Best neighborhoods of New Taipei

Hey there everyone ! Just looking for your opinions on the following suburbs ? Tucheng , Banqiao, yonghe and xindian. My wife seems to prefer tucheng as she gew up in that area ( all her teen and early twenties) but xindian seems to be more…green?? which I like being from a hinterlands town just outside of Brisbane in Australia.
Anyway if there are other areas which I should take a gander at , don’t hesitate to let me know :sunglasses: we are planning to be in taiwan for around 4 years and then back to Oz.

Thanks guys in advance!

To many people this will sound like an oxymoron as the “best” neighborhoods are generally all in Taipei. Why do you want to limit yourself to Xinbei? If it’s because of work or your wife’s relatives, then, above all, it’s probably a good idea to look for a place not far away in terms of distance. Commuting in Xinbei can be time-consuming, especially between different districts (rather than to and from Taipei).

That being said, the “best” district as a whole is probably Xindian, especially the Bitan area. In Banqiao, your first choice could be the planned area around the train station, which is generally nice, but note that it ends quite abruptly and everything away from it is not that nice anymore. Zhonghe/Yonghe may be convenient (if you work there) or budget-friendly, but I’ve never heard it described as nice. And sorry but Tucheng is sort of a dump even by Xinbei standards.

There could also be some nicer areas farther afield, like the new developments in Sanxia around the Taipei University, in Linkou or in Sanchong. And some of the “districts” of Xinbei “city” are actually remote, rural areas (Sanzhi, Wulai, etc.), which might be very liveable as far as the environment is concerned (clean air, etc.), as long as you don’t need to commute regularly (e.g. work from home), and you have a car for errands.

Generally though, I wouldn’t expect Australian-style suburbs here; it’s all a never-ending city, just with much poorer level of infrastructure than in Taipei proper. People live in Xinbei because it’s much cheaper to buy an apartment there but since you’ll be renting anyway (I guess), the difference in rent between places in Taipei and the “nicer” areas of Xinbei is negligible (just a thought).

Good luck with the choice!

Ha! Suburbs…you’re in for a shock

Out of the four you mentioned I’d say Xindian is my favourite, as previous poster mentioned the Bitan area is ok and there’s easy access to the riverside cycle paths which are indeed quite green.

Old Taipei.

Hands down.

Linkou, mate…
Shitty weather, poor transportation access until new MRT line opened (next year they say few years ago), and windy in most days.

Tucheng smells of scooter exhaust, spat-out betel nut, and gutter oil. But wait… so does my neighborhood in Taipei! The only advantage of a place like Tucheng is that you’ll get more for your money when renting an apartment. There are also some good hiking trails if you live close to the mountain.