Shilin Market in the Daytime Morning Market, B1 Food Court & Floor-by-Floor Hours
"Shilin market" is really two different things, and the difference matters most before 4pm. The Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) is the street market that spills through the lanes around Jihe, Danan, Dadong and Wenlin Roads. Shilin Market (士林市場) is the four-storey market building on Jihe Road — the one with the food hall in the basement — and it runs on its own clock: a fresh-produce morning market on the ground floor, an indoor night market on the same floor in the evening, and a basement food court that opens before either of them fill up.
Most guides describe only the evening, so a visitor arriving at 10am is told the market "opens at 4". That is wrong, but only for the streets. This page sets out exactly what is open at the Shilin Market building, and when.
A market that runs from morning to midnight
Shilin Market was established in 1913 by Japanese merchants, and has been trading on this spot for more than a century. The market building you see today opened on 25 December 2011, after the old hall was demolished and the traders spent a decade in a temporary site opposite Jiantan MRT station. It stands on Jihe Road, directly facing the Cixian Temple (慈諴宮) — the temple that anchors the whole night-market district.
The building changes character through the day. In the morning it sells mainly fresh fruit, seafood, meat and household goods, in the words of the Taipei City Market Administration Office. By evening the ground floor has become a night market of cooked snacks, and the basement has filled with seated diners. It is the same address, three different markets.
⏰ The one thing to get right: Monday
The 1F morning market is closed on Mondays. Everything else keeps going: the indoor night market on the ground floor has no rest day, the basement food court still opens in the afternoon, and the surrounding street market opens as usual. If the fresh-produce market is the reason for your trip, come Tuesday to Sunday.
Shilin Market hours, floor by floor
The schedule below is the market building's official one. It is published by the Taipei City Market Administration Office and was last updated on 11 July 2025. All times are local (Taipei, UTC+8).
| Floor / area | What it is | Opening hours | Rest day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1F — morning market | Fresh produce, seafood, meat, household goods | Tuesday–Sunday, 06:00–12:00 | Closed Monday |
| 1F — night market | Cooked snacks and shops inside the building | 17:00–24:00 | None (no rest day) |
| B1 — food court | Seated food hall, ~35 stalls, 600+ seats | Mon–Fri 15:00–24:00; Sat, Sun & national holidays 12:00–24:00 | Individual stalls set their own days off |
| Streets around the building | The Shilin Night Market street stalls | 16:00–00:00 every day | None listed |
One detail worth reading twice: the B1 food court's "national holidays" line describes how early it opens on those days (12:00 rather than 15:00), not a list of closing days. And individual basement stalls arrange their own days off, so a particular shop can be shut even when the food court itself is open. The traders' association handles those queries on 02-28815557.
What the morning market actually sells
Between 06:00 and 12:00, Tuesday to Sunday, the ground floor of the Shilin Market building is a working public market rather than a tourist attraction. The Market Administration Office describes it plainly: in the morning it sells mainly fresh fruit, seafood, meat and miscellaneous goods. In practice that means produce sold by the crate and the piece, wet-market seafood and meat counters, and the household stalls that supply local residents.
This is the part of Shilin most visitors never see. It is quiet, it is local, and it is the closest you will get to the market's original 1913 purpose. If your interest is shopping rather than eating, the daytime hours pair naturally with our guide to what to buy at Shilin Night Market.
🌅 Why the morning market is worth the early start
The evening market's lanes are shared with tens of thousands of people. At 08:00 the same building is mostly regulars doing their shopping, the ground floor is unhurried, and you can look at the architecture of the 2011 market hall properly. If you are staying in Taipei for more than a day, this is the counterweight to the night-market crush.
The B1 food court after the 2025 reopening
The basement food street, in use since the building opened in 2011, closed for a full renovation on 18 October 2023 and reopened officially on 25 April 2025. The Taipei City Market Administration Office and the Ministry of Economic Affairs spent close to NT$100 million on the rebuild, and the result is a modern, air-conditioned hall of roughly 35 stalls with more than 600 seats, reached by a new escalator from the glass-house entrance on the ground floor. The refit added self-service recycling counters, wash basins and refurbished restrooms.
The food is the same Shilin repertoire, served sitting down: oyster omelets (蚵仔煎), sausage wrapped in glutinous rice (大腸包小腸), the layered "big cake wrapping small cake" (大餅包小餅), coffin bread (官財板), xiaolongbao, steak and teppanyaki plates, lemon aiyu jelly (檸檬愛玉), fresh juices, shaved ice (綿綿冰) and cut-fruit platters.
For a visitor the practical point is the closing time. The food court runs until midnight, so if you arrive at 21:00 or 22:00 the basement is very much open — and it is the dry, seated option when the streets are heaving or it is raining. Our Shilin underground food court guide covers what is down there in more detail.
The evening market on the streets
The street market around the building — the part most people mean when they say "Shilin Night Market" — is listed by the city as open 16:00 to 00:00, every day of the week, including Monday. So on a Monday evening the streets are busy even though the morning market is shut. The indoor 1F night market starts slightly later, at 17:00.
There are two distinct closing behaviours to plan around: the street stalls thin out as midnight approaches, and the basement food court stays open until midnight. For the full picture of the evening, see our Shilin Night Market opening hours page.
Planning your daytime visit
- To eat a proper sit-down meal before evening: the B1 food court opens at 12:00 on Saturday, Sunday and national holidays, and at 15:00 Monday to Friday. Earlier than that, on a weekday, there is no seated food hall open.
- Getting there: the building is the one on Jihe Road opposite Jiantan station on the Tamsui–Xinyi (Red) line. Steps and directions are on our how to get to Shilin Night Market page.
- Rainy days: the market building and its basement are indoors, which makes them the sensible daytime and evening fallback when the street lanes are wet.
- Busy times: if you want the evening market without the crush, aim to arrive before the 19:00–22:00 peak — the timing trade-offs are set out in our best times to visit guide.
- Background: for how a 1913 produce market became today's district, see the Shilin Market history page.
Is Shilin Market open every day?
Mostly — with one exception. The street night market is open every day. The building's indoor night market has no rest day. The B1 food court opens every day, though individual stalls take their own days off. Only the 1F morning market closes weekly, on Mondays.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shilin Market open on Monday?
Partly. The 1F morning market is closed, but the 1F night market (17:00–24:00, no rest day), the B1 food court and the surrounding street market all open as usual. Monday is only a rest day for the morning market.
Can I eat at Shilin at 10am?
On Tuesday to Sunday, at 10am the ground floor is the morning market — fresh produce, seafood, meat and household goods rather than cooked street food. The seated B1 food court does not open until 15:00 on weekdays and 12:00 at weekends and on national holidays, so a weekday 10am visit will not find a food hall. On a Monday at any hour the morning market is closed.
What time does Shilin Night Market open?
The street stalls begin at 16:00 and run to around midnight. Inside the market building, the indoor night market opens at 17:00, and the B1 food court opens at 15:00 Monday to Friday or 12:00 at weekends and on national holidays.
Does the market close on holidays?
The official pages publish opening hours, not a closure calendar. On national holidays the B1 food court simply opens earlier, at 12:00. For typhoon days or one-off holiday closures, check the market's own social channels and the MRT service status before you travel — the Market Administration Office page does not list them.
ⓘ Sources and what is not verified
Hours, rest days, the 1913 origin, the 2011 building and the 25 April 2025 B1 reopening are all taken from the Taipei City Market Administration Office's Shilin Market page (last updated 11 July 2025) and the Taipei City Government reopening press release. The evening street-market hours (16:00–00:00 daily) come from the city's travel listing for Shilin Night Market.
Not officially published, and therefore not stated as fact here: a fixed holiday or typhoon closure schedule, and MRT first- and last-train times. Some blogs claim the whole night market closes on Mondays; the official city listing shows it open every day, so treat the Monday-closure claim with caution.
Further sources: Shilin Market, Taipei City Market Administration Office · Shilin Night Market listing, Taipei Travel · Shilin Market history and characteristics (TCMA, English).