Day trip: Sanxia + Yingge (old streets + pottery crafts)

This New Taipei day trip pairs two neighboring towns that complement each other beautifully: Sanxia, with its handsome heritage old street and famous temple, and Yingge, Taiwan’s ceramics capital. Together they make a low-stress, two-stop day that trades Taipei’s skyline and night markets for old-town texture and hands-on craft. It’s an especially satisfying outing for craft lovers, photographers, and slow travelers who want a ‘different Taiwan’ day without a tour bus.

The logic of the pairing is geographic and thematic. The towns are close together, so you’re not crisscrossing the region, and the day flows naturally from morning heritage browsing in Sanxia to an afternoon of ceramics (and an optional pottery workshop) in Yingge. The recommended order—Sanxia first, Yingge second—works because Yingge is the easy rail gateway and the natural place to end with a practical souvenir before heading home.

Best of all, it delivers a souvenir mission with real payoff: not a fridge magnet, but a well-made mug or bowl you’ll actually use at home and remember the trip by. Add a DIY workshop and you take home something you made yourself. It’s a relaxed, tactile, characterful day—two stops, easy pacing, and a genuine sense of local craft.

Start with Sanxia for the ‘old street’ mood: a well-preserved stretch of red-brick Baroque-façade shophouses (renovated in the 1910s) lined with covered arcades, craft shops, and snack stalls. It’s a great place to slow down, photograph the architecture, and browse at a snack-driven pace without feeling rushed. The street’s repeating arches and ornate gables make it one of the more photogenic old streets in the Taipei area, especially in calmer morning light.

Don’t miss the Qingshui Zushi Temple, a famously intricate temple painstakingly rebuilt over decades and renowned for its astonishingly detailed stone and wood carvings—it’s often called a ‘temple of art’ and rewards a slow, close look. Snack as you wander (Sanxia is known for its ‘horn’ croissants among other treats), but pace yourself and leave room for Yingge. Arrive earlier for calmer walking and better photos, and stay flexible—your favorite moment might be an unplanned side lane.

Use Yingge as the hands-on part of the day. Known as Taiwan’s ‘ceramics capital,’ its old street and surrounding lanes are packed with pottery shops selling everything from everyday tableware to fine art ceramics and teaware, and the excellent Yingge Ceramics Museum nearby gives context on the craft and its history (and offers DIY workshops). Browse with intent: pick one practical, beautiful piece—a mug or bowl you’ll use weekly at home—rather than a basketful of fragile odds and ends.

If you want a memorable, tactile experience, add a DIY pottery workshop (throwing or hand-building); just choose one and don’t overbook your time, since these take a while. When you’re shopping, think about packing—small, sturdy pieces are the best travel buys, and shops can wrap fragile items well for the journey, which you’ll want to carry as hand luggage. Take a café break before heading back to Taipei; Yingge is the natural end point thanks to its TRA station.

After a day trip, keep your Taipei evening easy: a warm dinner, a dessert, and an early night if you want. The goal is ‘satisfied,’ not ‘stuffed.’ Yingge’s TRA station makes the return simple and quick, so you’ll be back in the city without much effort and can choose any comfort meal near where you’re staying.

There’s no need to force a second big plan after a craft-and-heritage day. If you still have energy, a compact night market or a relaxed neighborhood dinner rounds things off nicely; if you’re tired, a simple meal and a quiet evening is a perfectly good ending. The day’s pleasure is its unhurried, tactile pace, and the evening should match.

The easiest framing is to treat Yingge as your rail gateway: it has its own TRA station, roughly 20–30 minutes from Taipei Main Station, with frequent local trains. From Yingge, Sanxia is a short bus or taxi ride away. Alternatively, you can reach Sanxia directly by bus from the Banqiao or Fuzhong MRT area. Either way, the two towns are close, so the inter-town hop is short—this is one of the more logistically gentle day trips from Taipei.

Because you’ll likely arrive in one town and depart from the other, plan the order to suit: Sanxia first (by bus or a short ride from Yingge) and Yingge second (ending at its convenient train station) is the smoothest flow. Your EasyCard works on the trains and buses. Current timetables and bus routes are worth a quick look first, and you’ll find the transport straightforward and inexpensive.

Yingge is a genuine ceramics hub, so shop with a plan. The best travel buys are small, sturdy, and useful: a mug, a teacup set, a rice bowl, or a small teapot you’ll reach for at home and that survives a suitcase. Browse a few shops to compare quality and price before committing—ranges run from inexpensive everyday tableware to serious artisan pieces, so decide what you’re after. The Yingge Ceramics Museum and the surrounding arts district are good for understanding the craft and spotting higher-end work.

Mind the practicalities of getting ceramics home. Ask the shop to wrap fragile items thoroughly, and plan to carry them as hand luggage rather than risking checked baggage. Buy your heaviest or most fragile pieces toward the end so you’re not hauling them all day, and keep receipts in case of tax-refund eligibility on larger purchases (rules are easy to confirm). A single beautiful, well-chosen piece is a far better souvenir than several fragile impulse buys.

This day suits craft lovers, photographers, and slow travelers on trips of four or more days who want a relaxed, characterful outing beyond Taipei’s headline sights. It’s ideal for anyone seeking a meaningful souvenir (functional ceramics), for travelers who enjoy heritage architecture and temple artistry, and for those who like a hands-on element via a pottery workshop. The two-stop, low-transit structure makes it gentle and easy to enjoy.

It’s less ideal for first-timers who haven’t yet seen Taipei itself, for travelers wanting dramatic nature or big-name attractions, or for anyone uninterested in browsing and crafts (the day is shopping- and atmosphere-led rather than sight-led). If you want more, the nearby Yingge Ceramics Museum deepens the craft theme. With kids, a DIY pottery workshop can be a highlight—keep the rest light and snack-driven.

Sanxia’s Qingshui Zushi Temple is the cultural heart of the town and worth slowing down for. Founded in the 18th century and rebuilt several times, its most celebrated incarnation was led by the artist Li Mei-shu over many decades, who treated the reconstruction as a lifelong work of art. The result is an extraordinary density of hand-carved stone columns, wooden beams, and decorative detail—dragons, birds, flowers, and historical scenes rendered with a craftsmanship that has earned it the nickname ‘the palace of folk art.’

Take time to look closely: the carved stone pillars in particular reward unhurried attention, and the overall artistry connects naturally to the day’s craft theme that continues in Yingge’s ceramics. As with any active temple, be respectful—keep your voice low, don’t block worshippers, and photograph the architecture and carvings discreetly. A slow visit here, rather than a quick photo, is what turns Sanxia from a snack stop into a genuinely memorable cultural morning.

Sanxia is the snackier of the two towns, and its most famous treat is the ‘horn’ croissant (golden, crescent-shaped pastries sold along the old street in many flavors)—a fun, photogenic bite to share as you wander. You’ll also find traditional snacks, tofu specialties, and old-street staples among the arcaded shophouses. Snack lightly here, though, since the day is built around two stops and you’ll want appetite later.

Yingge has cafés and casual eateries among its pottery shops, ideal for a relaxed break before the train home—and there’s something fitting about sipping tea from a local cup in the town that made it. Neither town is a big-restaurant destination, so treat eating here as light grazing and save a proper meal for your return to Taipei if you’re hungry. Carry small cash for stalls, and keep water on hand, especially in warmer months.

Because this is a shopping-and-browsing day with plenty of indoor refuge, it’s reasonably weather-resilient. Spring and autumn give the most comfortable conditions for wandering Sanxia’s old street and Yingge’s lanes, while summer can be hot and humid—start earlier and use cafés, the ceramics museum, and covered arcades to escape the midday heat. Winter is cool and sometimes drizzly, which barely affects an indoor-leaning craft day.

Timing also shapes the experience in subtler ways. Weekends bring fuller shop hours and more pottery workshops running, but also more crowds, especially on Sanxia’s photogenic old street; weekdays are calmer and better for unhurried photos but may see some shops keep shorter hours. Mornings are quietest at both towns. Whatever you choose, current shop and museum hours are worth a peek first, since smaller-town opening times vary by day and season.