Zhubei, Jiazheng Park 嘉政公園

Location: google map location

Pros: monkey bars!!

Cons: not really suitable for toddlers and preschoolers, no restrooms on site or nearby

The interesting looking blue playground structure is worth checking out if you have older children who can do monkey bars. There are no traditional slides at this park. My 4.5 yr old enjoyed climbing on the "surfboard", but other than that there was little he could do here. (but he still had a decent time) my 1st & 2nd grader liked this park because of the monkey bars (a hard thing to find around here). Parking was easy on a weekday afternoon, I was able to find street parking right next to the park.

Hsinchu, Jinshan Park 金山公園

Location: google map location (the park itself cannot be found on google map, this sends you to the 7-11 right across from the park)

This is a tiny park located in the Jinshan neighborhood in Science Park. Parking is horrendous here, you would either have to park at the school across the street (IBSH), or in the alley by the police station. Either way, there is nothing exciting about this park. Maybe the only plus is that there's a lot of food/drink places around that you can buy something and come here and eat on a nice day.

Yilan, Nature House B&B 自然捲北歐風格旅店

our bathroom

common room for families with kids

Location: google map location, 269, Yilan County, Dongshan Township, 宜蘭縣冬山鄉水井一路250巷12號

Parking: 6 parking spots outside of the B&B, I'm not sure where you can park if it's full.

Website: Nature house B&B

Check-in time: 3 pm

Check-out time: 11am

Pros: clean, fun for kids, family common room with kitchen

Cons: nothing really!

We stayed at the "Family Room for 4 - little athletes" (親子四人房：小小運動家) and requested an additional bed. (see the mattress on the floor on pic above). They have I think 5 different family rooms with different themes (lego, little prince, one with a ball pit...etc) that all look super fun. We chose this one because of the bigger slide and the basketball hoop, the slides in other rooms seem a little small in the pictures. 

Room: There's a TV, a mini frig stocked with a big container of water, a hot water dispenser, mugs and instant coffee mixes and tea bags.

Bathroom - it's clean and comes with toiletries (body wash, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bubble bath, towels). There is a shower and a bathtub. 

Family common room - It's a nice little area with some books and few simple toys. There is also a kitchen equipped with a hot water dispenser, a frig and a rice cooker (and maybe a microwave? I can't remember). I think having access to a kitchen is super helpful if you are traveling with a baby and you need to wash your bottles, or warm up baby food.

There is not much to do outside of your room. I suppose you can casually stroll along the little pond by the buildings, but with children...yeah that will last for 2 minutes.

Breakfast - upon checking in, you will select a time slot for breakfast. The earliest is 8:30am. Usually for adults they provide a traditional Chinese-style breakfast with 9 little dishes in squares (you eat them with porridge). But if you prefer a western style breakfast, let them know and they can accommodate you. Kids by default get the western style breakfast with bread, scrambled eggs, pasta salad, and fruit. For drinks they have water, organic juice, and soy milk (fresh brewed coffee upon request).

We thought one night was just prefect for us, since both my husband's and my heads were about to explode after being in the same room with our boys for an extended period of time - they were having so much fun just hanging out in the room with ball fights, running up and down the "castle", and running up and down the slide. We would definitely recommend this B&B if you're visiting Yilan!

Yilan, Yi-Nong Petting zoo 宜蘭宜農牧場

some free roaming birds

playground

feeding the little pigs

 

Location: google map location, No. 17, Lane 239, Changchun Rd, Dongshan Township, Milan County

Price: NT$30/person, $20/milk bottle for pig feeding and lamb feeding, $10/grass bunch for goat feeding

Parking: free

Pros: inexpensive, lots to do, restrooms/hand-washing station on site

Cons: it smells. just like any other petting zoo.

It's a great little place to see all kinds of cute animals: pigs, birds, ducks, chickens, rabbits, goats, lambs, and turkey! Everything is relatively cheap and there are lots of seating areas for adults to take a break while the kids run around. There are a few swings next to the metal playground set. Of course, petting zoos are not the cleanest place on earth, but this one is not bad at all. They also sell goat milk ice cream -  which if you've never tried, you should definitely give it a try! Parking is right out side of the farm itself, but if it's full you can also park next door - which is also catered to kids with a few arcade games and a mini driving course. We spent about 1.5 hr at both places together, but the kids would definitely love to stay longer if we let them.

Taoyuan, Helloland 樂農莊

Playground

Splash pad

Ball bouncing area (my boys loved)

mini golf

food

Location: google map location, Taoyuan City, Xinwu District
Website: HELLOLAND
Hours and Pricing: CLOSED on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:00-17:00 Weekends, 11:30-17:00 Weekdays
$150/person can be used towards activities.
Pros: mini golf, fun playground, food on site
Cons: doing multiple activities will def cost you!

Activities:

1. Mechanical pony rides $99 per ride

Sounds fun? Yea I didn't think so. not for $99...

2. Cactus plant decoration DIY $59~$250 depending on the size of the plant

$59 option might be worth trying if your child insists.

3. Ball bouncing area FREE

I got lucky, my boys loved this and the playground (free) the best. They can probably play this all day.

4. Mini golf $250/person or $300 for two

suitable for age 4 and up. But this experience will really depend on who else is playing on the course with you. Since mini-golf is not a popular thing in Taiwan (that I know of), some might be unaware of the etiquette of playing mini golf...such as wait for the previous group to finish the course before you begin, or not lay your golf club down in the middle of the course and say "we are still playing"  when you walk off the course (yea that happened to us)...but strange things can happen here in Taiwan.

5. Playground FREE
6. Splash Pad FREE (no towels provided)
7. Train ride (didn't check the cost)

Verdict:
Maybe give it a try? We will probably not go back again, but we had fun when we were there.

Miaoli, Shangrila Paradise 香格里拉樂園

(I apologize for the weird picture layout. I'm not sure how to fix it ;(...)

I'm not sure what happened to the "M"in Miaoli...and FN??

Entrance

Location: google map location

Website: Shangri-La Paradise

Price: $500/adult, $280/children between 3-12, FREE for children under 3 (might be able to find cheaper tickets on external sites)

Pros: big open spaces, clean, inexpensive

Cons: rides and attractions are pretty old.

We got tickets from Gomaji for $249/person, so for our family of 5 it was $1245. For this price, I'd definitely recommend coming here to try it out! We followed the google map direction and got here no problem, it was easy to find. I love that it's sort of in the mountains, so you definitely get that out-of-the-city feel. (Make sure to bring mosquito repellent!!) 

Restrooms- they are located everywhere - they are clean, and with toilet paper!! That's sort of rare here in Taiwan, so bonus points there. 

Food - No restriction on bring outside food, and it's actually a great place for a picnic. There is a restaurant right when you walk through the entrance hall, but we didn't eat there so I'm not sure about the quality. There is also three snack bars located in the park: one by the basketball court, one by the net playground, and one in the Hakka building. By the look of them, I would recommend going to the one by the playground since it looked the cleanest. I ordered a coffee from there and it was pretty good.

Rides: 1.Spinning around thing (looks extremely old and we didn't want to risk our lives)

           2. Merry-go-around (creaky, slow, and old...but my 4 yr old rode on it 3 times)

           3. Bumper cars (old, foam was exposed on the seats. miraculously it works)

           4. Clowns on clouds (medium paced & relaxing....other than the fact that it's clowns on clouds)

           5. Bumper boats (BEST attraction in this park, we can do this all day)

           6. Blizzard (looks questionable...but hubby took the older two to try it before I could object)

           7. Train (slow, but my 4&6 yr olds liked it)

"net playground"

some kind of rocket ship looking thing that you can climb in

I was totally pleasantly surprised by this snack bar.

Price is decent and they have a legit coffee machine!

clowns on clouds....straight out of a horror movie

creepy snow white and dwarfs

ride at your own risk

Hakka structure, you can feed the fish nearby

first ride

playground

Taoyuan, Gloria Outlets 華泰名店城

Location: google map location HSR Taoyuan station exit 7. Playground is located on the 2nd floor by the food court.

Pros: cool park, clean restrooms, lockers, food court

Cons: don't come here to shop

The outlet is super easy to get to by HSR. Once you exit, you will just have to cross a street to get to the outlet. Taoyuan HSR also has 爭鮮迴轉壽司 (Sushi Express) and 一風堂拉麵 (Ippudo Ramen) if you plan on eating at the HSR station.

The shopping is not much, prices weren't exactly "outlet-like." But on a Thursday it was pretty empty and would make a great place for toddlers and preschoolers to run around without bothering anybody. The playground is on the 2nd floor by the food court. It has a lot of climbing area, suitable for age 3 and up. Toddlers will need some assistance playing on this structure. There is a restroom right by the playground.

The food court has many options - we had the ramen and Subway!!! (Yes we get excited easily these days. Seeing a Subway is quite exciting.) There are high chairs available, and everything was super clean. 

Taipei, Daan Forest Park 大安森林公園

Location:google map location

Pros: sand pit, metal cube climbers, swings, skating rink, large playground structure

Cons: not easy for parents to watch multiple children

It's a beautiful park, and east to get to by MRT (red line, Daan Park station) and bus. It is always busy on the weekends. If you have only one child to watch, this is a great park to explore. If you are like me with THREE......make sure you are not going there solo with all your kids. Even with my hubby and the grandparents around, I still get nervous at this park because it is so big, and there are so many people around. It is easy to lose sight of your kids. And if you have multiple children..you would know....they NEVER go the same direction.

Taipei, LanYu #1 Park 蘭與一號公園

Location: google map location, intersection of Zhongshan N. Rd & Shidong Rd.
Closest MRT station: Red line Zhishan Station (5-10min walk)
Pros: it looks cool - space themed.
Cons: no bathrooms on site

We have not yet actually played on this structure, but we walked by after brunch one day and the boys wants to come back when it's not raining. Being in the TAS neighborhood, there are a lot of American restaurants here that you can go before or after coming to this park.

*a short side review for the american brunch restaurant we tried called Jake's: great pancakes. they have some mexican food! I would say....if IHOP was a 10, this would be a...7. Will not hit the spot but you will feel like they've given decent effort into making their food American. is that good? bad? no comment.

Hsinchu, Zhongyang park 新竹中央公園

Location: google map location, at the intersection of zhongyang rd. and 122.

Parking: street parking around the park, or there is a parking garage right across from the park under the bridge on 122.

Pros: sand pits! stone slides! two play structures! metal cube climbers! Hi-Life near by if you need a snack/drink.

Cons: no bathroom on site. busy streets near by with lots of traffic.

This is a newly revamped park that is definitely worth a visit. Even during the week, it always has a good number of kids there playing. And don't even think about it on the weekends......YES the park is fun, but the main reason it's popular is because it's a Pokemon Go hot spot. You will see lots of parents on their phones while letting the kids go wild.

There is also a good steamed bun place right across from the park. But be VERY careful when you try to cross the street there since there is no traffic light. Cars tend to be zooming by in that neighborhood also.

Zhunan, Zhunan Sports Park 竹南運動公園

Location: google map location, No. 55, Gongyuan Rd, Zhunan Township, Miaoli County, 351

Parking: Off of 13, next to the library

Pros: playgrounds, swings, big grassy field, big hard surface area for riding bikes, basketball court, tennis court.....it's a park for EVERYTHING! They have restrooms on site (not very clean).

Cons: Not much to do around the park. You will have to drive to get to a restaurant.

We were first here for our boys' soccer game. It is actually a great destination if you plan to visit Zhunan. I would maybe come here in the morning, and go by the harbor for lunch (great seafood). There is a Family Mart that's walkable from the park if you need drinks/snacks. Sometimes there is a vendor in front of the park entrance that sells traditional Taiwanese ice cream called "Baboo." (It's hard to find Baboo these days!)