Does anyone have updated information/advice about living in Zhubei City? (last post I searched is from 2014)
My husband and I will be moving to Zhubei this summer, because he just got a new job. I work online, so I don’t need information about work. I am just curious about what it’s like to live there. I have been living in Taipei for 2 years for comparison.
For me, I want to move somewhere quieter and with more nature closer to my home. I know Zhubei is also another city, but I’m hoping to find an apartment that’s close to nature, but also accessible to public transportation. Anyone recommend good areas to live?
Zhubei city has pretty decent transportation links, having both a train station for easy travel to Hsinchu and others. The High Speed Train also offers easy access to Taipei for reasonable rates. Most of Zhubei is brand new, with the newest building codes in Taiwan and safety features like grounded plugs.
From the few times I’ve hung around Zhubei, it struck me as a creepy city. Plenty of tall new buildings and never more than five people in sight on any street. Feels like a shiny empty nest. You’ll definitely feel more lonely than in Taipei. Fortunately there’s the HSR taking you to Taipei in less than an hour.
As for the population, I’d expect it to be mostly engineers with families. I remember there was a plethora of private English teaching jobs that paid better than in Taipei, I expect that’s because people there have more money and more kids.
I haven’t been able to find a hiking spot at reasonable distance, but again I didn’t have a car. As far as I remember there’s no bus running into the mountains like in Taipei.
As for nature, you just need to leave the city center to be surrounded by fields, and the whole place is flat so it’s a great area for bicycles. One thing I loved was the bicycle roads running along the Touqian river. The river bed is about 500m wide and the bicycle road runs from the Nanliao fishing harbor deep into the lands. A great idea for a whole day out.
Thank you, that was helpful. Shiny new buildings and few people appeals to my wife for sure. We will have a car but being able to bike to the river would be great.
To the OP, did you end up moving to Zhubei?
Downside is as a non-Chinese speaker I find Zhubei hard to pronounce properly, my wife cringes when I say it.
Yes, I did end up moving to Zhubei. I’ve been here one year now. It’s definitely more quiet and neatly organized than Taipei. I enjoy walking around. You do need a car to get out of Zhubei and do things for sure. One downside is there are definitely not many good restaurants compared to Taipei and the traffic between Zhubei and Hsinchu during morning and evening work rush is ridiculous.
Thanks! Sounds like we should live in Zhubei if our kids go to HCAS (which is in Zhubei) or in Hsinchu if they go to HIS. Otherwise I’ll be driving them in rush hour, uggh. Decisions . . .
I have been living around Hsinchu / Jubei (Zhubei)(Chu-pei) for the last 15 years. I like it, it is less crowded and busy than Taipei. There’s the old Jubei near the railway station, and new Jubei around the HSR. New Jubei is modern and upmarket. Which means it can be expensive to. I’ve read some articles that say Hsinchu / Jubei has the highest income per household in Taiwan. Also apparently the happiest place in Taiwan, according to some polls. I’ll avoid old Jubei. You will definitely use your own transportation all the time. Getting to the mountains is easy, and there are lots of options for hiking and nature activities less than an hour’s drive away. The restaurant scene is improving as well, there is a new mall with movie theaters opening soon, and new roads are being build between Hsinchu and Jubei to relieve the congestion. Feel free to ask any questions!
I have been on four bridges that connect the two cities. The one next to the coast near Nanliao in Hsinchu and the one near Hsinchu’s Cosco, Jingguo Bridge, are both insane.
I know this is the OP and over a year old. Just sharing my thoughts about Zhubei and Hsinchu. They’re both boring af. The food is definitely not as good. Way fewer western options. Quieter than Taipei, but not so far from city life that you’re dealing with the “countryside” Taiwanese (that’s what the missus calls them).
Old Zhubei is not fun, but it’s not hard to avoid. Just eat on Guangming roads and probably live closer to the HSR or river to the south.
Zhubei’s restaurants are better than Hsinchu’s. They’re building a mall on Guangming 6th road (if memory serves me right), so people living in Zhubei won’t need to go to Hsinchu’s Big City for their mall shopping needs.
Thanks for the info - we’re likely to be living in the newer part of Zhubei, cause my wife likes that area (based on the available apartments at least) and happy wife, happy life.
My only experience with Hsinchu is 8 weeks of working, I stayed downtown in a hotel by the canals. It was dirty but the food was good.
We have to live near Hsinchu for my wife’s work, commuting from Taipei is too far.
I have a wife and small children. Zhubei has been great for us. We live near the HSR. There are actual wide sidewalks, and small blocks: very walkable. They’ve recently updated all of the parks. I think they are some of the best in Taiwan. Using Uber Eats, there is plenty of good western food to order from. We like the outdoors, and there are a lot of hikes, beaches, and farms to explore.
We’ve lived in Taipei and Yilan before, and Zhubei is our favorite so far.
Idk about the comment that it’s ‘creepy’ haha. I don’t get those vibes at all. Maybe because it’s not jam packed like Taipei?
We’ve been living in Hsinchu for 9 months now. My opinion is that Zhubei is nicer, more civilized, although our area of Hsinchu near Costco is very nice.
But I wouldn’t live in Zhubei if you have to commute to Hsinchu, that sucks. On weekends it’s an easy 15-20 min drive to get to Zhubei for sports, restaurants etc, although Big City is better than Zhubei malls.
