Trip Guide: Taipei, Taiwan
Recommendations for a couple days in Taipei, Taiwan.
[Update: I visited Taipei again for a week in May 2019 and have added a few other things I did while in the city.]
I had the opportunity to visit Taipei while traveling for work. This was my first work trip to Asia, which was very exciting to experience! However, this also meant that while I was in Taipei for a week, most of that time was in the office, on calls at the hotel, or sleeping at odd hours! With some buffer time between work and flights, I had a couple days to explore the city. In a serendipitous way, I actually met up with several people while in Taipei who were able to give me the local tour or explore together, both new friends and old! Below I’ll share some more of my favorite experiences around the city.
Trip Overview
Taipei was a fun city to explore — I’d say a good trip there could be done in a few days. I enjoyed visiting Taipei more than some of the cities in China because the city felt a bit cleaner, the internet works perfectly, and it was very green. I didn’t realize before visiting that there would be so many trees, but it makes the city feel so much more lush. Taiwan actually has a mountain range lining the east coast which helps to prevent many bad storms/tsunamis and the mountains can be seen throughout the city. While there, I did unfortunately get very rainy weather and several things were closed due to these conditions, so I’v also included a few things below I’d like to do when I visit again one day in the future. Here are the places I saved on Google Maps.
Getting around
While the city is very large, I found it really accessible to get around either by their easy/cheap/super clean metro system or with cheap Uber rides.
Stay
Since I was there for work, I was staying in the W Hotel Taipei near the Microsoft office in the ritzy shopping area of the city. The hotel was gorgeous, lots of ambient lighting and great views of the city throughout.
You can visit the bar on the very top floor without being a hotel guest. There is an amazing view of Taipei 101 for the price of a nice cocktail.
On my second trip to Taipei, I stayed in the Grand Hyatt for a week while attending Computex. It was nice that this was right next to Taipei 101, but I liked the location of the W more.
Things to do
- I really really enjoyed taking the Gondola ride up to Maokong and getting tea in the small, walkable area. The Gondola is accessible by metro and is located right next to the Taipei Zoo. My mom actually came to Taipei for a few days! We did this on Sunday together before the work week started. It was a bit rainy, but we figured it was worth the journey, and I’m so glad we did! The Gondola ride was actually much longer than I expected, but the views of the city were amazing and you go up and over all the nearby small mountain hills covered in greenery. The Gondola drops you off right on the main road, we took a left and walked up the street to Yao Yue Teahouse for ceremonial tea. I loved this place! You can even bring the leftover tea back with you in a tin. It is so peaceful surrounded by greenery and tucked away from the noise. On our way back to the Gondola, we stopped by a cute spot for some of the green tea ice cream.
- One of my friends recommended getting my hair washed while in Taipei! In hair salons, especially many of the local ones, you can get a Taiwanese hair wash for cheap (mine was ~$10). The unique part about the experience is that you sit up in your chair as they massage your scalp and wash your hair. Mine also included all sorts of fun shapes on top of my head, it was so fun, highly recommend!
- Huashan 1914 Creative Park was a neat place to walk around. There are lots of older building converted into lots of cutes shops and restaurants to stroll around.
- Exploring a bunch of the night markets was also a highlight! Some were more foods and others were more shopping/clothes oriented. I was lucky to have met up with friends (Ash and Sam!) who have roots in Taipei and had an overlapping trip there — they showed me around several of the night markets and I had the chance to try things I otherwise wouldn’t have known to have ordered! We went to the Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf where we walked around the Tamsui Old Street, and then took the train to the Shilin night market. I also got to meet up with Nivi and we walked around a night market in Da’an where there were tons of cute stores for clothes/accessories etc.
- Taipei 101 is the iconic building in Taipei’s skyline. It was the world’s tallest building for awhile until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was built. Inside is a huge luxury shopping mall and the bottom floor has restaurants. I actually also got to meet up with my friend Alex here who was also visiting Taipei at the same time! We went up to the top of the skyscraper, but unfortunately the visibility was pretty low. Still a must-do!
- We also went over to The Red House, which had several cute boutique crafty stores inside. While there isn’t a ton to specifically see at The Red House, the Ximending area nearby is so dense and happening. I loved walking around this part of the city — so many dense shops, cafes, restaurants, and tons of people out-and-about.
- One day when it was raining, I visited the National Chang Kai-sheik Memorial Hall. It was a pretty beautiful location and I got to see the changing of the guards.
- After I was by the Creative Park, I walked over to the nearby digital plaza area. This was full of electronics and reminded me somewhat of Shenzhen. Check out Syntrend (lots of nice shops, VR places, electronics) and Guanghua Digital Plaza (full of more small shops with electronics parts).
- On my second trip to the city, I arrived into the city at 5am and nothing was open. I ended up deciding to do a morning hike up Elephant Mountain to check out the view. Walking through the park to get there I saw 30 different groups doing some morning Tai Chi or exercise! Hiking in the morning ended up being great because it was a lot less busy and a lot less hot than the afternoon. There were quite a bit of mosquitos and so many stairs in the heat! But the view was so worth it, probably my favorite view of the city.
- On my second trip to the city, I also ended up walking around Wufenpu Shopping District. I truly didn’t know what I was getting into… there were SO many clothing vendors and clothes it was completely overwhelming. I think I only walked through a fraction of the whole area. It was absolutely wild how full of different clothes this place was. Lots of kind of funny shirts with English that didn’t make sense and some really funky designs. I want to go back next time and pick up some pieces from here.
Eat & Drink
I don’t always have the most adventurous palate. However, while I was in Taipei I actually got the chance to try a ton of new things at the night markets, street vendors, and at restaurants. This was in part because I luckily got to meet up with friends who had lived/are living in Taipei and could order me all sorts of things! Here are some:
- Din Tai Fung is from Taipei and so so good. Must go!
- Bubble Tea also is from Taipei and there are shops all over the streets. Tiger sugar was a particularly popular place I went to, but I went to a different place almost everyday while there.
- At Shilin Night Market I tried a handful of different things such as quail eggs, plum juice, cilantro sorbet wrap, cream pancake, tofu wrapped noodles in a gravy sauce (can’t remember what this is called), and a couple different fried foods from different vendors!
- Mango shaved ice was such a delicious dessert.
- I’ve now been to two amazing speakeasies in Taipei! Probably the coolest ones I’ve ever been to — so grateful to have met up with friends in the city who took me to these gems! One was called Bar Pun and was completely hidden in an alleyway. We actually couldn’t find it at all! It was a very narrow dark alleyway that was kind of creepy at night, when we walked down there was kind of an opening that was dark but had a fire alarm. Anyways, when you press the fire alarm it actually opens up a hidden door in the wall! When you walk through you get to a swanky bar. It was so fun to find this one!! The other speakeasy I can’t remember the name — but walking down a normal, quiet road there was a bookcase on the street and when you passed by a book subtly lit up. When you pull the book out from the case it opens up the entire bookcase as a sliding door into a bar!
Things I’d like to do
I wasn’t able to visit these places due to the rainy weather, but next time I go back I’ll definitely go to these places:
- Beitou hot springs — I’ve heard it’s worth booking a private hot spring at one of the nearby hotels
- If I had been on a bit longer of a trip, I would have loved to go visit the coast!
Overall, Taipei was up there in one of my favorite cities in Asia I’ve visited!
Lots of good food, easy/clean public transportation everywhere, nice scenery with green/mountains, and so much to do that it’s literally impossible to do it all.
