If there is one cool thing about #Taiwan and planning an itinerary: all places are interesting but even a glimpse of the country is amazing to get. Yes, there are some things I recommend to do and to see, but traveling around the island is limitless and there is no “must do” route – there are so many cool things to see, but everything is just as cool as the other, so do or do not do things – just follow your gut feelings. But that is also why, no matter how long you stay in the country, you will always have to decide between things and will never be able to do it all! It’s also super budget friendly, i never struggles to stay on my budget of maximum 40 Euros a day. So here come my recommendations for a short 5 day round trip Taiwan travel itinerary:
Arrival
I arrived to Taiwan from Hong Kong for an intense and short stay.
One remark: if you plan on staying in Taipei on a Saturday: BOOK IN ADVANCE! I was struggling to even find one single dorm bed for one night, everything was somehow booked out. Regardless, I was sooo excited to go and explore this fascinating island.
Arrival from the airport: I arrived at night, so I just made my way with public transport to my first hostel – not much going on but at least I was getting ready to explore taiwan as much as possible!
I recommend (immediately if possible, which it usually is) to get an easy card for the metro and trains. You can buy almost everything with it, but it’s especially useful for the trains and metro – as it will provide you with discounts and a pay-as-you-go mechanism.
The following travel itinerary will be based on 4 full days and 5 nights, however, can be easily extended as I will list more recommendations below ⬇️ 👇🏻!
At night, I didn’t do much but only went to night markets – I stayed most of my days in Taipei, I planned 4 out of 5 nights, so I will just list everything you gotta see and do under day 1 and add some additional ideas and remarks later:
Day 1: Taipei!
Like in every city, the best to do is to just walk around and let yourself wander through the different streets and take in the different culture, atmosphere and the unique vibe of the city.
All food I have tried so far was amazing so I don’t think there is much that you can do wrong, however, I will still list some of my favorites below. Also, you can easily fill days with food hopping and trying everything, so depending on your preferences, you will get to know the Taiwanese culture also pretty well by just trying their foods.
Also, the best area to stay is probably around central or Ximeng station, as all sights and night markets are within walking range, or easily reachable with the public transportation.
My favorite supermarkt remains the 7/11, so everything you will ever need you can find there.
Taipei is a city to stay. My 1& and a half days there were pretty intense, so it’s easy to make 3 or more out of them.
Food recommendations:
- Ximending night market: definitely try the corn cheese egg burger
- 萬華胖妞妞粉ㄉㄨㄞ蛋餅: for a savory breakfast pancake
- Ningxia Night Market
- Din Tai Fung Xinsheng Branch: for the dumplings and Baos!
- MOS Burger: Burger Food chain, with rice burgers
- Fu Hang Soy Milk: BEST BREAKFAST, even Michelin renommiert, queue usually is quite long but doesn’t that that much time
- Addiction aquatic development: super good sushi and super fresh
- Raohe night market (my personal favorite) you gotta try two things here: 1. The beef sandwich/bread (also renominated by Michelin) at the entrance of the market & 2. These kind of mochis. I’ll attach the photo of the place below.
Sights/Activities:
- The Red House (nice to see, but that’s about it)
- No. 9, Lane 164, Section 2, Guiyang St, Wanhua District: a local market to buy vegetables, fish and meat
- Bangka Qingshan Temple: a nice little temple
- Templo Longshan: one of the oldest and most important temples in taiwan, so definitely a must see
- Presidential Office Building: impressive building, gives you more of an South American vibe than Asian from its architecture
- Dihua Street: nice street to see
- Huashan 1914 Creative Park
- Liberty Square & Salón Conmemorativo de Chiang Kai-shek 國立中正紀念堂: as soon as erected, quickly became the gathering place for locals – originally established during an authoritarian time and by an authoritarian leader of the country, the areal is now also known for pro democratic protests and a sign for liberty and freedom. It also serves as a memorial for 18-28.000 people killed during the contra government protest on February 28th 1947.
- Dadaocheng Wharf for sunset
City Views – during the day & sunset
For the best views of the city, either go up on the Taipei 101 Observatory, the 10th tallest building in the world, for about 17€ or go up the Elephant Mountain, also super nice during sunset.
Elephant Mountain: to find the entry of the “hike” (takes about 10-30 min depending on your fitness level, as it’s basically about 500-600 steps up) just take the metro to Xiangshan. Go through the park and start next to the %Arabica Taipei Elephant Mountain.
There are different viewpoints, so don’t get confused by where to stop – there are about 3-5 and it’s worth to stop at all!
Check out:
If you walk at night, be careful, as there are many frogs and snails around which you might easily step on. We even saw a snake.
What made my experience super special was the local showing me around – he just told me to follow him, I had a good gut feeling about it and off we went – which is why I certainly have seen all the different viewpoints by now!
You can find even more views on the Maokong Gondola (more below for walks and hikes around)! For about 3€ per way pretty cheap to go!
Further, to learn about the Taiwanese culture, I recommend a free walking tour through the city: https://www.likeitformosa.com/taipei-historic, as this will give you some more insights about the history.
Hostel recommendations
During my stay in Taiwan , I did not meet that many Western travelers. Most of the people in the hostels were locals, this did not bother me, though, however, is something that you have to consider when traveling here. Taipei has many different Hostels, so you have a broad range to choose from. I will list all the hostels I have stayed in Taipei and comment a bit on each. Be aware, that on the weekends the places tend to be fully booked, so plan your stay in advance (I know, I am also not a big fan of that).
Also, I am amazed by how clean all hostels were. I’ve never been in a country with so many clean hostels, especially clean bathrooms, it’s amazing!
Dan Hostel Taipei: the last free bed I found for the Saturday I was staying there – only locals, but I think the cleanest hostel I have EVER seen. The shower was AMAZING, that was definitely the best part about it. Good for a one night stay and amazing location, too expensive for more than a night and not very social. (7/10)
May Rooms Taipei Main Station: very central and great to take the train to places. With breakfast included so that’s a plus. A polish girl was doing her work away while I was staying here, so it made the vibe more social, also very pretty hostel. (8/10)
Meander Taipei Hostel: also super great, a bit bigger than the other hostels and a great area to hang out. Here I met the most westerners, it was the most social, super clean as well with nice and private beds. (9/10)
Star Hostel Taipei Main Station: Very pretty hostel, with a great location, medium social but included with breakfast, amazing area to hang out, really really liked it
From my research: WOW HOSTEL 窩青年旅舍 also sounded good and a bit more social, however, I did not personally go there so difficult to confirm.
Day 2: Yehliu Geopark, Shiufen, Keelung and Jiufen
In the morning I left the hostel around 8:45 am to catch a train to Keelung.
Most trains leave from the main station, which is why the May Rooms Taipei Main station hostel was extremely convenient.
Just check google maps or the Taiwanese train app (Taiwan Railways Administration) for schedules. For shorter rides you don’t even have to buy a ticket, just go with your official metro card.
I chose the Light Inn Hostel, as it had good reviews and is perfectly located in the city center – the personnel was amazing!
It’s also easily possible to stay in Taipei and just do a day trip, but I wanted to experience Keelung night market and do my trip without a rush.
1.Yehliu national park
The first stop of the day was the national park. Just take the 790 or 862 bus from Keelung and go straight up to the national park.
The national park basically consists of stone formations, whereas the most famous one seems to have taken the shape of a queens head. It’s the most famous stone in the park.
When I visited it was incredibly humid, hot and super busy. No western tourists but many many Asian tourists – which I didn’t mind, but I still recommend to walk all the way until the trail end observation deck to also enjoy part of the trail with fewer people!
The rest is easy – just follow the crowd and enjoy the seaside of Taiwan. Then I went back to Keelung to catch the bus there to Shifen Waterfall.
2. Shifen Waterfall
If you want to follow the schedule I mentioned, keep in mind to start early. With public transportation, everything can take a while and it was more luck that I was able to do everything in one day.
Google maps can be a bit confusing, but from Keelung the bus F825 immediately takes you to the waterfall.
This place is also very touristy, so you will run into many many Asian tourists. The way is pretty clear because of that, just be aware that the waterfall closes around 5:30.
It’s a cute waterfall, not the most spectacular thing you will have ever seen, but worth it due to the Shifen Old Street.
After that, on the way to the train station, you can stroll through the Shifen Old Street, where the train will later pass by to and see people writing their wishes on lanterns and sending them up in the sky (yes I know, not very environmentally friendly).
3. Jiufen
Jiufen is a very historical city of taiwan, very famous for some movies having been produced there in the past. From Shifen waterfall take the train and then the bus to get there. It is pretty to walk through, best time to visit is during sunset, so you still get the views but also the lights of the lanterns at night. Start off at the Shinghuang temple, it is incredibly beautiful and has the best views.
4. Back to the hostel and dinner at the night market in Keelung with the bus 788
Day 3 – Scenic drive and back to Taipei
After 2 very busy and packed days, I decided to take it more chill. The morning I recommend spending around Keelung. Go to the northern part by bus: to the old fishermen’s area: 正濱漁港, also the area of the Zhengbin Port color houses.
From there, walk around to the Tian Ho temple.
Then I grabbed my stuff and decided to hang out at a beach. I went to Wanli Beach, which I cannot necessarily recommend, as it’s not that amazing to swim in, good enough for an hour of sun. Otherwise I think Dawulun Beach is better!
Then I decided to take the bus 716 from Yehilu Visitor Center to Tamsui Station on my way back to Taipei. It goes every full hour and is taking 2 hours. It takes the route on the coast, which is super scenic and beautiful. Bring a drink or some snacks and enjoy the view!
Finally, from there I took the metro and went, for a stroll and then sunset, to Dihua Street (Great for shopping). And after to Dadaochang Wharf for sunset (which I can ABSOLUTELY RECOMMEND).
Day 4: Last day in Taipei
On my last day I finally did some things in Taipei that I have not managed before and have mentioned above.
And I went to this amazing night market, Raohe Night market, which is probably my favorite.
Taipei is great for a couple of days, so whether it’s 1 or 4 days, I promise, you will not get bored.
There are, however MANY other great things you can do in taiwan!
Additional ideas for a longer itinerary:
- Hualien City and the surrounding county: you will find an even more traditional taiwan and the possibility to hike around t
- Qingshui Cliff
- Hike to the Bitoujiao Lighthouse from around Jiufen
- Taichung area: visit the city of Taichung, including the social project 彩虹村, which is basically a “rainbow” city with colorful houses. Also, from Taichung continue to travel towards the center of taiwan to visit the Sun Moon Lake
- Alishan National Scenic Area for some scenic hikes
- Kenting (all the way south) for beautiful beaches and the Kenting night market, Kenting Baishawan
Podcasts
If you plan to go/ if you are there already, I also suggest to listen to some podcasts on the political situation. Here I will list some, as they gave me a pretty good idea about everything:
English:
Paul Huang: the real situation in Taiwan: politics, military, China: “Why should China rush into a war? Time is on their side. They don’t need to.” – https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Y5XiOwL1UqPCyCjknYVg2?si=AoCv7l6qStWYVjaGm2Mn-Q
German:
Taiwan: die lange Geschichte einer außergewöhnlichen Insel: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UsPb0IownQcBtOICE5poL?si=GatntKLsQV-r4wCTw45_Fw&utm_source=copy-link
Taiwan – zwischen Weltpolitik und Urlaubsziel: https://open.spotify.com/episode/44ei1UAqCUlceQGk7peQ7S?si=LyudKrXMRDejxEnJD-sbfA&utm_source=copy-link
So in case you have been thinking about going to Taiwan, I really hope I was able to convince you!
So, I hope you enjoyed the itinerary inspiration, I would be happy to read your comments and get feedback!
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