Long before Taipei existed, New Taipei was where Taiwan met the world: Spanish and Dutch forts at the Tamsui rivermouth, iron-smelting villages at Bali, clan-feud academies in Banqiao and a White Terror prison in Xindian. Three days trace all of it.
Taiwan's only archaeology museum built directly on its own excavation, where 1,800-year-old iron-smelting furnaces and the gold-faced human-head pot of the Shihsanhang culture were unearthed. Open 09:30–17:00, closed Mondays.
Bali's Mazu temple dates its founding to 1661 and claims to be northern Taiwan's oldest, its camphor-wood goddess statue carried across from Meizhou. Qing-era stone lions, carved beams and worn floor slabs survive the rebuilds. Open 06:00–21:00.
Spain built here in 1628, the Dutch rebuilt it in brick in 1644, and Britain leased it as a consulate from 1867 until 1972 — painting it red. The consular residence beside it keeps its Victorian fireplaces and the cells below.
Tamsui's oldest surviving temple, consecrated in 1796 by Fujianese traders who landed at the wharf just below it. The 1888 imperial plaque credits Mazu with the fog that hid Qing defenders from the French fleet in the Sino-French War.
The 1893 garden of the Lin Ben Yuan clan, then the richest family in Taiwan, with its Cross-Shaped Pavilion, Guanjia Tower, Fangjian Study and Ding-Jing Hall. Guided Chinese tours run hourly; closed the first Monday of each month.
The Confucian academy Lin Wei-yuan endowed in 1873 to stop decades of armed feuding between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou settlers by schooling both sides' sons in one hall. Its Wenchang shrine still stands beside Banqiao Elementary.
The military court and detention block where the Kaohsiung Incident defendants were tried in 1980, now part of the National Human Rights Museum. The courtroom, Ren-ai Building corridors and cells are preserved as found. Closed Mondays.
Xinzhuang was the Taipei Basin's main river port until silting killed the trade around 1800. Cihyou Temple (1729), Wude Temple and Guangfu Palace still line 700m of Xinzhuang Road, now shared with drum makers and night stalls.
Rebuilt from 1947 under painter Li Mei-shu, who spent 36 years directing craftsmen on 156 stone columns, coiled dragon pillars and camphor beams. Locals call it the Oriental Palace of Art; the pig-offering rite falls on Lunar 1/6.
Roughly 100 red-brick shophouses from the 1916 Japanese-era rebuild, their baroque parapets carved with family surnames and trade emblems. Indigo dyeing, camphor and tea money paid for them; the dye workshop still runs demonstrations.
Taiwan's first ceramics museum, opened in 2000, tracing the town's kilns from potter Wu An's arrival from Quanzhou in 1804 through Japanese-era industrial ware. The basement recreates a climbing snake kiln and a coal-fired shuttle kiln.
Jianshanpu Road was the kiln lane: the restored Shanjiao Kiln chimney and the brick pottery arch mark where more than 400 workshops once fired. Shops sell studio seconds at roughly a third of Taipei gallery prices.