out the station. So watch your steps! here cats have the right-away! On the bottom floor of the train station there is the TRA shop called "Cat Life" filled with cat and train theme products. It's pretty unique to the area so be sure to check it out. Also next to "Cat Life" they have one of those coin press machines...not sure what its called but its 50 NTD about $1.30 USD and it will flatten a penny and imprint Houtong's name upon it. It's a neat little souvenir to take home.... There is a famous restaurant behind the train station...I wasn't sure what the name was...but just follow the crowd...that's what we did...the food is delicious and super cheap... There are cat theme souvenir shops galore and cat theme cafe, restaurants, you name it they got it.They even got cat shaped pineapple pastries made by a famous local bakery! If you like cats this is your place. There are signs everywhere asking you to respect the cats and not feed them or use flash photography. Even though most of the cats are use to being around strangers there are some that are people shy so keep this in mind when you begin your " spot a cat" venture. And there are also signs asking you to leave your dogs at home but we did encounter a couple of dogs-one a super cute puppy with tabby like markings that followed us for a while. We ended up spending the entire day at this charming village visiting the various shops and eating sweets at one of the cat cafes. We went on a weekday so it wasn't as busy as say the weekend or a holiday. I am told on the weekends it is piled with people left and right and on a major holiday it is almost impossible to get in it is so jammed packed..... I already want to go back again because there were still so many shops that I didn't get to visit....if you love cats and are in Taiwan...bring some walking shoes...you will love it!

A must see for cat lovers. This used to be a mining town and I think the story goes a guy started feeding the cats and they started multiplying... Anyways, the actual "town" isn't too big. You walk around and see stray cats and their little cat houses scattered around (so cute). You can pay for dry food to feed them. There are a few places to buy cat themed gifts (they really know how to commercialize this place...) and restaurants serving cat themed food. And remember that this is a real town and people are really living in the houses on the street, so be respectful.

Had to come here during my trip to Taiwan, because I love cats! (Why do you think I play Neko Atsume so much?) Anyway, this place was really cute, because it's right by the train stop, so right as you get off you can just simply go check out the cats! But for me, and my cousin her father (my uncle) actually was able to drive us. There are so many cute cats, but you are not allowed to touch them! Which is fine, because not sure which cats are good and which ones will scratch. This is a very small town, it would take you around 30 minutes to walk around and check out all of the little stalls, and some of their historical sights. I had seen some really cute things while I was there, unfortunately I didn't pick anything up other than 2 postcards, because my aunt insisted on paying for everything, but I'm always insisting that I should pay for things. So there's a little bit of a money struggle. Haha, but anyway, I did take some pictures of some super cute cats. The day we went wasn't rainy, but it was foggy, and even though we had finished up halfway through the day, around 1pm, it was still very misty. Would definitely recommend that anyone who loves cats, or is just interested in history to check out this place. By the way when I was standing next to a door to a house, I realized that I was basically the same height as the actual door, 5'5!

I enjoyed it. There are a lot of chaotic/busy places a long the train stop, but the Cat Village was nice and calm. I went on a rainy day. A few dogs and cats were walking around. Nice and calm. There were several supposedly "trained" cats that would stay still and allow people to pet them. I think some of those cats are drugged...really...no kidding...especially the paralyzed looking/drooling ones... But drugged cats or not I liked it and would return again on my next trip.

Unfortunately we came on a rainy day but luckily for us, there were still a few cats that didn't give a rats ass about the rain and came out to play. A lot of the shops seemed close from the weather so we didn't get to really enjoy the full experience of the village. But I'm sure it is really enjoyable when the weather is nice.

I am a person very afraid of pets, especially cats. I am actually just allergic and learn to avoid the cats but when I first got here, I was quite shocked I wasn't so scared. They are actually really cute and nice and in fact looking kind of lazy in a way. They walk super slow and they are always laying somewhere. I got of the strain and saw the first cat right in front of the train station then onwards every corner in this village. This is an unique place, it is known to be the cat town with histories of cats and how these people help to raise these cats. There are a lot of tourist that comes by and a lot of them seem to love cats because they are all feeding them. If you are a tourists and a cat lover, this is the good place to visit.

The perfect place for all the cat lovers out there! It was pretty cool walking around the village. There are a good number of cats as well as a few dogs. You can buy or bring food to feed the cats. The cats are pretty tame and will let you pet them. I saw some people bring toys to play with them. They have some shops where they sell souvenirs (everything cat related of course) as well as bakeries where they sell cat shaped pineapple cakes and other pastries. Docked one star because I was expecting to see more cats. I heard there used to be more, but they started neutering/spaying the cats.