Hsinchu, Kidsburgh - Dorothy's Home 騎士堡- 桃樂絲的家

Location: The building next to Big City/SOGO (2F)  google map location

** can be tricky to find. If you park at Big City, you would have to go across the skybridge on the 3rd floor of SOGO, and take the elevator to get to the 2nd floor to the entrance.

Pros: clean, many employees around to supervise/help
Cons: smaller than the Taipei Kidsburgh. one-time tickets are pricy.

First off, let's talk about the ticket price. An one-time ticket for ages 1 and up is a whopping NT$750, and NT$150 for each accompanying parent!! (If your child is under 3, one parent may enter for free) I would definitely recommend buying the package, you can look at the prices here. There are many different options, so make sure you do the math! :)

Anyways, we went on a Saturday morning at 11am (when it opens), and surprisingly it was not crowded at all!! My plan was to stay for an hour, eat lunch, and then come back to play some more (we had until 2:30pm to come back), but they were having so much fun that we ended up leaving at around 1pm to eat lunch!

Below is the list of different areas in the facility:

Toddler Area (a smaller ball pit, some puzzles and games on the wall)
Pretend Play area (lots of girls were there, my boys did not go in AT ALL)
Room with a doll house and a play kitchen (toddler friendly)
Train table
Fishing area
Car riding room
Cannon foam ball area (my boys spent 90% the time there)
Huge ball pit with slides (connected to cannon ball area)
Blue giant foam blocks area
Balloon area

Miaoli, Four Ways Farm 四方牧場

Very industrial looking

where you buy tickets during the week. (there's a gift shop and a few video games)

the only activity available

THERE IS NOTHING!!!

Location:google map location

Hours: M-F 9:00-18:00, Sat/Sun 8:00-18:00

Pros: feeding baby cows, camping grounds, picnic tables with large grassy area

Cons: looks old and run-down, nothing to do during the week.

Tickets are NT$60 for ages 3 and up, so it's relatively inexpensive. The ticket includes a snack (choose from a bottle of milk or a milk custard). We went on a Thursday morning around 10am, and I think by 10:30 we were ready to leave. The long slide you've read about on some blog? It's been closed since 2014 (I should've checked the date). Other than feeding the baby cows ($20 for a bottle), there was NOTHING to do. And I have to say, the feeding area could definitely use some cleaning. Yes, there are two huge grassy areas and picnic tables that are great for letting the kids go wild, but you wouldn't really drive all the way to Miaoli just for that. Maybe it is more fun on the weekends if there are more kids around??? I'd say, buy the milk at Oranger Mart, you can skip this place. 

Taipei, Zhonghua Park 中華公園

Location: google map location (closest MRT station: Taipei Arena Station)

Pros: monkey bars, big open space, lots of benches, 7-11 & coffee shops near by

Cons: no restrooms on site

We discovered this park while heading to a restaurant in this neighborhood. It is bigger than your usual neighborhood parks in Taipei, and it has monkey bars! It also has a big open space next to the playground for riding bikes/tag/running around. One side of the park is open toward a busy road (Jiangkang Rd.), but not so close where you need to worry the kids might accidentally kick a ball over. The rest is relatively fenced in. The park is great if you need to watch multiple kids at one time. There are also two good restaurants near by: Dian Shui Lou 點水樓 and Zhen Fu Ji 真福記 - I would recommend spending some time at this park before getting some yummy food!! 

Taipei, Guang Fu Elementary 光復國小

Location: google map location (right next to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall)
Pros: lots of climbing structures, close to 7-11/restaurants
Cons: There should be bathrooms around, but we couldn't find any....

If your little ones have more energy to burn after visiting the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, you can jump right next door to this elementary school! My boys never get tired of climbing, so this was especially fun for them. There is also a normal playground structure further inside of the elementary (nothing special but will still be fun for preschoolers).

Zhubei, Bo Ai Elementary 博愛國小

Location: google map location, No. 72, Guangming 6th Rd, Zhubei City, Hsinchu County

Parking: street parking available around the neighborhood

Pros: Not crowded. monkey bars.

Cons: nothing really!

All of the public schools in Taiwan are open to public on the weekends or during the week before and after school hours. This is one of the things I love about being here - you have free access to basketball courts, track, and playground in your neighborhood! We were here for a soccer practice, and we discovered that they have a pretty fun playground with monkey bars!

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.