Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden

The Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden (霧峰林家宅園) is the old family seat of the Lins of Wufeng, counted among the five great families of Taiwan in the Japanese era. It is a national monument in Wufeng District, south of the city center. The part you can visit is Gongbaodi Park (霧峰林家宮保第園區): three restored groups of buildings from the family's Lower Mansion. It is not guided only. You buy a ticket, go in at the next set entry time and explore on your own; a guided tour is optional. Allow about two hours.

• Hours Daily 09:00 to 17:00; on weekdays some areas close from 12:00 to 13:00
• Tickets on sale 09:00 to 16:00, or to 16:20 on weekends and holidays
• Entry NT$250; NT$200 for over 65s, students 12 and over, and Taichung residents; NT$125 for children 6 to 12; free under 6
• Closed 10, 21 and 28 December 2026 (staff training), and on typhoon days when the city suspends work and classes
• Address No. 26, Minsheng Rd., Wufeng District
• Getting there Bus 50 from Taichung Station or 151 from HSR Taichung Station to 霧峰郵局(明台高中), then about 5 minutes on foot

What you see

The national monument has three parts: the Lower Mansion (下厝), the Upper Mansion (頂厝) and the Lai Garden (萊園). They are run separately, and some Lin descendants still live on the site. A Gongbaodi Park ticket covers three building groups of the Lower Mansion:

• Gongbaodi (宮保第). Lin Wencha (林文察, 1828 to 1864) began the house in 1858. He was killed fighting the Taiping rebels in 1864 and given the posthumous title of Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent (太子少保), which gave the house its name. Lin Chaodong (林朝棟) added the front halls between 1870 and 1883, and the rear halls were finished before 1895. It is five halls deep and eleven bays wide, and the operator describes it as the only first-rank Qing official residence left in Taiwan.
• The Grand Flower Hall (大花廳). Built from 1890 to 1894 under Lin Chaodong for banquets, meetings and opera, with the family's own troupe. Its Fuzhou-style opera stage is the only one in Taiwan, and the hall takes its name from the peony carved at the center of its octagonal ceiling.
• The Thatched House (草厝). The family's first home, begun around 1837: a three-sided courtyard house with a granary and a gate house. Part of it was lost in the Japanese era. It was rebuilt to match photographs from 1930, with a thatched roof, and opened in 2020.

The Upper Mansion side, with the Lai Garden and the Lin Hsien-tang Museum (林獻堂博物館), needs its own ticket; Taichung Tourism notes that the Lai Garden is now part of a school campus. Check its opening times locally before you plan around it.

A short history

The family's founder, Lin Shi (林石), crossed to Taiwan in 1746. After he died in prison following the Lin Shuang-wen uprising, his widowed daughter-in-law moved the family in 1788 to Ah-tsau-bu (阿罩霧), the old name for Wufeng. The Lower Mansion branch rose through military service for the Qing, which brought land and the camphor trade; the Upper Mansion branch, including Lin Hsien-tang (林獻堂), became known for business and for backing culture and social movements in the Japanese era.

The 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake brought down about 80 percent of the houses, and for a time it was unclear whether the site would keep its heritage status. After years of rebuilding, Gongbaodi Park reopened in July 2014.

Tickets, entry times and guided tours

• Set entry times. Visitors go in together at 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 13:10, 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00, 15:30 and 16:00. On weekends there is also a 12:00 entry, and 13:10 becomes 13:00.
• Discounts. Show valid ID for a discounted ticket, or you pay the full price. Wufeng residents, people with disabilities and one companion go free. Groups of 20 or more should call ahead.
• Guided tours. Book online at least one day ahead, and check in at the ticket office 10 minutes before. Each month's tours open for booking at 12:00 on the 20th of the month before. Weekends and holidays: 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00. Weekdays: 09:30, 11:00, 14:00 and 16:00. Holiday weekends can have different times.
• In English. English and Japanese guiding is free only for groups of 35 or more booked by phone; others can ask for a quote. Without a guide, there are information boards, guide videos you open with QR codes in some areas, and, the operator says, videos in foreign languages.

Good to know: on weekdays, avoid arriving around noon, when there is no entry between 11:30 and 13:10 and some areas close for lunch. Weekends have no lunch break. Phone 04-2331-1919.

Getting there

• Bus 50: from Taichung Station (臺中車站(成功路口)) south through Dali to 霧峰郵局(明台高中), then about 5 minutes on foot. → City buses
• Bus 151: from platform 14 at HSR Taichung Station to 霧峰郵局(明台高中), about 30 minutes, then about 5 minutes on foot.
• YouBike: there is a station at the corner of Lane 47, Laiyuan Road (萊園路47巷口), by the Yingxi Gate (迎曦門); go in by the entrance on the right. → YouBike in Taichung
• Taxi: from Taichung Station or HSR Taichung Station.

Pair it with

Both buses carry on to more of Wufeng. Bus 50 ends at the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan (921地震教育園區), about the same 1999 earthquake, after stopping at Guangfu New Village (光復新村), built in 1956 as Taiwan's first new town planned on garden city lines, for provincial government staff. Bus 151 stops at 亞洲大學安藤館 for the Asia University Museum of Modern Art, a Tadao Ando building. Hours, tickets and directions for both museums are on our Taichung museums page; both close on Mondays.

→ Things to do

Sources

Wufeng Lin Family Gongbaodi Park, the operator (hours, tickets, entry times and guided tours, history and buildings, what the ticket covers, buses and YouBike, English visitor information, the 1999 earthquake and 2014 reopening, December 2026 closures, nearby sights); Taichung Tourism (The Lin's Garden in Wufeng); Taichung City Bus (route 50, route 151). Checked November 2026.