Three things not to do, first.
Do not come for dinner: tourist pricing, NT$500 to NT$800 a head buys the seat, not the food. Do not arrive after nine: the shops are shut, the lights are on, the people are gone. Do not drive out on a weekend evening: the Guanhai Road car parks back up all the way to Lover’s Bridge.
What is left is the part of a wharf night that is worth it.
Forty minutes before sunset
The boardwalk faces west, straight at the river mouth. Arrive at six in summer, five in winter; the twenty minutes before the sun touches the horizon are the best. On heavily clouded days it packs up early — go by what you see.
The boardwalk is about five minutes on foot from LRT Fisherman’s Wharf station, all flat. The ferry from the Old Street pier takes about ten minutes, and sunset from the water is another angle — check the pier for the last sailing.
The hour after the lights come on
Lover’s Bridge stands at No. 199 Guanhai Road, lit after dark, about ten minutes to cross. That hour is all Fisherman’s Wharf has: bridge, lights, wind, the lamps of Bali across the water. The photo spot is mid-boardwalk shooting toward the bridge, in the ten minutes after the lights come on and before the sky goes fully dark.
pier salon & bar碼頭沙龍餐酒館 on the boardwalk at No. 8 Shangdian Street holds a full five stars over 870 reviews and is the bistro on the wharf that lasts into the evening — a single glass against the sea wind, window seat. 匞咖啡 Jiangspace at No. 26 Guanhai Road, beside the LRT station, has two hundred-odd reviews, serves both coffee and drinks, and is where people wait for the tram.
Most other venues close between nine and ten; posted hours rule.
Nine o’clock, retreat
There is no nightlife at Fisherman’s Wharf after nine. Take that sentence at face value.
Three ways to continue.
Old Street: 微醺吉他tipsy guitar音樂酒吧 at No. 7 Zhongzheng Road, 2F, has 850-plus reviews and live music; Bar Salix 煽樓 at No. 233-2, 3F, five hundred-plus, runs the cocktail line; Haloé 日義燒烤餐酒館 淡水 on 3F of the Lai Lai plaza at No. 2 Zhongzheng Road Section 1 has two hundred-odd reviews and sits closest to the MRT. The Old Street itself goes quiet after nine — details in after the Old Street closes.
Shalun: 夜店 Late Night Cuisine (沙崙店) at No. 16, Lane 156 Shalun Road has five hundred-plus reviews on the late-night-kitchen line; 好久不見歡唱俱樂部 at No. 257 is one of the few KTVs still open in Tamsui. About ten minutes by car from the wharf.
Xinshi 1st Road: 蔦燒日式居酒屋-淡水新市店 at No. 143-1 Section 3 has over 2,900 reviews, the most of any izakaya in Tamsui, and is where residents eat dinner. A few stops back on the LRT.
Full list in Tamsui’s izakayas and bars.
Wind, season, last train
From October to March the northeast monsoon makes the boardwalk unstandable — jacket mandatory. Summer nights are comfortable; around typhoons in July and August, check the sea conditions notice.
Return: LRT or the Red 26 bus to MRT Tamsui station, last train around midnight. Miss it and only taxis remain, NT$700 to NT$800 and up to central Taipei. If you drank, no scooter — cab or designated driver.
To finish on foot, 淡水老街李炳輝足體養身館 at No. 51 Zhongzheng Road has four hundred-plus reviews and 芳香閣足體養生會館 at No. 84 nearly two hundred, both on the Old Street, five minutes from the MRT after the table. More in Tamsui massage and spa and the Tamsui guide.