Taipei Railway Workshop

Songshan


This huge former repair factory for the country's trains is being transformed into a heritage museum. While all visitors can enter and peek from the main gate, a full exploration of the cavernous workshops – four stories high, complete with dusty tools and rusting diesel and steam engines – is by prebooked two-hour tour Wednesday and Saturday only. Register online (no English). A highlight is the arc-shaped bathhouse for engineers. A remarkable project that is well worth a visit.

You can combine the workshop with the nearby Puppetry Art Center or Songshan Cultural & Creative Park.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Songshan attractions

1. Puppetry Art Center of Taipei

0.23 MILES

This small and fun museum (set aside about 40 minutes) showcases a medley of magical string, hand and shadow puppets, many with embroidered robes and…

2. Songshan Cultural & Creative Park

0.25 MILES

Set in a former tobacco factory (or more accurately an industrial village) from the 1930s, this lovely park is part lush gardens, part frog-filled lake,…

3. Taiwan Design Museum

0.29 MILES

Housed in one wing of an atmospheric former tobacco factory, this exhibition space showcases modern designs by local and international artists.

4. National Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

0.52 MILES

The hall and its surrounding gardens occupy an entire city block. The latter are well used by picnickers, kite flyers, breakdancers and the early morning…

5. Discovery Center of Taipei

0.66 MILES

This is a great place to get your bearings on the city and its history. Maps and models show Taipei's evolution from a walled, gated city in 1882 to the…

6. Taipei World Trade Center

0.9 MILES

This squat Lego-like building, in pink stone, stands next to the much more impressive Taipei 101 and is the capital's main venue for international trade…

7. Taipei 101

0.92 MILES

Towering above the city like the gigantic bamboo stalk it was designed to resemble, Taipei 101 is impossible to miss. At 508m, Taipei 101 held the title…

8. Minsheng Community

0.94 MILES

This is the place to watch Taiwan's hipsters while enjoying a street-side coffee or browsing upcycled designer wear or exclusive art galleries. It's a…