This Mountain Village in Taiwan Is a Cat-Lover’s Paradise
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If you ever get tired of crowds of people on your travels, you could always opt for an adorable crowd of felines instead.
About an hour northwest of Taipei in the hills of Taiwan’s Ruifang district, the quaint village of Houtong is known for having more cat residents than humans.
What to expect when you visit
As you step off the train in Houtong and cross an award-winning, cat-shaped bridge, you’ll find hundreds of free-roaming furballs and an entire infrastructure to celebrate them, from murals and street signs to shops and restaurants.
Here, the strays are treated like royalty. You’ll find scratching posts dotted around town, food bowls lining the streets, perches installed on buildings, and rows of cozy wooden boxes for the all-important cat nap.
Inside the many cat-themed souvenir shops on the main strip, you’ll be able to sift through cat-adorned trinkets of every variety, like socks, phone covers, coasters, mugs, and temporary tattoos.
At the cafes and restaurants, you’ll find traditional Taiwanese fare along with edible cat-shaped treats, like pineapple cakes and cream puffs. When you go to pay, don’t be surprised if the shop owner is wearing a pair of cat ears while meow music (i.e., cat noises set to electronic beats) plays in the background.
How the ‘cat village’ came to be
Houtong wasn’t always a cat mecca. Back in its heyday in the early 1900s, the town operated as the lifeblood of Taiwan's coal mining industry, says the Taipei Tourism Department. By the 1970s, when opportunities fizzled out, roughly 6,000 residents relocated elsewhere, leaving just 100 people and some cats behind.
Over time, the stray population grew. In 2008, a cat photographer and her veterinarian husband—a dream pair, if there ever was one—changed the course of the town forever. While visiting Houtong, they asked the locals if they could set up a system to help take care of the cats. The locals agreed and soon a team was put in place to feed, vaccinate, and care for the strays.
It wasn’t long before this sleepy mountain village became known as a cat capital worth visiting. As more and more cat-loving tourists showed up, a plethora of cat-themed shops sprang up to support them, giving the town a much-needed second wind.
From coal village to cat village, Houtong has truly mastered the art of reinvention. Today, there are 250 cats that happily roam the streets and one million annual visitors to fawn over them. Even with the spay and neuter program, the cat population continues to grow. With so much love and attention, though, can you really blame them?
What to know before you go
To see the beloved cats for yourselves, take the hour-long train from the Taipei train station to Houtong via the Yilan line. Tickets cost $2 one way and run every half an hour.
If you can tear yourself away from the tabbies, it’s worth poking around the preserved mining areas for a trolley ride inside a coal tunnel and a look at the historical archive. The facilities around town shut down at 6 p.m., giving you ample time to photograph more cats and explore the natural surroundings before you catch the last train back to Taipei at 9 p.m.
Houtong is the busiest on the weekends, so visit during the week for the best chance of hogging the cats all to yourself—if they let you, that is.
There are signs posted all around town about how to treat these treasured residents, like avoiding flash photography and giving them plenty of space, unless they come to you asking for attention. You’re free to feed them with treats from the shops, although visitors are encouraged to be mindful of the portions, as everyone has the same idea.
And of course, as cute as they are, do avoid the temptation to take a cat, or two, home with you. They’re in cat paradise, after all. It’s best to just leave them there.
