Tamsui sits at the mouth of the Tamsui River, an hour from central Taipei at the end of the red MRT line. For most of its history it was northern Taiwan's principal port, and the foreign powers who traded here — Spanish, Dutch, and finally British — each left their mark on the bluff above the river. Today it is the city's classic half-day outing: a broad, lively riverfront promenade, a string of historic buildings on the hillside, and a sunset over the Taiwan Strait that draws crowds every clear evening.
The waterfront is the heart of a Tamsui visit. The open-air Tamsui Old Street runs back from the river with stalls selling a-gei (fried tofu stuffed with noodles), iron eggs, and tetian sweet-potato balls, while the promenade fills with families, buskers, and couples in the late afternoon. Above the bluff stand the foreign-era buildings: Fort San Domingo, the red-brick fortress begun by the Spanish in 1629 and later the British consulate, with the elegant Victorian consul's residence next door, and the nearby Oxford College, founded by the Canadian missionary George Mackay, whose name is everywhere in the town.
The classic Tamsui experience is sunset over the river mouth. Take the short ferry across to Bali on the south bank, eat fried fish or grilled squid at the waterfront night market, and watch the sun go down behind the strait. Sundays bring big crowds onto the promenade and the ferries; weekday afternoons are quieter and just as pretty. The MRT drops you a few minutes' walk from the river, and the whole town is easily walkable from there.