Huaxi Street Night Market

Taiwan’s first planned tourist night market, laid out along Huaxi Street near Bangka Lungshan Temple and entered through a traditional archway festooned with red lanterns. Popularly known as “Snake Alley”, it long drew crowds to shops serving snake and turtle meat, a trade that grew up alongside the old Baodouli (寶斗里) red light district. The street had been a haunt of boatmen and dock workers since Qing dynasty times and a licensed pleasure quarter or yūkaku (遊廓) under Japanese colonial rule. After the city abolished licensed prostitution in 1997 the area was redeveloped into the interlocking set of night market streets now found here. Many of its stalls are long-established institutions and several vendors have earned Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition. Although its most prosperous days are long past, it remains a popular spot for traditional dining, and regularly appears on screen in film and television.