Shifen Station

Fairly busy older station that runs on time. Best to get online early to ensure getting a seat as the trains tend to get filled up rather fast.

Shifen is the best! I personally like this place much more than Pingxi which is in many eyes same or better. There is a lot of crowd due to the weekend and nice weather. Weekdays might be some better. Everywhere you are able to pay and paint your lantern. Food over here is delicious. Avoid the ones to close the station and at the beginning. There are some better some farther down. Location; takes a while from Taipei by train and you need to transfer at Ruifang.

The attraction point here is the sky lantern. There are many shop along the railway provide the service to release the sky lantern. All the shops built very near to the railway, so can closely see the rail passby when releasing the lantern. As this area is well-known with sky lantern, there are a lot sky lantern related souvenirs available.

The train station, originally built for transporting coal, was built right alongside the Shifen Old Streets and today stands as a reminder of Taiwan's history and culture. With the marketplace surrounding the train station and the openness in which people can freely cross the tracks running straight through the centre of town. You can enjoy local restaurants, snack stalls, plenty of souvenir shops and even try to wish for good luck writing on the paper lanterns which are sold along the street!

Great sight seeing for natural spots. Lots of people overlook on the hanging bridge which is just further down. Do go there have the feel of the swinging bridge!

Lots of korean couples float lanterns here, full of tourist and local visitor. There's a short comfortable trail to waterfall which is great. Various tasty local food are here

it‘s fun to light up the lantern here with all the blessing written on it, interesting thing is when the train approaching to the station, everyone is running away.... walk along the shop alongside the train station you can buy mini lantern for souvenirs or local snacks

It's around 50 mins from Taipei main station, and you have to transfer in Rui Fang station. Been here for plenty of times. Both sunny day and rainy day are good to visit becasue you'll get different feeling. Lantern is a must-do in Shi Fen! All prices are the same but I recommend do in the middle shop of the railway, you'll get nicer view. Must visit place!

Famous because old street here is where all the tourist lights those lanterns for good luck. Kinda fun to see the train come through and watch the people scatter to the side.

Another clean MRT station and everything was marked well between the various platforms for entering/exiting the MRT/subway.

We came to light a lantern here and it was a really fun experience. The town is pretty small and pretty far out from the city center, but it's very touristy. Our impression was that most people came here to light large lanterns to release into the sky. You don't have to walk far from the train station - when you get out of the train, walk back towards the direction the train came from, along the tracks, for maybe 5 minutes. Small booths line the railway tracks, selling large, 5 foot lanterns that feel like they're made of some kind of thin plastic. You can pick various colors (when we were there, prices were 150NT$ for 1 color, or 200NT$ for 4 colors) and decorate the lantern with black ink and calligraphy brushes . Most people write their wishes and some fortuitous writings on their lantern. The shops are all pretty much the same - same colored lanterns, same product, same prices - so no need to shop around and just pick one that seems the least crowded. Most of the small booths will also sell a bunch of lantern miscellanea. Once you're done decorating, someone from the particular booth you're at will light the lantern for you on the railroad tracks (seems kind of dangerous...). The staff will help you take pictures from all angles, and then you can release your lantern into the sky and watch them float. Occasionally a train will come and everyone will clear the tracks. The staff seem to have the train schedule down so they will give you ample warning so you don't get run over while releasing your lantern. We came at night but it seems like there's a couple more things to do during the day here - they also have bamboo painting where you can write a message on bamboo and hang it on a wall. Otherwise, there's not too much here. There's a few convenience stores if you need to hydrate, and a couple of small restaurants. If I remember correctly last train is around 9pm, or even a little before, so this is by no means a late night kind of activity. Overall it was a super fun experience, and I would definitely recommend it to tourists in Taipei.

The trains come around once an hour back to Taipei, and lines are long. Be sure to buy tickets beforehand, or just pay for the fare adjustment. When you come out of the train, you are basically led into an alleyway where there are vendors selling food and souvenirs. People actually stand on the railroad tracks here for photos, which is kind of scary but seems to be the thing around here.