Kenting Town (墾丁大街), literally Kenting Street, sometimes also called Kenting Road or Kenting Avenue, is Taiwan's southernmost township or village and at the same time Taiwan's southernmost night market. It's located between Hengchun's South bay (恆春鎮南灣) and Eluanbi cape (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan island. I guess it can't get more south than this, huh?So what is Kenting Town famous for? Although it's a little contradictory to have such a touristy small town inside a protected national park, the town serves as a tourist center, offering a vibrant night life with restaurants, bars and clubs, as well as providing hotels and various shops, that mostly sell souvenirs. The architecture is a mishmash of a typical Taiwanese small town with a flood of signboards in Chinese combined with some Western styled mini hotels and apartment houses, which give you the feeling that you're in a theme park. I guess to an average European the town would look a bit gaudy, but from a Taiwanese perspective, it has a certain charm. Since the town is visited by many local and foreign (mostly Western) tourists, it's no wonder, that it looks like a mixture of those two influences. And there are many restaurants with foreign food, such as Italian restaurants.
Another particularity in the town is a ladyboy show, similar to the ones seen in Thailand, however there's only few of them doing the show here. See some photos of the show here, here and here.
See some photos of Kenting Town (or Kenting street):
The main road is about 1km long and looks like an average road during the day.
A sample of the mixture of designs in Kenting Town.
The road is wide, cars park on the side.
However scooters are the most common mean of transportations here, especially for youngsters.
Kenting Town is very lively at night. Restaurants like this are full of people.
The whole road becomes like a promenade of a very long night market.
Except famous chains like McD, restaurants usually charge more than in other Taiwanese towns.
You also have hawkers, that are quite popular. But for me, I'd not recommend the food in Kenting Town.
Leaving Kenting Town, leaving the hustle and bustle in the very heart of the national park.
Kenting Town is good to supply you with some decent food, but don't expect too much. And the price is a little higher, so if you want to save, Kenting Town is not the right place for you. Of course there are 7 Elevens that will provide you with basic food, if you're really that thrifty. You surely can have a lot of fun here. So many young people stroll around every night, some looking for food, some just want to have some fun. The atmosphere is relaxed, it's normal to see girls in shorts or bikini and sandals walking around and guys wear very casual, too. The beaches are 5min away and it's hot, if not warm all year around. And from what I heard it's very easy to meet girls there, especially if you're foreign and speak Mandarin. After all, people come to Kenting to enjoy their holidays and possibly have a romance, maybe an adventure, that they can later share with their friends, when they're back home. So have fun, enjoy yourself in Kenting, but don't go drunk on a scooter.
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