Dahu Park & Egret Mountain Hiking Trail

May 11, 2020May 11, 2020 Taipei Expat

Safety tips for COVID-19: Dahu Park gets very crowded on weekends, especially when the weather is nice. To avoid the crowds, we recommend visiting during the week, early in the morning or in the evening on weekends, or on overcast days.

Dahu Park is a pretty 13-acre park in Neihu with its own lake, Chinese-style bridge and pavilion, gym, hiking trails, and both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool. It’s most memorable feature is Jindai Bridge (pictured below), also known as the Moon Bridge, which you may recognize from blog posts and ad campaigns promoting Taipei. Although quite far from the city centre, Dahu Park is incredibly popular with families, visitors, and couples taking their wedding photos, who flock to the park en masse on weekends.

Dahu Park can get pretty crowded on weekends, especially if the weather is nice. Most people come to have picnics, play with their kids, take photos, and take a stroll through the abundant greenery, though there are plenty of other things to do too. The lake — Bailushihu, or Lake Egret in English — is home to several kinds of water birds, and it’s not uncommon to see them up close as they’re quite used to people. Fishing is allowed in parts of the lake and is a popular activity throughout the week, especially with older Taiwanese gentlemen.

If you plan on coming to the park for a picnic, it’s best to stock up on food and drinks beforehand, as the closest convenience store is a solid 8-minute walk away near Dahu Park MRT Station. On nice days, the best spots in the park get snapped up quickly, so you might want to come early. If you’re visiting with young children we strongly recommend supervising them at all times, as it’s easy to fall into the lake and venomous snakes have been spotted in the grass in the past.

The gym complex at Dahu Park is another a huge draw for visitors, as it’s cheap to use and features both an indoor and outdoor swimming pool. The 25m indoor swimming pool is heated and available to use all year round and has a sauna, steam room, and jet spa. The outdoor pool is only open between the months of May and September and is a whopping 50m long. Once in a while, they will bring in inflatable slides and toys, and on sunny days, a covering is pulled over the pool to provide some much-needed shade. There is also a children’s paddling pool and a lazy river, which make the pool a go-to spot for families on weekends.

We’ve never used the pool ourselves but have heard mixed reviews, with some saying it’s the nicest outdoor pool in Taipei, and others pointing out that the facilities could be improved. Access to both pools costs $110 for adults, $80 for children, and is free for kids under 3, while the gym is $50 per hour. The pool gets very crowded on sunny weekends, so we recommend visiting during the week whenever possible.

Dahu Park is located right next to Egret Mountain (Bailusishan), which offers a short but sweet hiking trail with an okay view. The trail starts near the southern end of the park, either at the trailhead marked on Google Maps (you’ll know you’re there when you see a big set of stairs like the ones pictured below) or just behind Fuyou Temple.

We began the hike behind Fuyou Temple, but it really doesn’t matter where you decide to start — just follow the trail upwards through the forest. There’s a decent mix of path and stairs, and for the most part, it’s a relatively gentle ascent with only a couple of steep sections.

Near the top, you will be rewarded to a nice view of the brown line running along Egret Lake, with the mountains of Neihu in the background. If you wait for a few minutes a train will run along the track, which makes for quite a nice photo. This is (in our opinion) the best view you’ll have along this hike, so take some time to appreciate it before you keep going.

At the summit, there is a small open-air gym, a reflexology path, and a few benches to rest on. This is a popular spot with the elderly and families, and most people take at least a few minutes here before turning back to the park or heading further down the path.

There really isn’t much of a view to speak of once you head further down the path, although once in a while you will be able to peek through the trees for at some rather uninspired apartment buildings.

The path slowly winds down the mountain through the forest, and will eventually take you back to the city, where you will be a twelve-minute walk from Huzhou Station on the brown line. There isn’t a great deal to do or see in this area and although the path down the mountain is pleasant enough, it’s also worth skipping if you would prefer to loop back to Dahu Park.

All things considered, we found Dahu Park and Egret Mountain Trail quite pleasant, if not spectacular. We had a nice enough day strolling around the park, and the hike was a quick and easy way to get a little bit of exercise. We would probably have enjoyed our day more if we’d spent time at the pool or brought a picnic or some sort of game, which would have given us something to do other than walk around. It was a reasonably nice place to take photos, though nowhere near the best in Taipei. Ultimately, you’ll make of it what you will.

What’s the vibe?

Large park with a lake, Chinese-style bridge, lots of grass, and a gym with swimming pools. It’s at the base of a small mountain, which is very accessible and makes for a short but sweet hike. Both the park and hiking trail are most popular with families and the elderly, though we saw plenty of young couples hanging out there too.

Worth it?

That really depends. If you’re looking for incredible views or a great hike, you can probably give this a miss. But if you’re just looking a big green space where you can hang out with friends (and you don’t mind the commute), this is a pretty nice option.

Would you go back?

We might check out the swimming pool sometime, but other than that, probably not.

Last updated May 2020

Dahu Park

Chinese Name: 大湖公園

Hours: Open 24/7

English Address: No. 31, Section 5, Chenggong Road, Neihu District, Taipei City

Chinese Address: 台北市內湖區成功路五段31號

Dahu Park Gym & Swimming Pool

Chinese Name: 大湖公園游泳池&健身房

Hours: 5:30am – 7:30am, 8am – 10pm

Phone: 02 2793 9859