Step out of Yilan Station (宜蘭車站) and look up. Across the road, a green train flies through a grove of tall steel trees, carrying a bear conductor and a carriage full of animals. This is Jimmy Liao's corner of Yilan City: the illustrator Jimmy Liao (幾米) comes from Yilan, and since 2012 the county and his team have filled the streets around the station with characters from his picture books. It's free, it never closes, and it takes half an hour to an hour. Make it the first thing you do off the train, then walk on into Yilan City's old town.
There are three places to see, all within a few minutes' walk of each other, plus one we couldn't confirm is still open.
Diu Diu Dang Forest (丟丟噹森林) and the Starry Train
The Diu Diu Dang Forest (丟丟噹森林) is the square straight across from the station's front exit. The architect Huang Sheng-yuan (黃聲遠) designed it as nine steel "trees" about 14 m tall, a nod to Yilan's old name, the "city of nine crape myrtles" (九芎城). Hanging among them is the flying train from Jimmy Liao's picture books 星空 (The Starry Starry Night) and 森林裡的秘密 (Secrets in the Forest).
- Hours Open 24 hours, every day
- Entry Free
- Address No. 240, Section 1, Yixing Road, Yilan City (宜蘭市宜興路一段240號)
- Getting there TRA Out of the front exit of Yilan Station and across the road, a minute or two on foot
The train you see now is the second one. The first, a 30 m wooden train weighing about 3,000 kg, went up at the end of January 2014 and became the photo everyone took in Yilan. It had to come down every time a typhoon was forecast, and in September 2022, while it was being lowered for Typhoon Hinnamnor, its chimney cracked. The county took it away for repair on September 21, 2022, and in January 2023 unveiled the "Starry Train 2.0", rebuilt to be stronger.
The new train has more passengers: animals singing and playing instruments, and a bear conductor at the back raising his hat to a rabbit below. Down on the square, look for the rabbit from 森林裡的秘密 playing a trumpet to see the train off, the man carrying a fishbowl from 微笑的魚 (A Fish with a Smile), and the blind girl from 地下鐵 (Sound of Colors) waiting with you in the shelter.
Good to know: come back after dark if you can. The square is lit in the evening, and the train looks its best then. When the new train was unveiled in January 2023, the lights were on from 17:00 to midnight.
Jimmy Park (幾米廣場)
Jimmy Park (幾米廣場) is on the south side of the station, on the site of the old railway staff dormitories. The county calls it Taiwan's first public art space built around picture books, and its theme is "memories, moments, scenery" (記憶片刻風景). The scenes are taken straight from the books: the young man and woman of 向左走，向右走 (Turn Left, Turn Right) just missing each other, the boy and girl from 星空 waiting for a bus, and pieces from 地下鐵 about the memories of a journey. The figures are life-size, so this is where the family photos happen.
- Hours Open all day
- Entry Free
- Getting there TRA A short walk south from the front exit of Yilan Station
The black dog at Yilan Transfer Station
The newest piece is at Yilan Transfer Station (宜蘭轉運站), the bus station next to Yilan Station where the buses from Taipei come in. Friend of the Wind (《風的朋友》), unveiled on August 3, 2026, is a black dog about 3 m tall, the mysterious dog who leads the girl through 森林裡的秘密, Jimmy Liao's first picture book. Fans call him the "Batman black dog" (蝙蝠俠黑狗). There's 180 cm of space under his belly, so you can walk right through, and a tiny copy of him sits at the bottom left corner. If you arrive by bus, he's the first thing you see.
- Entry Free
- Getting there BUS In the station itself: the Kamalan and Capital buses from Taipei stop here. TRA A short walk from Yilan Station.
The Happiness Bus Station (幸福轉運站)
Across from Jimmy Park, the county turned the old Taiwan Bus (台汽) depot into the Happiness Bus Station, with Jimmy Liao art and, from 2019, an old bus painted bright yellow inside, with 小樹 and 布丁狗 from 忘記親一下 sitting in the seats. It kept its own opening hours, unlike the squares, and we couldn't find anything official to confirm it's still open in 2026. Walk past and look in, but don't plan your morning around it.
How long, and who it suits
- How long: 30 minutes to an hour for all of it. Ten minutes if you're changing trains and just want the photo.
- Kids: the best thing in Yilan City for small children, and it costs nothing. See Yilan with kids for a family day around it.
- Rain: the steel forest gives a little cover, but this is an outdoor stop. On a wet day, see it on the way to somewhere dry.
- Light: a sunny afternoon for photos, after dark for the lit train.
A walk into the old town
From the station square, the old town is a short walk. Head south from Jimmy Park to the Japanese-era houses on Jiucheng South Road, including the Memorial Hall of Founding of Yilan Administration and the Yilan Literature Museum, then double back in the evening for Dongmen Night Market, about five minutes from the station. Finish back at the Diu Diu Dang Forest when the lights are on.
Jimmy Liao's characters turn up in Jiaoxi too: the covered Travelers' Corridor from the Jiaoxi Transfer Station toward Jiaoxi Hot Spring Park is lined with rabbits from his book 毛毛兔.
Getting there
- TRA Take the train from Taipei to Yilan Station. Everything here is outside the front exit.
- BUS The buses from Taipei through the Hsuehshan Tunnel end at Yilan Transfer Station, by the black dog, a short walk from the squares.
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Sources: Yilan County tourism (宜蘭勁好玩), Jimmy Park and Diu Diu Dang Forest (design, scenes, address, hours, time to allow, night lighting); Yilan County Government on the Starry Train 2.0, October 12, 2022 (repair, history of the Jimmy Liao projects); UDN on the first train, September 11, 2022 (size, weight, typhoon lowering); TVBS on the new train, January 2023 (new characters, lighting hours); UDN on Friend of the Wind, August 3, 2026; SETN on the Happiness Bus Station, August 2019. Checked November 2026.