Before I met my husband, I really didn’t know much about Taiwan at all and didn’t have much interest in visiting. After tasting some Taiwanese food and hearing him talk about all the things he loved about Taiwan, he peaked my interest enough to visit with him. Now, we have gone a couple of times and are able to explore a little more of this beautiful island with each visit. While it does help that he speaks Taiwanese, I have found that most of the people, especially the younger ones, spoke at least a little English as well. All of the signs are written in English also, so it makes it pretty easy to find your way around.

The public transportation in Taipei is very convenient, and we took the MRT many times (Taiwan’s metro train system). Uber is also available for pretty cheap if you don’t feel comfortable using the public transportation. The high speed rail can also take you to different parts of Taiwan in a very short time. We have taken it to Tainan a couple of times, but there are so many other spots to see as well. Hopefully on our upcoming visits, we can see more of them!

The currency in Taiwan is the Taiwanese dollar, and you will need cash for buying street food and other small things, but credit cards are accepted almost everywhere else. Another bonus about visiting Taiwan from the US- they use the same electrical outlets, so you don’t have to remember to pack an adapter.

Things to Do

National Palace Museum

Our first stop in Taipei was the National Palace Museum. Although I don’t find museums particularly interesting, I found this one to be pretty cool. It holds over 600,000 Chinese artifacts and art, and the exhibits covered 4 floors. The admission costs NT$350 (around $11USD) and that price also includes the Zhishan Gareden entrance which is just next door. Apparently, the exhibits rotate often to prevent wear, but the most famous one when we visited was called “Heaven and Earth in Chinese Art”. The highlight was a stone shaped like a piece of pork, so that was something I had never seen before.

Liberty Square

Also called “Freedom Square”, this giant plaza is a popular place for many public gatherings and events. Taking up over 240,000 square meters, some of Taiwan’s most important landmarks are here: Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, National Theater, and the National Concert Hall. We entered through Liberty Square Main Gate, and after visiting each of the buildings, we walked through the park that is in the square. It is a nice place to relax, rest your legs, and enjoy the nature. Beside the small ponds there, we were able to buy some fish food and feed the carp.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

One of the most prominent landmarks in Taiwan, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall was our first stop in Liberty Square. You can go inside to find a large statue of Chiang Kai-Shek, the former president of the Republic of China. There are 89 steps to climb before you reach the memorial, one for each year of Chiang Kai-Shek’s life. Downstairs, there is a small museum that tells more history about the former president and the monument.

National Theater and National Concert Hall

On opposite sides of Liberty Square, you will see two identical Chinese-style buildings. These are the National Theater and National Concert Hall, and they host many events every year. When we visited, there were groups of people outside dancing and practicing their performances. We didn’t get to go inside since they were closed when we visited, but the outside was very beautiful.

Visit a Temple

There are many temples scattered all around Taipei and you should try to visit at least one of them on your visit. Most people choose to visit Longshan Temple, which is the most popular with tourists. I was told it was too crowded, so we visited Xingtian Temple instead. While it was still pretty crowded, most of the people at Xingtian Temple were there to pray. It was beautiful and I spent around half hour here walking around. If you do visit, its best to dress modestly, although I didn’t see anyone enforcing this when we visited.

Go to The Top of Taipei 101

For the best view of Taipei, you can purchase a ticket to go to the top of Taipei 101- the 2nd tallest building in the world. (only the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is higher). The cost to go to the top is NT$600 (around $20USD), and the observatory covers 4 different floors both indoor and outdoor. When you are up there, be sure to check out the giant damper and the museum talking about the engineering of the building. The observation deck is open from 9am-10pm, so you could choose to see the city either during the day or at nighttime. After you take in all the sights and take the elevators back down, you can go shopping or enjoy the many restaurants in the base of Taipei 101. The most popular, and my favorite is Din Tai Fung, which serves the best xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and other Taiwanese dishes. There is always a long line but it moves very quickly and is definitely worth the wait!

Visit a night market

One of my favorite things to do in Taiwan is visit the night markets. The street food is so different than we have at home, and I haven’t had anything I didn’t like yet. Plus, everything is super cheap! Even if you don’t want to eat anything, you can still walk around the markets and enjoy the atmosphere. Besides tons of food options, there are also games and shopping to enjoy. They usually open in the evening around 6pm or 7pm and stay open pretty late. Make sure you have cash though, most places are small stalls and do not take credit cards. So far, we have visited 2 different night markets and they were great but pretty different.

Shilin Night Market

We decided to go to Shilin Night Market first since it is so large and popular with tourists. It was huge, taking up a few blocks, and it literally had anything you could ever want to buy there. It was also super easy to get to, directly off the MRT. It was packed full of people- both locals and tourists, and many places had bright lights and loud music blaring. We found the food options here to be wonderful and ate quite a bit. We had pork buns, sausages, milk tea, and more. Also, a lot of people spoke basic English, so that was helpful for me.

Ningxia Night Market

Ningxia Night Market was much smaller than Shilin was, with stalls lining either side of the street. The area to walk in the middle was really narrow and could only fit 2 or 3 people across. There were only a couple of stalls for shopping, most of them had food and drinks. We also found that most of the people walking around were locals. There were less food options. However, the food we did have was all very delicious. We had squid, scallion pancakes, some custard filled pastries, pork buns, clam soup, fried chicken, and more.

Climb Elephant Mountain

A nice break from the craziness of the city, Elephant Mountain offers another great view of Taipei. We were originally planning to go for the sunset, but since it was cloudy anyways, we decided to go in the afternoon. The walk up took us about a half hour and was almost all stairs. The entrance to the path was a little hard to find, hidden in a neighborhood, but once we found it there were quite a lot of other people hiking as well. I had expected the path to have a clear end, but it seemed like you could spend your entire day walking around there. There were signs and maps that showed all the different trails you could take. Once we got high enough for a good view, we took a few pictures and made our way back down.

What to Eat

Where do I even begin? Even after all our travels, Taiwan still has some of the best food I have ever had. I highlighted a few of my favorites but seriously everything I have eaten here has been really good.

Xiao Long Bao

One of my favorites, Xiao Long Bao are dumplings filled with minced meat and soup. To eat it, you mix together ginger, soy sauce, and rice vinegar in your dish. You use your chopsticks to carefully pick up the dumpling, dip it in the mixture, put it on your spoon, poke a hole in it to drain the soup on to your spoon, and then eat it. Din Tai Fung is a popular restaurant to have xiao long boa, and some of the best we have had so far. There is one in Taipei 101, so you can stop for lunch on your visit. It is always crowded, but the line moves quickly and it is definitely worth the wait!

Taiwanese sausage

We had Taiwanese sausage several times during our visits because I love it so much. Served at the street markets, or even near some of the tourist attractions, the pork sausage is grilled up and served on a stick. It is sweeter than any other sausage I have had and a little greasy which makes it taste that much better!

Peking duck

I tried Peking Duck for the first time in Taipei. My husband was super excited to have it on our first night, and I was ready to see what all the hype was about. The waitress brings out the entire duck first to show off to the table- with the head still on, so that was surprising. Then, they proceed to cut it up and serve it. It is served with some very thin pancakes, green onion, and sauce. To eat it, you put a little sauce, a green onion, and a piece or 2 of duck onto the pancake and enjoy.

Beef Noodle Soup

The national dish of Taiwan, no visit would be complete without trying beef noodle soup. It is exactly what it sounds like- broth with beef and noodles in it. You can find it on the menu at almost every restaurant in Taiwan, but if you run out of time, they even serve it at the airport and train stations.

Pork Buns

Another favorite when we are visiting street markets are Taiwanese Pork Buns. They are basically dough that is filled with minced meat, usually pork, spices, and sometimes vegetable. We saw them at every street market we went to and always grabbed one or two. Just make sure you use the paper they give you- the hot oils can leak out on to your clothes or hands if you aren’t careful.

Tea Eggs

Basically just hard boiled eggs that are cooked and soaked in tea, tea eggs are definitely another favorite while in Taiwan. You can find them at any 7-11 or sometimes the street vendors will have them also. We would grab a couple for breakfast and then usually a few more when we had a late night craving.

Itinerary

We have visited Taipei a couple of times now and spend some time visiting with family in between our sight seeing. This is a rough itinerary of what we have done on our visits combined.

Day 1- We arrived in Taipei in the early afternoon. After checking in and getting ready, we headed over to the National Palace Museum. We spent a few hours looking around and then went to meet the family for our peking duck dinner.

Day 2- After breakfast, we headed over to Liberty square and saw the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, National Theater and National Concert Hall. We fed the fish at the ponds there and then stopped by Xingtian Temple on our way to Taipei 101. After having lunch at Din Tai Fung, we went to the top of the huge skyscraper.

Day 3- We hired a driver to take us out of Taipei for a few days. He drove us to see the famous Queen’s Head, Golden Waterfall, Shifen Waterfall, and then we spent the night in the town of Jiufen. We walked around the night market in Jiufen and had dinner.

Day 4-In the morning, our driver picked us up and drove us to Yagmingshan National park. We saw the clock made of flowers, a waterfall, fields of lillies, and had did a little hikings. In the afternoon, we went to Beitou and spent the night in a hot springs hotel. While in Beitou, we visited the hot springs museum and took the MRT to Shilin Night Market.

Day 4- After a morning of shopping and more eating, we hiked up Elephant Mountain for a nice view of Taipei. Later, we got some much needed foot massages and finished the day at Ningxia Night Market.

Day 5- We took the high speed rail to Tainan for the rest of our trip.

Check out my Tainan Blog here!

Suggested Day Trips

If you have extra time or just want to see what Taiwan has to offer outside of Taipei, it is very easy to take day trips. We hired a driver because parking at the waterfalls and parks can be very difficult to find and quite expensive. We had a lot of luggage so we didn’t want to deal with the train. However, as I mentioned before, the train can take you many places pretty easily. Here are a few of the places that we visited outside of the city of Taipei.

Yangmingshan National Park

One of the easiest day trips to take from Taipei is Yangmingshan National Park. I really didn’t expect it to be as large as it was, and we were glad we had a driver to take us to different areas. The bus from Taipei also goes to this area, so that would be another option if you do not want to hire a driver or a car. We made a few stops along the way. At the first stop, we walked around and saw a giant clock made of flowers, a small waterfall, a fountain and some gardens. This was the most crowded section and there was also some street food. Next, we stopped at a field full of lilies and we were able to pick some to bring home for a small cost. We also stopped to hike a little bit on one of the trails before having lunch and heading to Beitou for the rest of the day.

Beitou

Beitou is a popular weekend getaway for people living in Taipei. The town is super easy to get to by taking the MRT, but Uber is also pretty cheap. The area of Taiwan is famous for it’s hot springs, and we wanted to take full advantage of that! There are tons of hotel options in the area, many with hot spring pools for their guests. We booked a room with a huge hot spring tub in the room and loved soaking in it while we drank our wine! The Hot Springs Museum is also just in town, and we stopped by to check it out. It was pretty interesting and talks about the history of the area when it was under control of Japan. Plus, it has free admission. There are also public hot springs next door to the museum you can visit for a small fee.

Yehliu Geopark

I had not heard much about Yehliu Geopark when I was looking for places I wanted to see near Taipei, but it was nearby Jiufen so our driver stopped by. It is a peninsula that is well known for its strange rock formations. The most famous one is called “The Queens’s Head” because of it’s shape. On a nice day, we would have probably spent more time here walking the paths of the park and enjoying the views of the ocean. I would also suggest going early as it was packed full of tour buses when we were there. When we finally did get close to see the “Queen’s Head'“, there was a long line to take a picture of it, and I was surprised by how small it was. We were told it used to be much bigger but has been getting smaller and smaller every year. Outside of the park entrance, there is also a street market set up with souvenirs and food.

Jiufen

About an hour drive from Taipei city, Jiufen was a pretty cool place to visit. We decided to spend the night there so we could cut back on driving and enjoy the ocean views from the hotel there. The city itself was pretty small and we were able to walk to Old Street from our hotel. There was tons of street food to try and shopping stalls, and the best part was it was covered so we didn’t even get rained on. We were surprised to find that everything closes early- shops at 7pm and restaurants by 8pm, so make sure to go kind of early. There is also a hike up Mount Keelung that is just near town. The weather was so bad we couldn’t do it, but the views are supposed to be beautiful.

Golden Waterfall

Only a 10 minute drive from Jiufen, you could easily visit Golden Waterfall in combination with a trip to Jiufen. The area surrounding the waterfalls used to be important for gold mining, and although there is no longer any gold, there are a few abandoned mines around the area you can visit. The waterfall gets its golden color from the sulfurous soil and metal elements deposits in the area. We saw a lot of taxis advertising to take people there near Jiufen’s Old Street for very reasonable prices. Once you arrive, you will only need a few minutes to admire the waterfall and take a few pictures. We did not see any hiking paths or any reason to spend a lot of time here. Parking was also very limited, so having a taxi driver wait while you take a few pictures would be perfect.

Shifen Waterfall

Shifen Waterfall was much more crowded than the Golden Waterfall, but it was just as beautiful. After paying the entrance fee of $80NT (almost $3USD), we followed the path along a suspension bridge to get closer up views of the waterfall. We could see many paper lanterns blowing over from the town of Shifen that people had lit for good luck that were now getting stuck in the trees. There were a few places to stop and get some street food along the path in case you wanted a snack (we had some Taiwanese sausages obviously). The bathrooms here were also clean- just be sure to grab some toilet paper on the way in! After visiting Shifen Waterfall, many people also go visit the nearby town and light the giant lanterns for good luck.

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