Houtong Cat Village

Houtong Cat Village is an old coal-mining settlement at Chetouding, Houtong, in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, and the city’s tourism site lists it as “Open all year round” (14 November 2026). The Shifen, Jiufen and Yehliu day trip does not stop there. The group day tour from Taipei that does is LION TRAVEL SERVICE CO., LTD’s Yehliu, Shifen, Houtong & Jiufen One-Day Tour: 8 hours from 9:00 AM, at US$33.44 per adult (checked November 2026), with the Yehliu Geopark ticket not included.

The coal town, in the city’s words

New Taipei City’s page calls Houtong “a famous cat’s living place” that sits on rich coalfields, once one of the most important towns in Taiwan’s coal industry (14 November 2026). It lists what is left of the mines: mine entrances, trolleys, the coal transportation bridge, miners’ dormitories and the Ruisan Mining Industry Company building. Houtong, it says, once had the most advanced equipment for washing, sorting and producing coal.

Its tips for a visit: meet the cat station chief at Houtong station, ride a trolley through the coal tunnel, visit the Houtong Coalmine Ecological Park and its museum, try a miner’s lunchbox near the station, and walk Fuxing Bridge for the old diesel locomotive garage and a mine entrance. From the coal transportation bridge, it says, you see the whole town and the potholes the Keelung River has worn into its bed.

The Cat Bridge

The bridge between Houtong Station and the village is a landmark of its own. New Taipei City’s page on it says Taiwan Railways built the first overpass in 1970 for the residents of Chetouding to reach the station; after Houtong became known as a cat village in 2009, visitors filled it, and the city rebuilt it with cat footprints, photos and platforms for the cats to walk and jump on. It won the Public Construction Golden Quality Award in 2013, was repaired after a decade in the damp, and reopened in March 2025. The page lists it as open 24 hours (14 November 2026).

The day tour that stops at Houtong

LION TRAVEL SERVICE CO., LTD’s day starts at 9:00 AM from its store inside Taipei Station’s main hall, on the ground floor near North Gate 2, and runs 8 hours: Yehliu Geopark, Shifen Waterfall, Shifen Old Street, Houtong Cat Village and Jiufen, in that order; the time at each stop is not stated. It has 34 reviews at 4.7; a five-star review on 3 November 2026 found “plenty of time to explore each stop without feeling rushed”.

What it leaves out matters for the price. The Yehliu Geopark ticket, the sky lantern, the weekend Jiufen shuttle bus and meals are not included, so add NT$120 a person at the Yehliu gate, or NT$60 for a concession ticket (Yehliu Geopark’s own site, 14 November 2026). The day involves walking and may not suit people with mobility impairments.

Check dates for the day with Houtong

Houtong or the Yehliu ticket

GetYourGuide prices checked November 2026, regular price per adult; one adult can book each.

If the cats are the point of the day, take the Houtong day. If Yehliu is, the Shifen, Jiufen and Yehliu day trip gives it 70 minutes with the ticket in the price; Yehliu Geopark has the park’s own rules and hours.