Houtong Cat Village: a sweet half-day with cats and old mining-town texture

Houtong is an easy day trip when you want something light and charming. It’s known for its cats, but the town’s mining past adds depth and makes the visit feel more than a gimmick. Houtong was once Taiwan’s most productive coal-mining area—the largest single-area output in the country—with a coal-processing facility dating to 1920.

Mining declined in the 1990s, leaving only a few hundred residents. The ‘cat village’ phenomenon began in 2008, when a local cat lover organized care for abandoned strays; today a large free-roaming cat population shares the town with preserved railway and mining-era structures.

Houtong is genuinely simple to reach. From Taipei Main Station, take a northbound local train toward Ruifang—about 45–60 minutes and roughly NT$56 one way. Houtong is one stop past Ruifang and the first stop on the Pingxi branch line.

Best of all, the village is directly beside the station, so there’s no extra transfer or walk to get into the heart of it.

Treat the cats like locals: they’re free-roaming strays, so don’t feed them human food, don’t pick them up, and don’t chase or corner them for photos. Don’t block the narrow pathways, and keep your visit calm—your best photos happen when you slow down anyway.

When you need to cross the tracks, use the dedicated pedestrian ‘cat bridge,’ which passes safely over the active railway.

It would be easy to dismiss Houtong as a novelty, but the town rewards visitors who look past the cats. This was once the beating heart of Taiwan’s coal industry, and the bones of that era are everywhere: the handsome 1920 coal-processing plant, rusting tipples and rail sidings, the old miners’ quarters clinging to the hillside, and small museums and cafés set inside repurposed industrial buildings. Wandering across the river to the mining side gives the visit real historical weight and a quiet, slightly melancholy beauty.

The cats, of course, are the charm that pulls it all together. Dozens of well-cared-for residents doze on windowsills, station benches, and shop counters, and the whole village has leaned into the theme with cat-shaped signage, murals, and themed snacks. The combination — industrial heritage softened by hundreds of contented strays — is what makes Houtong such a gentle, photogenic, genuinely distinctive half-day out of the city.

Houtong pairs well with nearby rail-line stops—it’s the first stop on the Pingxi branch line and close to the Ruifang area. Pick one add-on, not three; day trips feel better when they’re spacious. Budget around 2–3 hours here, with weekday mornings the quietest.