- What this page is Outdoor campgrounds (露營區) where you pitch a tent or book a cabin. For organised holiday camps for children, see Hsinchu with kids.
- How many 273 campgrounds in Hsinchu County on the Tourism Administration's register; 8 listed as compliant, 265 as in breach of the rules (dataset updated September 2026).
- Where Mostly Jianshi (尖石) and Wufeng (五峰), then Guanxi, Hengshan, Beipu and Emei.
- Getting there car. From 20 minutes (lowland sites) to 2 hours or more (high mountain sites) from Zhubei.
- Booking The campground's own site, phone or LINE, or a platform such as EasyCamp (露營樂).
Short answer
Camping is a huge weekend habit in northern Taiwan and Hsinchu County is one of its busiest areas, because the mountains start 30 minutes from Zhubei. Most campgrounds are private farms with tent pitches, toilets, hot showers and often cabins. Check a site against the national register before you book, book weekends early, and treat typhoon warnings and road closures as final.
How camping works here
Almost all camping in Hsinchu County is at private campgrounds, usually on family farmland in the hills. You book a pitch (營位) for one or two nights; many have a covered pitch under a roof (雨棚) for wet weather, and plenty have cabins, A-frame huts or pre-pitched tents (豪華露營, glamping) if you don't own gear. Typical facilities are toilets, hot showers, power points at the pitch and a sink area. Wild camping is a different thing, and national forest recreation areas generally forbid it: Guanwu, for example, bans camping and sleeping in cars anywhere but its lodge campsite.
From Jason's years in Zhubei, what we'd tell a friend: weekends are when everyone goes, so Friday afternoon traffic up Highway 3 and County Road 120 is slow and Sunday afternoon back down is slower. A weekday night in the mountains is a different, quieter trip.
What "legal" means
Since July 2022, campgrounds in Taiwan come under the Tourism Administration's Campground Management Guidelines (露營場管理要點). A site counts as compliant when the land use allows it and the local government has inspected and approved it. For a small campground on farm or forestry land, the rules include: the whole site under 1 hectare, built facilities on no more than 10% of it (capped at 660 m²), structures no higher than 3 m, no sites in sensitive areas such as reservoir catchments or protected forest, at least one road wide enough for a fire engine and ambulance, and public liability insurance. Leisure farms (休閒農場) approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and public campgrounds are also counted as compliant.
The Tourism Administration publishes a national register of campgrounds (全台露營場資料) on the government open-data site, updated every three months, with a column saying whether each site complies. In the September 2026 update, Hsinchu County had 273 campgrounds, all listed as operating: 8 compliant and 265 not. Jianshi (112) and Wufeng (108) have most of the non-compliant ones, and the usual reason given is land-use rules. We couldn't find a separate list published by the Hsinchu County Government.
What it means for you: a non-compliant campground isn't necessarily unsafe, and many popular ones are on the list as non-compliant. But a registered site has been inspected for road access and has insurance, which matters most in the mountains after rain. Our picks below are all from the compliant list, plus the forestry-contracted campsite at Guanwu.
Good to know: to check a campground yourself, open the national campground dataset and search the CSV for its name. The dataset page also links the government's campground lookup app (露營場合法查詢).
Booking
The biggest booking site is EasyCamp (露營樂), which listed 61 Hsinchu County campgrounds in November 2026, with filters for altitude, rain shelters and car camping. It has no filter for legal status, so cross-check. iCamping is another platform some campgrounds use. Many smaller sites take bookings only by phone, LINE or Facebook, in Chinese, and ask for a bank-transfer deposit. Popular sites fill weeks ahead for weekends and holidays; weekdays are much easier.
Weather, roads and the mountains
- Typhoons and heavy rain. In July 2026 Typhoon Bavi blocked County Road 120 and several Wufeng roads; they reopened within days. In late October 2026 a landslide closed the Zhu 60 road (竹60) at km 22 to 23 in Jianshi. If a typhoon warning is out, don't go: the county evacuates mountain villages pre-emptively. Ask your campground about its cancellation policy before you pay.
- Road status. There's no single county road-closure page. Check the Jianshi (03-5841001) or Wufeng (03-5851001) township office, your campground, and news reports before a mountain trip. More in the mountains guide.
- Cold. At 800 to 1,000 m, where many campgrounds sit, nights from November to March are a lot colder than Zhubei; at Guanwu, 1,400 m and up, bring winter gear.
- Bugs. Bring insect repellent and long sleeves. Leeches turn up on wet forest trails at altitude. (General advice; we found no official guidance specific to Hsinchu.)
- Wildlife. Black bears have been seen near Guanwu; the visitor center lends bear bells.
Registered campgrounds near Zhubei
All of these are listed as compliant in the Tourism Administration's register (September 2026). Drive times are our estimates from Zhubei HSR Station outside rush hour; mountain roads are slower than the distance suggests. Facilities are as published by the campground; where nothing is published online, we say so.
| Campground | Township | Drive from Zhubei HSR (estimate) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaodingdang Science Park campground | Xinfeng | 20 to 25 min | Campervans in a theme park |
| Nanyuan leisure farm | Xinpu | 25 to 30 min | Leisure farm |
| Wanrui Forest Park | Hengshan | 35 to 40 min | Forest park |
| Dashanbei Leisure Farm | Hengshan | 45 min | Leisure farm |
| Dashanbei Hakka Eco Museum | Hengshan | 45 min | Public campground |
| Emei Junior High campground | Emei | 30 to 35 min | Public campground |
| Zhumeng Shancheng | Jianshi | about 1 hour 10 min | Leisure farm, about 1,000 m |
| Lulin campground | Wufeng | about 1 hour 30 min | Large campground, 800 m |
| Guanwu Lodge campsite | Guanwu (Wufeng and Miaoli border) | 2 hours 30 min or more | Forest campsite, high altitude |
Lulin campground (鹿林道營地), Wufeng: the full-service pick
The best-equipped registered campground in the county, and the one we'd pick for a first family trip. Lulin is at the 3 km mark of the Dalu Forest Road (大鹿林道) near Qingquan, at about 800 m. It has 92 pitches in 19 zones, a rain-shelter area with water and power, A-frame huts and villa cabins if you don't bring a tent, tent and sleeping-bag rental, 10 toilets (one accessible), a bathhouse with 10 hot-water rooms including family rooms, a shop, and a sand pit and play area. It describes itself as legally registered with public liability insurance. Book online, by phone (0935-242658) or on LINE (@lulin); weekends fill early. In the national register it appears as 鹿林濤營地 (compliant since January 2026) alongside an older non-compliant entry under the Lulin name; we take the newer registration to be the same site, but ask when you book. About 1 hour 30 minutes from Zhubei HSR (our estimate). Combine it with Qingquan: see the mountains guide.
Zhumeng Shancheng (築夢山城休閒農場), Jianshi
A registered leisure farm at about 1,000 m in Yixing Village (義興村9鄰馬胎168號), in Jianshi's front mountains, with tent pitches and painted cabins with air-conditioning (bring your own bedding). It's known for being hard to book on holidays. Bookings via its Facebook page or 0917-153878. We couldn't confirm shower and power details online. Directions: about 1 hour 10 minutes from Zhubei HSR (our estimate), the last part on narrow mountain road.
Dashanbei: two sites on one hill, Hengshan
The Dashanbei hills above Hengshan have two registered sites: Dashanbei Leisure Farm (大山背52號, 0988-909769, bookings through its Facebook page), and the public campground at the Dashanbei Hakka Eco Museum (大山北月, 大山背80號). Neither publishes full facilities online that we could verify, so call first. The draw is the setting: cherry blossom in spring, fireflies in April and May, and the short trails on our hikes page. About 45 minutes from Zhubei HSR (our estimate).
Wanrui Forest Park (萬瑞森林樂園), Hengshan
A long-established forest park in Hengshan Village, registered since 2004. We couldn't open an official page with its current facilities or booking details, so call or check its listing before you go. Directions: about 35 to 40 minutes from Zhubei HSR (our estimate), close to Neiwan.
Nanyuan (南園清心園林休閒農場), Xinpu
A leisure farm at Jiuqionghu (九芎湖32號) in Xinpu, registered since 2019, in the low hills rather than the mountains: an easy first night out with children. Phone 03-5890011. Directions: about 25 to 30 minutes from Zhubei HSR (our estimate).
Xiaodingdang Science Park (小叮噹科學主題樂園), Xinfeng
The closest to Zhubei, and not wild at all: campervans with air-conditioning, bunks and a private bathroom inside a children's science theme park, with stays that include park entry. A good trial run for young kids. Phone 03-5592132. Directions: about 20 to 25 minutes from Zhubei HSR (our estimate).
Emei Junior High campground (峨眉國中露營場)
A public campground listed in the register for Emei. We couldn't find published booking details; contact Emei Township or the school. Mainly useful for groups.
Guanwu Lodge campsite (觀霧山莊), high altitude, farther
The one high-mountain option with official standing: Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area (觀霧國家森林遊樂區), 1,400 to 2,500 m on the Wufeng and Miaoli border, allows camping only at the forest campsite run by Guanwu Lodge under contract with the Forestry Agency. Book through Guanwu Lodge (037-268818). The area is free to enter, service hours 08:00 to 17:00. The Forestry Agency puts it about 2 hours from Zhudong on the Dalu Forest Road, with weekday one-way traffic control at km 24 until 31 January 2027; allow 2 hours 30 minutes or more from Zhubei. A typhoon notice closed the area from 23 October 2026; confirm it has reopened before you go.
Popular, but not on the compliant list
You'll see well-known names such as Smangus's campgrounds, Genesis (起初露營區) in Jianshi and several glamping sites in Wufeng recommended everywhere. In the September 2026 register they are listed as not compliant, mostly on land-use grounds. That's for you to weigh; we've left them out of our picks. Smangus also forbids camping in the village itself.
→ The outdoors near Hsinchu · Jianshi and Wufeng · Hikes near Zhubei · Hsinchu with kids
Sources: Tourism Administration, national campground register (全台露營場資料), update of 15 September 2026, counted by us; Campground Management Guidelines (露營場管理要點); Newtalk on legalisation numbers (June 2025); EasyCamp; Lulin campground; TVBS Supertaste on Zhumeng Shancheng and on Xiaodingdang campervans; Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area and Hsinchu Branch; Liberty Times on the Guanwu Lodge campsite; typhoon road reports from CNA (July 2026), PTS (July 2026), Liberty Times (July 2026) and CNA (October 2026); campground phone numbers and addresses from the register and the campgrounds' own pages. Drive times are our estimates. Checked November 2026.