Busy and crowded streets, cafés and bakeries everywhere … a month ago, when I first arrived in Keelung (also known as Jilong), I never expected to find this. Because of the poor images found on the internet and lackluster comments about the town from some Taiwanese friends, I had a completely different idea from the reality.
Keelung is the Venitia of Taiwan. La dolce vita a la Taiwanese.
The best cafés and bakeries I ever had the chance to visit.
Where? 
I was there recently stumbling through the gritty streets and along the smelly Harbour and river. I remarked to my SO there was no need to invent a time machine just drive to Keelung on weekends. Unfortunately it’s a trip straight back to the worst mistakes of the 70s and 80s.
Love me the smell of sewage in the morning!
And the decrepit looking highway tht winds its way past the decrepit buildings and then ends straight in front of the harbour. Classy, really classy. Walking past the homeless people on the overhead bridges, brings back the old Taipei to me.
PS- Keelung has POTENTIAL. Why wouldn’t it being such a fine natural harbour and having a modicum of century old buildings that somehow survived to the present day. Oh and the food really is different even to the rest of Taiwan.
To reach this full POTENTIAL though it needs buckets of two things, dynamite and money.
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Oh. I recently moved to Keelung, and am experiencing mixed feelings about the city.
The seafood is excellent, and it’s generally convenient to get around even if you are commuting to Taipei on a daily basis.
But, like @Brianjones said, the city itself is fugly. Like, really really ugly. And smelly. And it rains all the freaking time.
I’ve heard good things about Miaokou night market. I haven’t actually experienced the food there, and being a fairly new vegan, probably wouldn’t have the opportunity to try most of them anyways.
I’m content with what Keelung is to me: a place to sleep, eat, and get ready for the commute to school
Yup Keelung is only visitable in Summer. The 270 days a year of Rain prevents the city from becoming a mini Yokohama.
The town is only suitable for amphibians.
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Innsmouth of the Far East?
Which of these complaints about Keelung does not apply equally to Taipei?
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The raaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiin. And the general gloominess.
Yes the rain
Keelungers rarely complain about having too many sunny days
You don’t have to be a retile to live in Keelung but it would help
Everywhere has potential. Congo has potential.
Sadly potential is usually just euphemism for “god is this place a shithole”.
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I’ve known some shitholes with no potential.
Tourists 
Coming to Keelung on the weekend for night market and flood the streets 
Live over 5 years in Keelung, you guys see only the market and the harbor.
Keelung is so much more.
And rain? Same as Taipei, maybe higher humidity, but I experienced sunshine, cloudless skies while Taipei was rain.
Old city yes, streets where you have the feeling they were built between the houses (actually one street is going up in a house).
Living here is much more cheaper, less crowdy than Taipei and it changed a lot since I live here (not because of me 
)
Cheers
Tom
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Understood, I guess it’s because of the only famous thing here is only miao-kou night market, come here at weekday not weekend, try these attractions, and you will find there’s much more than market.
ChaoJing Park at Badouzi https://keelung-for-a-walk.com/attraction/chaojing-park/
Baimiwong Fort https://keelung-for-a-walk.com/attraction/baimiwong-fort/
Wangyou Valley
They are all outside or on the edge of Keelung. They are all nice spots. Although there are still a lot of cruddy areas around the edge of Keelung too.
The center of Keelung is a real dump with raw sewage flowing into the the river and harbour. It’s disgusting and an embarrassment that this is allowed to happen. You know it’s bad when you don’t even see any fishermen around, usually those guys will fish for anything!
The corruption there must be immense for the city to still be like this even though it’s so close to Taipei.
Kaohsiung is a city that Keelung could learn so much from.
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Keelung surprised me. I never expected the tourism in this area to be so advanced. The city is well-connected with the nearby Taipei through various shuttles that run regularly until midnight, but it is also extremely easy to get to its beautiful neighboring areas.
I never imagined to find so many buses and shuttles that go almost anywhere. I went on a couple of tours with a shuttle, the T99, which brought me to more than 10 scenic attractions for only 50 Taiwanese dollars a day. This and other tourist shuttles are also present in Rome and in other European cities: you pay a ticket, keep it with you, and during a single day you can visit various places on the bus itinerary anytime that you want (usually until 5 or 6PM), taking advantage of unlimited rides in full freedom. The service could definitely be improved (and I say this as a Roman), but it is still advanced.
Keelung surprised me. I never expected the tourism in this area to be so advanced. The city is well-connected with the nearby Taipei through various shuttles that run regularly until midnight, but it is also extremely easy to get to its beautiful neighboring areas.
I never imagined to find so many buses and shuttles that go almost anywhere. I went on a couple of tours with a shuttle, the T99, which brought me to more than 10 scenic attractions for only 50 Taiwanese dollars a day. This and other tourist shuttles are also present in Rome and in other European cities: you pay a ticket, keep it with you, and during a single day you can visit various places on the bus itinerary anytime that you want (usually until 5 or 6PM), taking advantage of unlimited rides in full freedom. The service could definitely be improved (and I say this as a Roman), but it is still advanced.
After spending some time in Keelung I wanted to go back home.
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How long did you stay there?
Half a day.
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I lived in Keelung for a year and a half, downtown is pretty grim but when you get away from the center it can really get good. Especially the coastal areas in springtime.
i’ve been there loads of times, the night market is one of the best. and the town has some interesting spots. i will be exploring more in future but i think i can say its a place i would never want to live in.