I lived in Banqiao (板橋) for about a year, and worked in a cram school less than ten minutes away from the Lin Family Mansion and Garden (林本源園邸), but I never managed to visit it due to various excuses. (Unless you like malls and high rises for the new rich, there isn't much else to do in Banqiao, so I guess I always put it off to feel like there was something I could do.) Earlier this week I had to return to Banqiao to file my taxes (according to the government I still live there). The compound contains one of the few remaining traditional Chinese gardens in Taiwan and has been beautifully restored over the years.
I went on a weekday afternoon so it was very quiet, with only a few dozen visitors perambulating the fairly large grounds (around 20,000 square meters). I'm not sure how it is on weekends, even with their limiting visitors to less than 600, it still seems better to stroll them on a weekday if you can. Access to the garden is free, but visiting the mansion (which is still private property) requires guided tours. I'll let the pictures speak for the place rather than go into historical details that could more easily and accurately be found elsewhere. I highly recommend the gardens as one of the best sites to visit in the Taipei area.
Getting there: it's not far from Fuzhong MRT station on the Blue Line. For more information you can check their website (English available).
For more photos of this trip, click here.
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