Is Taipei’s Chinchilla Café Worth Visiting in 2024?

This guide will help you decide if it’s worth visiting Taipei’s UU Chinchilla Café. Read on to learn more.

My wife and I visited the café, and I want to share my review. I highly recommend it for anyone visiting Taipei.

This isn’t a sponsored post. I’m writing this because I really enjoyed the experience. Though, I’d gladly accept a sponsorship to go back.

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Key Takeaways

• I’d rate this café 5 out of 5 and would visit again.
• You’ll need to pay a NT$700 deposit.
• You’ll have 90 minutes to spend with the chinchillas.
• Book a reservation at least a day in advance.
• The café is 18 °C (64 °F); bring a jacket if needed.

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What is Taipei’s Chinchilla Café?

UU Chinchilla Café (悠悠龍猫咖啡) is located in Taipei’s Nangang District. It’s home to over 80 chinchillas from different countries. Visitors can adopt chinchillas or play with and watch them.

The café has two floors:

• The ground floor is for general dining and chinchilla viewing.
• The second floor allows dining and chinchilla interaction.

No reservation is needed for the ground floor, but you can’t play with the chinchillas there. I didn’t see any chinchillas on this floor when I visited, though they are supposed to be there.

The second floor requires a reservation and includes a “white glove” experience.

I’ll get into that shortly.

But first, is it worth visiting?

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Is It Worth Visiting?

Yes, visiting UU Chinchilla Café is worth it. The food wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad either. However, we had plenty of time to interact with the chinchillas.

If you have loud children, this may not be the best place. Chinchillas are sensitive to noise, and loud sounds might scare them.

I’ll provide more information about the details of my visit in a bit.

Let’s check out the pros and cons, first:

Most places in Taiwan have language barriers. It’s primarily a Mandarin-speaking country, what do you expect? But I wanted to bring it to your attention.

Drinks are priced high (NT$200+), but this helps cover staff and chinchilla care. Thus, I’m not complaining about that.

Again, food for thought.

First, let’s learn how to book a visit.

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How to Book a Visit (Important)

Here’s what you need to know:

• Minimum spend of NT$350 per person.
• You can change your reservation 48 hours in advance.
• There’s a 10% service fee (technically not a tip).
• You must cancel at least 2 days in advance.
• A maximum of 6 people per reservation.
• Tipping isn’t mandatory or encouraged.

If the owner of UU Café reads this and wants to clarify anything, please reach out to me.

To interact with a chinchilla, you must book at least one day ahead. I suggest booking two days in advance. My wife and I almost missed out because someone booked the last slot. Though, a miracle happened and it reopened.

Don’t use their Facebook page for booking. You’ll just get an auto-reply. They handle reservations through the Inline app.

Here’s the booking page.

You’ll then need to submit information like:

• First and last name
• Taiwanese phone number

Everything else is optional.

When selecting a type of table, if you want to chill with the chins, you’ll want to select “Interactive.”

After finishing your booking, you’ll receive a text message to manage your booking. This is where you’d cancel your reservation. And this is what you’d show the staff when arriving.

Now you’ll probably want to know how to get there.

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How to Get There

The easiest way to reach the café is by taking the Blue or Brown MRT line to Nangang Exhibition Center. Exit at Exit 5, turn left, and walk for a few minutes. You’ll see the café. It’s hard to miss.

Here’s more information regarding taking the Taipei Metro.

You can also use a YouBike, but it’ll take a while.

Here are the nearest bike docks:

Learn more about renting bikes in Taiwan here.

Alternatively, use Google Maps and the Bus+ apps to find a bus stop. However, buses in Taiwan can be slow.

An Uber or taxi works if you’re not on a budget.

If you’re near a train or HSR station, you could also take the train to Nangang HSR and TRA stations. This may be quicker than taking the MRT or an Uber, depending on the train schedule.

See this guide to learn more about taking the HSR.

For reference, an HSR trip within Taipei or New Taipei City costs around NT$40.

Let’s dive into how my experience was.

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The Experience

When you reach the top floor, you’ll receive a glass of water and order your food.

After a while, the staff will gather everyone in the “chinchilla apartment complex” (my name for it).

Here, the staff explains chinchilla facts, including any awards they’ve won, and other details. You’ll also get to pet some chinchillas, though the staff only speaks Mandarin.

It’s safest to wait and pet a chinchilla after seeing others do it.

Here’s why.

1. Don’t touch the curly-haired chinchilla. I’m not sure if this chinchilla will still be there when you visit, but my wife said the staff warned not to touch it. They mainly talked about its curly fur.

Here’s what this adorable fella looks like:

2. Don’t put your fingers in front of the chinchilla’s face. Also don’t pet it’s face. Stick to petting the rest of it. Otherwise, you’ll frighten it.

3. Choosing your chinchilla: Each chinchilla’s house has a tag (in Chinese). Pick the tag that matches the chinchilla you want at your table.

Here’s what the tags look like:

I chose the fluffiest one (Simba). He’s a Polish chinchilla.

They’ll give you a chance to take a picture with your chinchilla before bringing it to your table. I skipped that at first because I wanted Simba to get comfortable with me.

One staff member will then place the chinchilla in a small enclosure under your table, where it’ll chill while you eat.

This is the one part I wasn’t the biggest fan of. It would have been nice for the chins to have platforms, toys, or a little hammock.

However, none of the chinchillas seemed upset or stressed. They had things to chew on and seemed content.

It seems like I chose the chillest chinchilla. He didn’t move around much.

Chinchillas at other tables were literally bouncing off the walls.

I recommend shifting your legs to one side to avoid bumping the enclosure. I saw others accidentally moving them with their legs, which could startle the chinchillas.

The staff gives you a single pellet to feed the chinchilla (lol). You push it through an air hole, and they nibble on it.

They’ll give you an extra pellet if you post a picture of your chinchilla on social media. Perhaps I should have asked how many I’d get if I wrote a review.

Despite me jabbing at that, I didn’t care much about feeding it. I was mostly interested in petting and holding Simba.

Once I finished eating, the staff led my wife and me to the back. I got to hold Simba while my wife took a picture of us.

After that, the staff put Simba into what looked like a claw machine. It was actually a dust bath area, which I was excited to see.

Once Simba finished, the staff returned him to his home.

At that point, there wasn’t much left to do, so we left. There was no reason to stay and be creepy by staring at other people with their chinchillas.

Everyone at the café seemed respectful of the critters. No one was loud or rough with their chinchillas.

Do the same if you come here.

I don’t have many suggestions for improvements, except making the table enclosures more comfortable for the chinchillas.

The prices were fair.

The menu was reasonably priced for such a unique themed café. The owner has to pay staff, cover expenses, and care for 80 chinchillas, which isn’t cheap.

Would I go back? Hell yes.

What’s there to do once you’re done or while waiting for a reservation?

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What’s There to Do Nearby?

Check what exhibitions are happening at the Exhibition Center buildings. You’ll likely have to pay an entrance fee. There was a renewable energy event in one building and an outdoor gear event in the other. Both cost NT$200 to enter.

We didn’t go in since we had only 30 minutes before our reservation and couldn’t justify the time-cost value. Instead, we hung out in one of the buildings by the air conditioning.

There’s also a hiking path nearby, Little Nangang Hill (小南港山), but it’s pretty far away.

If you’re waiting for your reservation, I recommend hanging out in a convenience store or visiting Dahu Park afterward if the weather’s nice. It’s my favorite park in Taipei.

Otherwise, enjoy your visit at the UU Chinchilla Café.