Yingge and Sansia Half-Day Folk Arts Tour from Taipei

Taipei, Taiwan

Explore the two neighboring towns of Yingge and Sansia on this tour from Taipei. Yingge is Taiwan's ceramic and potter capital, producing magnificent hand-painted works of art, from earthenware tea sets to delicate statues. Visit Sansia's Ching Shui Tsu Shih Temple, which is one of the world's finest examples of current Chinese temple art built in 1769.

Tour Highlights

• Sansia Ching Shui Tsu Shih Temple
• Old Street in Sansia
• Yingge's Pottery Factory and Showroom
• Pottery Street in Yingge

This tour visits the neighboring towns of Yingge and Sansia. Yingge is Taiwan's pottery capital, a small town that produces hand-painted replicas of elegant Ming and Ching vases like those that once graced the places in Peking. The old Yingee pottery street is famous for it's ceramic and pottery stores. You'll have the opportunity to purchase some of these exquisite items. Every October the town holds a pottery street festival.

Visit a local Pottery factory where you can watch potters' working the clay and artists painting vases.

Tour continues to the traditional country town of Sansia, originally called Sanjiauyung. The main attraction in Sansia is the artistic Ching Shui Tsu Shih Temple, built in 1769 and destroyed in the 1833 earthquake, it was later rebuilt in 1867. The Ching Shui Tsu Shih Temple is famous for its camphor wood carvings. It is graded a a historic site and is one of Taipei's major temples.

Walk the beautiful old street of Sansia, lined with old western style buildings decorated with wood carvings as well as bronze and stone sculptures.

USD $45.00

Review by:   John C G,    May 2016
Our guide was a driver, not a guide. While he spoke excellent English he didn't have any prepared information for us and seemed to be totally unprepared for our outing. _br/_ The pottery factory was interesting and the employees did a good job with the tour.

Review by:   mlyuen,    November 2014
The guide is very knowledgable and gives very detail description on the Temple in Sansia. The street of Sansia is very beautifully laid out. _br/_ The street in Yingge that sells ceramics offers a good choice of souvenirs. It would be better if we can visit the Ceramic Museum instead of the factory. To do this we may need more time._br/_ It is a good introduction to Taiwan folk arts on the whole.

Review by:   Alvin M,    December 2013
Too much time at pottery factory so time at pottery street very limited.

Review by:   Travis B,    July 2013
The tour was good, but the bus was not. It needed a new set of Shocks and tires. We bounced the entire tour. Our second day's tour was the same. Not sure if we were on a different bus or not. No difference in the ride.

Review by:   Monica M,    September 2011
Didn't get to look at the Old Street of Sansia at all - just the temple. DEFINITELY not enough time. Rushed off to Yingge. Yingge was informative and would be interesting for people specifically interested in pottery. However, we weren't able to explore the Old Street there either, and we spent the majority of the time in show rooms with pieces that were insanely expensive. Not recommending this tour.

Review by:   Marshall D,    December 2010
One of the most disappointing half-day tours my wife & I have ever taken. We went initially to Sansia & spent so long at a Taoist temple that we were only able to walk about 50 metres along Sansia Old Street before our guide told us it was time to go to Yingge. Instead of going to Pottery Street as expected or the ceramics museum as we'd hoped, we were taken to a single store, where prices were quite expensive. No-one wanted to purchase anything, whereupon the tour guide announced we had 20 minutes to spare & we would go back to the railway station so we could look in the shops opposite. Unfortunately, the quality of the pottery in those shops that were open was very poor & staff in several stores were clearly surprised at our wanting to look at their merchandise. One person made a single purchase before we were back at the tour van well before the 'spare 20 minutes' had expired. My wife & I were disconcerted by the absence of seat belts in the 9-seater van that was used for this tour & did not feel comfortable while travelling. While the tour guide was very personable & knowledgeable, I cannot recommend this tour to anyone interested in seeing Sansia or Yingge.

Review by:   Marshall D,    November 2010
One of the most disappointing half-day tours my wife & I have ever taken. We went initially to Sansia & spent so long at a Taoist temple that we were only able to walk about 50 metres along Sansia Old Street before our guide told us it was time to go to Yingge. Instead of going to Pottery Street as expected or the ceramics museum as we'd hoped, we were taken to a single store, where prices were quite expensive. No-one wanted to purchase anything, whereupon the tour guide announced we had 20 minutes to spare & we would go back to the railway station so we could look in the shops opposite. Unfortunately, the quality of the pottery in those shops that were open was very poor & staff in several stores were clearly surprised at our wanting to look at their merchandise. One person made a single purchase before we were back at the tour van well before the 'spare 20 minutes' had expired. My wife & I were disconcerted by the absence of seat belts in the 9-seater van that was used for this tour & did not feel comfortable while travelling. While the tour guide was very personable & knowledgeable, I cannot recommend this tour to anyone interested in seeing Sansia or Yingge.

Review by:   Diane C,    July 2010
The old street market and pottery factory were really neat.

Review by:   Diane C,    April 2008
The old street market and pottery factory were really neat.