Strawberry picking season starts from December to May, which makes it the best time to fill your basket of juicy red strawberries.
The best part is, you don’t need to travel very far to do so. There’s a pretty romantic strawberry picking hotspot nearby called Baishihu – located within Taipei’s mountainous Neihu District.
What makes Baishihu an ideal day out for couples, as well as for families, is that there are many nearby attractions that you can take photos of around the fun of picking strawberries.
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1. When & How To Get There |
When & How to Get There
It’s best to go on a weekend since the strawberry farms are open to all, but weekdays limit strawberry picking to reservations.
The strawberry farms open around 9 am, however it’s advisable to go before noon to ensure there are plenty of decent strawberries left to pick. – Most strawberry farms will end up closing around mid-afternoon since that’s the typical time the strawberries become near depleted for the day.
Baishihu isn’t close to the MRT, but you still have a few options for getting there.
Going by MRT (Bus Transfer)
You’d have to take a bus from Neihu MRT Station exit 1, then walk 2 minutes to Neihu Bus Station:
You can take the S2 shuttle or S2 to Bishanyan (Bashihu Bridge).
Going by Taxi
If you’re planning to go by taxi, we’d recommend taking the taxi from the Neihu MRT Station (brown line) as it’s the closest MRT station to save on your taxi fare.
Show the taxi driver this Chinese location:
白石湖吊橋
Going by Car or Scooter
If you’re planning to ride or drive there, here’s the address that’ll take you to the car park – which is at the beginning of the Baishihu.
https://goo.gl/maps/LJFCc5fonUMuStmx9
Arriving at the Baishihu Trail
When you see the huge temple archway entrance by the car park, it means you’ve arrived at the beginning of the Baishihu trail.
The bus will stop to drop you off just beside the temple archway. Since it’s also a spacious car park, those riding or driving here shouldn’t have a problem finding a space to park.
Baishihu Suspension Bridge
The Baishihu Suspension Bridge is very close by. To get to the bridge, don’t go through the temple archway. Continue down this road until you approach it (it’s hard to miss!).
This is in no doubt the best place for couples, friends, or even families to take beautiful photos with the light-purple suspension bridge.
However, it may be a little tricky to get that ‘perfect shot’, there’s typically a lot of people on the bridge trying to do the same thing, and it can wobble a little.
Love Lake
Once you are across to the other side of the Baishihu suspension bridge, you’ll see signs for the other tourist hotspots.
Love Lake is the closest location, it’s just a 10-minute walk on the trail – 300 meters to get there.
Just down the path, you’ll see these steps leading up to Farmhouse Cafe Trattoria.
Go up the steps and pass through the cafe, unless you want to stop by at Farmhouse Cafe Trattoria for refreshments.
Once you’ve walked through Farmhouse Cafe Trattoria and gone down the steps, then you’ve made it to Love Lake.
As intended, this place makes for some pretty romantic selfies if you go with your partner. Other than that, as well as a nice little walk around the decking and the heart of flowers – that’s pretty much it for Love Lake.
Couples Tree
Just beside Love Lake is this signpost which point will direct you toward Couples Tree. It’s close by, just a 5 minute walk down the road – 150 meters to get there.
It won’t be long until you pass this yellow coffee shop, called Fufu Coffee. Be careful here as we almost missed it, so we advise you to look out for the next signpost which will come up on your right-hand side as you walk past Fufu Coffee.
Once you spot the signpost on your right, follow its direction off the road that’ll lead straight to Couples Tree.
Yep, this is Couples Tree. We were looking all around here but disappointedly realized that this was it. Not too sure it helped the romance vibe to be told the wider tree is represented as the guy, and the thinner tree is his lady…
Strawberry Picking
Continue down the road (about 100m meters) past the Couples Tree signpost, and you’ll come to this strawberry orchard.
On the other side of the road to the orchard is the shop that’ll provide you with the basket and scissors to go strawberry picking.
You will need to return to the counter when you’re done picking so the staff can calculate the price of your strawberries by weighing your basket.
Now you’re ready to go strawberry hunting!
The price of ours came to just $100. We didn’t pick many strawberries since we arrived later in the afternoon (around 3 pm), so we were one of the last groups to enter this particular orchard. – They weren’t allowing anyone in after our group.
They also sell locally sourced strawberry smoothies and yogurt treats here.
If that’s not enough on this strawberry everything theme, how about strawberry-flavored sausages!? We tried them and were quite surprised at how delicious they were – the subtle hint of the strawberry taste in the meat works rather well.
Farmhouse Cafe Trattoria
If you get hungry, Farmhouse Cafe Trattoria makes an ideal place to relax inside or outside while you check out their menu.
The menu here contains a pretty decent selection of Italian dishes, and as for the desserts, their fruits are sourced locally.
We went for the Salted Egg Yolk Butter Fettuccine with Shrimp and Garlic Slice which includes a bowl of tomato soup for $480. We also ordered a fancy strawberry milkshake, called the Strawberry Au Lait on their menu ($180).
For the dessert, we had to try their Strawberry and Ice Cream Waffle ($300).
It wasn’t as sweet as it looks, and it was ideal for sharing the waffles.
Check out their menu below:
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Leaving By Bus
If you’re leaving Baishihu by bus, then there are two bus stops on this trail that has regular buses available. Both of these bus stops can take you to Neihu Bus Station, and on weekdays, to Taipei City Hall MRT bus station.
1. There’s a bus stop nearby the strawberry orchards (just after you pass the Couples Tree).
2. The other bus stop is back at the car park where you started – it’s on the other side of the temple archway is another pickup point.
And that’s it! ~ happy strawberry picking!
🗓️ Updated: February 2021 – Taipei.Expats
Wow! This looks so fun! I’ve never known any strawberry picking places in Taipei! I thought we can only do that in Miaoli county. Thanks for sharing!