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The Taiwan List Nobody Handed Me When I Moved Here
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items I retired from the military, looked at a map, and chose Taiwan. That was not the plan anyone expected, including me. I live in Taichung now, the second largest city and the one most travelers skip on their way between Taipei and Kaohsiung. That is th...
Sections
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Things to Know Before You Land
Taiwan Rewards the Prepared Traveler. None of This is Complicated.
Where to Stay
Start North. Work South. The High Speed Rail Makes It Easy.
Eat, Drink, and Night Markets
Taiwan Has One of the Most Serious Food Cultures in Asia and Charges Almost Nothing for the Privilege.
Taiwan Packs an Extraordinary Range Into a Small Footprint.
Things to Know Before You Land Taiwan Rewards the Prepared Traveler. None of This is Complicated.
Skip any of it and you will spend time fixing problems you could have spent eating something extraordinary.
Citizens of the US, Canada, UK, Japan, and dozens of other countries enter visa-exempt for up to 90 days. Valid passport and a return ticket are all you need. For other countries or longer stays, BOCA maintains the most current entry requirements for...boca.gov.tw/mp-2.html
Your Visa Situation Is Probably Simpler Than You Think
As of October 1, 2025, every foreign traveler must complete the Taiwan Arrival Card online before arrival. Not optional and not something you want to discover at immigration after a 14-hour flight. Do it the night before you leave. It takes less than...
Complete the Taiwan Arrival Card Before You Board
(Taiwan Arrival Card — TWAC)
Low violent crime, well-lit streets at midnight, and a general culture of looking out for strangers. I walked home at 2am my first week in Taichung and felt safer than I did in most US cities I was stationed near. Earthquakes happen and Taiwan manage...
Taiwan Is One of the Safest Countries You Will Ever Visit
Mandarin is official and what you will hear everywhere. English is taught in schools and appears on most signage, menus, and transit systems. In Taipei you can get by on English without much friction. The further south you travel, the more Mandarin m...
Mandarin is the Language. English Gets You Further in the North.
Taiwan sits in the subtropics and earns that classification fully. June through September runs hot with humidity that makes the temperature feel higher than it reads. Typhoon season overlaps. October through March is the optimal travel window: cooler...
Summer Will Humble You. Plan Around it or Embrace it.
The MRT systems in Taipei and Kaohsiung are clean, punctual, and priced well below what you are used to. The High Speed Rail connects the major west coast cities in under two hours total, north to south. City buses cover what the MRT does not. Touris...
Getting Around Is Cheap, Reliable, and Occasionally Brilliant
Where to Stay Start North. Work South. The High Speed Rail Makes It Easy.
The pattern that works best: start in Taipei, use the HSR to move south along the west coast, cut inland for Sun Moon Lake, continue to Kaohsiung, and push down to Kenting. Taiwan's accommodation scene runs from world-class city hotels to hillside B&Bs where the host brings you tea in the morning.
Taipei's hotel scene has every tier covered. The Grand Hyatt Taipei near Xinyi puts you walking distance from the best dining in the city. If you want to feel like a local rather than a visitor, the Amba hotels in Zhongshan or Ximending are well-desi...
Taipei: The Grand Hyatt or the Neighborhood Hotel. Both Are the Right Answer.
Taichung's hotel scene is underrated in proportion to how underrated the city is. Hotel ONE Taichung is the landmark tower visible from everywhere and the upper floors justify the rate. For something quieter near the arts and food corridor, the bouti...
Taichung: The City I Live in Has Better Stays Than Most Visitors Expect
Kaohsiung has transformed its waterfront and nowhere reflects that better than the Pier-2 Art District corridor. Brio Hotel puts you in the middle of it: clean, well-designed, and walking distance from everything worth seeing along the harbor. Papo'A...
Kaohsiung: Two Hotels Near Pier-2 That Actually Earn Their Location
The people who stay overnight in Jiufen get the real version: crowds gone, lanterns lit, rain rolling in off the Pacific. The hillside B&Bs are small, book quickly, and the views they sit on justify every limitation. If you are not willing to com...
Jiufen 九份: Book a Hillside B&B or Just Make It a Day Trip
Sun Moon Lake rewards at least two nights. The Lalu is the resort property that reset expectations for what a hotel in Taiwan could be when it opened and it still holds that position. The Fleur de Chine Hotel delivers comparable views at a more acces...
Sun Moon Lake: The Lalu Sets the Standard Everything Else Gets Measured Against
Kenting is Taiwan's southern tip and operates at a pace completely separate from the rest of the island. Caesar Park Kenting handles the full-service resort end well. If you prefer to be in the middle of the night market energy with money left over f...
Kenting: Beach Casual Is the Entire Point
Eat, Drink, and Night Markets Taiwan Has One of the Most Serious Food Cultures in Asia and Charges Almost Nothing for the Privilege.
Night markets are the entry point. They are not the whole story. Every city on this list has a food scene that could hold a list of its own.
Shilin is the largest night market in Taipei and the one most first-time visitors hit. The fried chicken cutlets are the size of your face. The oyster omelets are worth the line. Go hungry, bring cash, and do not plan anything for the two hours after...
Shilin Night Market, Taipei: The One Everyone Has Heard Of. The Reputation Is Earned.
Fengjia is consistently rated the largest night market in Taiwan by vendor count and I can confirm from personal experience it earns that. Less tourist-oriented than Shilin, better prices, and the food creativity is higher. This is where the bubble t...
Fengjia Night Market, Taichung: The One the Locals Use
Kaohsiung sits on the coast and Liuhe reflects that. The fresh seafood stalls are the reason to come here specifically. Grilled squid, steamed clams, whole fish priced by weight. It is a night market with a different center of gravity than the centra...
Liuhe Night Market, Kaohsiung: Seafood First, Everything Else Second
This is not a gimmick. Miyahara is a beautifully restored Japanese-era ophthalmology clinic that now operates as a premium ice cream and dessert parlor with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and flavors that take the concept seriously. The line moves. It ...
Miyahara, Taichung: Ice Cream Inside a 1927 Japanese Eye Hospital
Din Tai Fung started in Taipei and the original Xinyi location still sets the standard everything else gets compared to. There is a location in Taichung that we frequent often. The xiao long bao are the reason. There will be a wait. Order the shrimp ...
Din Tai Fung, Taipei: The Benchmark Dumpling Experience
The hillside tea houses of Jiufen are the reason people make the trip. A-Mei is the one most associated with the aesthetic that helped inspire Spirited Away. Order tea, order the taro balls, sit by a window. The harbor drops away below you and the ol...
A-Mei Tea House, Jiufen: The View That Influenced a Film
Bubble tea was invented in Taichung and Chun Shui Tang holds the original recipe claim. Whether or not you want to relitigate that debate with the other claimants, the product is excellent and the story gives you something to say when you order it ba...
Chun Shui Tang, Taichung: The Place That Invented Bubble Tea
Taiwan Packs an Extraordinary Range Into a Small Footprint.
Start in Taipei. Take the HSR south. Cut inland for Sun Moon Lake. Continue to Kaohsiung and Kenting. The east coast deserves a separate trip entirely.
Taipei 101 is the landmark you use to orient yourself for the first week. The observation deck is worth one visit. The Xinyi district surrounding it is worth returning to repeatedly for the dining, the density, and the way the city operates at its mo...
Taipei 101 and the Xinyi District: The Skyline That Tells You Where You Are
The National Palace Museum holds the largest collection of Chinese imperial artifacts outside the mainland, relocated to Taiwan during the civil war and never returned. The collection is staggering in scope. Budget half a day minimum. The jade cabbag...
National Palace Museum, Taipei: One of the Most Important Collections Anywhere
Jiufen was a gold mining town that became a tea house destination that became one of the most photographed places in Asia. Narrow stone steps, red lanterns, tea houses cantilevered out over the hillside with the ocean below. Come on a weekday. Come i...
Jiufen Old Street: Rain and Lanterns and the Pacific Below
Sun Moon Lake sits surrounded by mountains and is home to the Thao indigenous people. Cycling the perimeter trail earns its reputation. The Wenwu Temple complex on the northern shore deserves a full stop rather than a photo from the road. The gondola...
Sun Moon Lake: The Geographic and Spiritual Center of the Island
Gaomei Wetlands northwest of Taichung is one of those places that photographs well and delivers more in person. Wind turbines standing in shallow tidal water, the coastline flat in every direction, and a sunset that arrives slowly enough to make you ...
Gaomei Wetlands, Taichung: The Sunset That Resets Your Benchmark
Taroko is Taiwan's most dramatic landscape: a marble gorge carved by the Liwu River on the east coast. The hiking trails deliver views that are difficult to prepare for. This requires a deliberate side trip east but it belongs on any honest list of w...
Taroko Gorge, Hualien: The East Coast Argument for Adding a Day
The largest Buddha statue in Taiwan anchors a museum complex that takes Buddhism seriously as both living practice and cultural heritage. The grounds alone take an hour to walk properly. The museum buildings are genuinely world-class. Admission is fr...
Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum, Kaohsiung: The Scale Will Stop You
Kenting is the southern tip and it has the energy of a place that knows it is the end of the road. Beach days, coastal hiking, the Eluanbi Lighthouse at the southernmost point, and the kind of low-key nightlife that only beach towns sustain properly....
Kenting National Park: Where Taiwan Runs Out of Island