Anping Old Fort (安平古堡) is where the written history of Tainan begins. The Dutch East India Company built a fort here from 1624, called it Fort Zeelandia, and ran its colony from it until Koxinga drove them out in 1662. Very little of the Dutch fort is left, and what you see today is four centuries of layers: a stretch of original brick wall wrapped in banyan roots, a Japanese-era platform and exhibition hall, and a white lookout tower whose look dates from 1975. Give it an hour, and go in the cooler part of the day.
The story in five dates
- 1624: the Dutch start building on the sandbar at Anping. The first fort, Fort Orange, is made of sand and wood because brick is scarce.
- 1627: renamed Fort Zeelandia (熱蘭遮城), and building moves to brick and stone. The city's heritage office dates the finished fort to 1633 to 1634.
- 1662: Koxinga (鄭成功) takes the fort, renames the area Anping, and makes the inner fort his seat of government. Locals called it the King's Castle (王城), and Koxinga died here only months later.
- 1897 to 1930: under Japanese rule, part of the old fort is leveled for a brick platform and customs staff housing. An iron lighthouse is moved onto the site in 1908, and in 1930 the hilltop building becomes an exhibition hall. → Japanese-era Tainan
- 1975: the city renovates the site for a tourism year, adding the pointed roof to the lookout tower and painting the walls white. That is the look you see today.
What actually survives
According to the city's heritage office, the only true Dutch-era remains are the brick wall in front of the fort, part of the south wall of the old outer fort. It is the most moving thing here: soft red brick, centuries old, gripped by old banyan roots. Everything up on the platform, the lighthouse and the tower, belongs to later periods.
The lookout tower
The white tower is the image on every postcard, and it is easy to assume it is Dutch. It is not. The pointed roof and white walls date from the 1975 renovation. Climb it anyway for the view over the Anping rooftops toward the harbor.
The museums
There are two places to learn the story on site. The history exhibition hall sits in the 1930 building on the platform. The Zeelandia Museum (熱蘭遮博物館), also inside the fort grounds, reopened its permanent exhibition, From Tayouan to Taiwan (從大員到臺灣), in September 2023. Built with National Cheng Kung University, it shows reconstructed plans and a model of the fort and its town, objects excavated over the years, and an AR experience that lets you see the 17th-century fort from the square out front. Excavations around this time turned up about 2,000 pieces of porcelain spanning the 17th century to the Japanese era.
Good to know
- Hours: 08:30 to 17:30 daily, including national holidays, per the city's historic sites office. The city tourism site lists shorter hours, 10:00 to 17:10, so we'd aim to arrive by mid-afternoon.
- Entry: NT$70 full price; NT$35 half price for students from outside Tainan and visitors 65 and over; free for Tainan residents with ID, visitors 70 and over, children 6 and under, and visitors with disabilities plus one companion. Foreign students pay half price. Tickets are also sold online through Klook and KKday.
- Address: No. 82, Guosheng Rd, Anping District (臺南市安平區國勝路82號)
- Getting there: bus 102 from Tainan Station to the Anping Old Fort stop, or the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle 88 or 99. About 15 minutes by car from the old town.
The Historic Site Pass
The fort is one of four city-run historic sites with the same NT$70 ticket, alongside the Anping Tree House, Chihkan Tower and Eternal Golden Castle. For 2026 the city sold a Tainan Historic Sites pass (臺南古蹟漫遊券) for NT$150, good for any two of the four, with no expiry on the tickets. Sales ended on 31 August 2026, so ask at the ticket counter whether a new pass is on sale when you visit.
Pair it with
The Tree House is a short walk away and the obvious next stop. → Anping Tree House guide · Anping half-day plan · Anping guide
Sources
History, hours and tickets: Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau, historic sites (Anping Old Fort page and visitor information), and Travel Tainan. Zeelandia Museum exhibition: CNA (September 2023) and CNA (September 2023). Historic Sites pass: Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau. Checked October 2026.