- Where
- Wanli District, New Taipei
north coast of Taiwan - Coordinates
- 25.21° N
121.69° E - The cape
- About 1,700 m long
Miocene sandstone - Queen’s Head
- Neck 116.6 cm round (2024)
over 250 cm before 1997 - Getting there
- Bus 1815 from Taipei
about 1 h 10 - Best visited
- Year-round, in calm weather
- Advisory
- Taiwan Level 1
A cape of yellow rock running out into a grey sea, carved by the waves into mushrooms, honeycombs and one long-necked lady with her chin up. There was a queue to stand near her and a red line that everybody respected, so I did too. Afterwards I found a bronze statue near the shore, read its plaque as well as I could, and stood beside it quietly for a while.
The short answer
Yehliu is a cape, about 1,700 metres long, in Wanli District on the north coast of New Taipei, Taiwan, within the North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area, Wikipedia records. Its rock is sandstone of the Daliao Formation, laid down in the sea in the Miocene. About six million years ago the collision of the Philippine Sea and Eurasian plates pushed the land up; since then the waves have worn the softer layers away faster than the harder ones, leaving top-heavy hoodoos and mushroom rocks, shown in the Yehliu Geopark. The most famous is the Queen’s Head. Its neck, measured round, was over 250 cm before 1997 and 116.59 cm in 2024, by the measurements Chinese Wikipedia collects, and it is guarded so that nobody touches or climbs it.
Why it's worth knowing
How a mushroom rock forms. The top of the Daliao Formation at Yehliu is a calcareous sandstone, hardened at the surface by dissolved lime; below it lie softer sandstones. Waves, and the strong north-east monsoon that blows every winter half of the year, wear the soft rock faster than the hard cap, so the cap ends up perched on a narrowing stalk, Chinese Wikipedia records. The land is still rising, about 2 to 4 mm a year, which has lifted this shore by nearly 8 metres in a little over 3,000 years and brought new rock up into the zone of the waves.
A face from about 1962. By Chinese Wikipedia’s account, the Queen’s Head took its shape around 1962, when the top of one mushroom rock cracked along a joint; English Wikipedia calls the rock more than 4,000 years old, which describes the rock rather than the face. The photographer Wu Tung-hsing gave it the name “Queen’s Head” at an exhibition of Yehliu photographs, “The Forgotten Paradise”, held in Taipei from 20 to 25 October 1962; the day after it opened, more than twenty coaches of visitors arrived at the cape. Taipei County opened Yehliu as a scenic area in 1964, and the head has been on stamps, souvenirs and tourism posters since.
Measured, guarded, forecast. In September 1983 a ranger found a saw cut 20 cm wide and 6 cm deep in the neck; the county patched it with cement, which stood out like a scar. The neck measured 158 cm round in 1997, 138.27 cm in August 2008, 125.01 cm in October 2017, 118.3 cm in 2023 and 116.59 cm in 2024, Chinese Wikipedia records. Walkways have kept visitors back since 1998, and since 26 April 2012 a guard has stood by the head, with fines of NT$3,000 to NT$15,000 for climbing it or crossing the red line. In 2014 a National Taiwan University team led by Hsieh Kuo-huang tested a nano-material on four similar rocks nearby to strengthen them; within nine months the treated rocks were flaking or whitening, and the trial was judged a failure. In 2015 Hsieh told AFP that the head could break within five to ten years if nothing were done (as reported, indexed); it was still standing in photographs dated August 2025. In September 2025 the geographer Lin Jun-chuan suggested that if it does fall, it could be moved indoors and set up again for teaching.
The field notes
A man who went in after a student
On the afternoon of 18 March 1964, a first-year student of National Taiwan University, Chang Kuo-chuan, slipped into the sea near the rock called the Fairy Shoe while the tide was rising. Lin Tian-zhen, a 38-year-old Yehliu villager who with his wife ran a small eating house, and who had already pulled people from the water four times, went in after him; both drowned. He left his parents, his wife and seven children, the eldest thirteen. A bronze statue of him stands at Yehliu, and his story was written into Taiwan’s primary school readers, Chinese Wikipedia records.
A princess, and a copy
On 20 January 2010 another mushroom rock broke and left a shape that people quickly named the Playful Princess. In 2009 the park had paid NT$1 million for a fibreglass copy of the Queen’s Head, so that visitors could touch the copy rather than the original, Chinese Wikipedia records. English Wikipedia describes a smaller replica called the “Princess Head”; the two accounts may be mixing the copy with the natural rock.
The Queen's Head, August 2025.
Honeycomb weathering on a sandstone cone, with mushroom rocks behind.
Photograph: Balon Greyjoy · CC0
A fossil sand dollar in the sandstone.
Photograph: Photnart · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
A sandstone ridge running into the sea at the cape.
Photograph: Balon Greyjoy · CC0
- Arrive when the gate opens, before the coaches, and head for the far end of the cape first.
- Stop at the bronze statue near the water, hat in hand, and give it the time it asks.
- Stay behind the red line. Her neck has enough to put up with.
- Go on a calm day, and retreat from the rocks when the waves come up.
- Name every rock that looks like something. (Gave up after a shoe, a candle, a dozing hound and somebody’s uncle. Shapes now have a page of their own.)
The Queen’s Head. A mushroom rock on the Yehliu cape whose cap, since a crack along a joint around 1962, has looked like a woman’s head in profile, with a high-piled crown and a raised chin, set on a pale, banded neck of softer sandstone. The neck is the trouble: it has been measured for decades as wind and spray wear it away, from over 250 cm round to 116.59 cm in 2024. A red line, a walkway and a guard keep visitors back, and the head has outlived every forecast of its fall so far.
Tally, in the marginSo slender at the neck that I stopped breathing while I looked at her, as though a sneeze might do it. She keeps her chin up through all of it, which I could not have managed.
Getting there
How to get there. Kuo-Kuang bus 1815, from its terminal next to Taipei Main Station towards Jinshan, stops at Yehliu; buses run about every 20 minutes and take about 1 hour 10 minutes (travel guides, as indexed).
When to go. Any time of year, in calm weather. Typhoons are among the natural hazards the State Department lists for Taiwan, and in storms the park has closed most of its viewing areas when waves reached the Queen’s Head (Taiwanese news reports, as indexed). The north-east monsoon blows hard through the winter half of the year.
What to arrange ahead. Nothing beyond the ticket, bought at the gate: adult admission is NT$120, and the park is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., later in summer (travel guides, as indexed). Expect a queue to stand near the Queen’s Head on busy days.
Safety. The State Department has Taiwan at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level; its only note is the risk of natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, flooding and extreme heat (advisory dated 25 November 2025 in its feed, read 7 October 2026). On the cape, keep behind the red lines and off wet rock at the water’s edge.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is Yehliu Geopark?
Yehliu Geopark is on a cape about 1,700 metres long in Wanli District, New Taipei, on the north coast of Taiwan, within the North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area. Kuo-Kuang bus 1815 from Taipei Main Station takes about 1 hour 10 minutes.
Has the Queen's Head at Yehliu fallen?
No. The Queen’s Head at Yehliu was still standing in photographs dated August 2025. Its neck has worn from over 250 cm round before 1997 to 116.59 cm in 2024, by the measurements Chinese Wikipedia collects, and a guard has stood beside it since 2012.
How long will the Queen's Head last?
No one knows. In 2015 Hsieh Kuo-huang of National Taiwan University said the Queen’s Head at Yehliu could break within five to ten years if nothing were done; it outlasted that forecast. A 2014 attempt to strengthen similar rocks with a nano-material failed within nine months.
How old is the Queen's Head?
The rock of Yehliu is Miocene sandstone, and English Wikipedia calls the Queen’s Head more than 4,000 years old. Chinese Wikipedia says its face took shape around 1962, when the top of a mushroom rock cracked along a joint, and that it was named at a Taipei photo exhibition that October.
How were the mushroom rocks at Yehliu formed?
Yehliu’s mushroom rocks formed where a hard, limy sandstone cap sits on softer sandstone. Waves and the winter north-east monsoon wear the soft rock faster, leaving the cap on a narrowing stalk, while the coast rises about 2 to 4 mm a year, lifting new rock into reach of the sea.
Can you touch the Queen's Head?
No. Visitors to Yehliu Geopark must stay behind a red line around the Queen’s Head, which has been guarded since 26 April 2012; climbing it or crossing the line can bring a fine of NT$3,000 to NT$15,000. A fibreglass copy was made in 2009 for visitors to touch instead.
Who was Lin Tian-zhen?
Lin Tian-zhen was a Yehliu villager who drowned on 18 March 1964 trying to save a National Taiwan University student who had slipped into the sea near the Fairy Shoe rock. He had already saved people from the water four times. A bronze statue of him stands at Yehliu.
How much does Yehliu Geopark cost?
Adult admission to Yehliu Geopark is NT$120, with concession tickets at NT$60, by travel guides’ figures, and the park opens from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., later in summer. Tickets are sold at the gate.