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This area had long been Taipei's most notorious red-light district, filled with brothels, pornography shops and snake meat restaurants in which the snakes would be killed and skinned in the street to attract potential customers. However, prostitution was banned by the Taiwanese government 1991 and the area has been thoroughly gentrified, with the last snake meat restaurant closing down in 2018. Today, it is just a regular family-friendly night market with the usual Taiwanese street food.
龍山寺
This temple is where countless generations of Taipei citizens have come to pray and seek guidance at times of trouble. As the temple is dedicated to Guanyin (the Buddhist representation of compassion) it is officially defined as Buddhist, but there is a great amount of folk religion mixed into the fabric of the beliefs at this temple.
紅樓劇場
Near the Ximending shopping area, the Red House was Taiwan's first modern market as well as a theater. Now, the renovated structure is home to an exhibition hall and a market selling innovative handicrafts.
北門
Of the five ancient city gates, four are still standing. But of the four, only one is a true historical relic from the Qing Dynasty: the salmon-colored north gate, whose formal name in Cheng'en Gate (承恩門). It was built in a traditional South Fujian architectural style. Its external walls were built with granolithic and brown mosaic tiles from Beitou Kiln.
剝皮寮歷史街區
One of the few, and probably best preserved, examples of Qing dynasty architecture in Taipei. The street features historic red brick buildings which have been well restored and are used for a variety of cultural purposes.
台灣基督長老教會大稻埕教會
The architectural design of this church represents a fusion between traditional Chinese and late 19th-century Western style architecture. It maintains a unique position in the modern architecture of Taiwan, being one of only three extant Presbyterian churches in Taipei built during the Japanese occupation period. Historically, men would enter and exit through the left door, and women would enter and exit through the right door.
貴德街
Previously called Western Houses Street, this lane once fronted the Danshui River. In the 1880s, the world famous Formosa Oolong Tea came from a nearby wharf. At the time, many wealthy merchants invested in building along the lane in order to attract international trading firms. One was Chen Tian-lai (AD 1872-1939), a Taiwanese tea merchant, who was fabulously rich for his time. His home was one of the model Taiwanese residences on this land and his neo-Baroque home is still standing. (No.73 Gui-De Street)