Houtong a cat village for cats lovers
Taiwan is an amazing country if you are a pet lover. When we were in Japan I wanted an experience with cats but was a little bit expensive, but here in Taiwan my dream come true really cheap. Cat cafes and cat purridise: Houtong Cat Village! Here you can have one of Taipei day trips. The timing of our trip in Taiwan wasn’t the best because in January and February it’s raining season and it’s not so good for outdoor activities. We love this cat purridise but we didn’t all the beauty because of the heavy rain.
How to get there
By Train – From Taipei Main Station, take a northbound train (except Keelung-bound trains) towards Ruifang Station. Either continue on a local train or Chu-kuang train one station further to Houtong, or transfer to the Pingxi Line and purchase a One Day Ticket for the Pingxi Line, NT$52. Afterwards, continue on to visit Shifen Waterfall and Pingxi. By Bus – From Ruifang train station, cross the street and take Bus 808 or F808 to Houtong town area.
About Houtong Village
Houdong Cat Village is a Taiwan tourist attractions, a village in Ruifang District, New Taipei, Taiwan famous for its cat population. It was once a rich small mining town in Ruifang, renowned for a well-preserved culture surrounding its railway, which was built during the Japanese rule of Taiwan. As the coal mining industry began to decline in the 1990s, the area also declined, but things started taking a turn for the better from 2008, when a local cat lover named Peggy Chien start offering abandoned cats a better life. Their efforts wasn’t in vain because people saw their pictures online and start heaving interest about. This is how Houtong became a center for cat lovers as word spread, and the number of cats living there increased – thus reviving a declining village, and transforming it into a tourist destination.

Industrial Village
Even the mining industry is dead they didn’t forgot about that part of their history. When you arrive by train you will discover the village spit in two part. The down side, near Keelung River contains the old coal processing machinery, restaurants, visitors’ information center and an amazing riverside walkway that leads to the former miners’ dormitory. The visitors’ information centre it’s about coal mining industry, there they have a mock-up of mine and processing machinery, tools the miners used to have it and a gallery of pictures about that life that used to be.


Cats zone
Still on down side there are plenty of cat souvenirs, restaurant but cats are hinding from rain but we know already where they are. We found them welcoming us in train station. The only one who wasn’t hinding from rain was two stray dogs. They are welcome to village also but the cats are the stars.







