Jioufen (Jiufen - 九份) - Shihfen (十分) Route

Jioufen (九份) is a nice place for both sightseeing and to enjoy high tea / coffee. It's one of my favourite place to be to relax and enjoy life while going on a trip. Most importantly, to avoid the crowd, you must visit this place on a weekday. In fact, all sightseeing venues are strictly weekday only trip if not you'll end up with messed up schedule due to long queues and long waiting times.

There are 2 main type of routes you can take Jioufen (九份) and Jing Gua Shi (金瓜石) or  Jioufen (九份) and Pingsi (平溪). Most importantly, is to leave early in the morning as you'll need to plan such that the trip will end around 7 - 8 pm when the frequency of the trains reduces and also the shop closes as well.

For those interested in getting miniature Skylights, do take note that you should be getting them at Shihfen (十分) and not Jioufen (九份) as they comes with more varieties at a lower price at Shihfen (十分). You can even get the words handwritten on your very own Skylight collection at a better price. Also, you will get to enjoy the nice scenery at Shifen (十分).

For this particular trip, we picked the Jioufen (九份) and Pingsi (平溪) route but we only ended up at Jioufen (九份) and Pingsi (平溪) - Shihfen (十分) only due to me waking up too late in the morning.

Look for this exit to the bus stop

How to get there:

1. Take MRT to Taipei Main Station (台北车站)
2. Take Train (台铁) towards Hua Lian, Taipei East Direction (花莲, 台东 方向) to Ruifang Train Station (瑞芳车站) ~ 45 mins
   Note: There's a faster / express train ride 自强号 and a slower / normal train ride 莒光号
3. Take Bus 1013 (基隆客运) to Jioufen (九份) towards Jioufen (九份) / Jing Gua Shi (金瓜石) ~ 15 mins
   Do take note that you should hold on to the handrails and best to take a seat as the F1 bus uncle will give you the most exciting bus ride ever! (So far, it's the most happening bus ride I've ever took in my life lol)
   
   There are a few bus stops that you can alight, but it's best to ask the bus uncle about it so that he can advise you and remind you when to alight.

The whole trip will take about 1.5 hours to reach including the waiting time.

To go to Shihfen (十分)  from Jioufen (Jiufen - 九份):

1. Take Bus 1013 back to Ruifang Train Station (瑞芳车站) ~ 15 mins
2. If you intend to do station hopping, buy 1 day pass for the Ruifang - Qingtong route (瑞芳 - 青铜)