Heping Island Geopark

Heping Island is joined to Keelung by a short bridge, and its northern shore is a shelf of sandstone that the sea has cut into mushroom rocks, honeycomb weathering and tofu jointing, much like Yehliu but with a park built round it and far fewer people. A seawater swimming pool is filled by the tide. The island was the site of the Spanish fort of San Salvador in the 1620s, and excavation has found the church that went with it.

What you actually see

• The mushroom rocks - undercut sandstone pillars along the northern shore.
• The tidal swimming pool - a seawater pool filled and flushed by the tide.
• The honeycomb weathering - pitted rock faces across the softer beds.
• The Spanish excavation - the site of the 1620s fort and its church.

When to go

April to October is the swimming season and the most comfortable. Winter brings heavy northeast wind and swell. Typhoon closures happen in late summer.

Honest expectations

The rock is sharp and slippery and the shore has no barriers. High swell closes the pool and the coastal path. The Spanish site is an excavation rather than a visible ruin.

Nearby

Keelung city is across the bridge, and Jinshan is west along the coast.