Taiwan was so fun. I had such a great time there. I love the food and just the convenience of public transportation everywhere. I’m glad I was able to go to Taiwan before the end of the year.

If you’re looking to go to Taiwan, here’s a quick guide on what I did in Taiwan.

Summary: We spent 8 full days total in Taiwan

5 days in Taipei
1 travel day
1 day in Hualien
1 travel day

We arrived in the early morning. At the airport, we got our easypass cards, exchanged cash, and then took the train to the hotel to drop off our luggage since we couldn’t check in until 3pm.

Things to Note:
Easypass card is a transit card. It works on trains and buses. You can also pay for things using the easypass card. Highly recommend this versatile card.

Things to do before your trip:

Get some cash. This way you have some on hand right away to exchange.

Tell your bank you’re traveling. This way you can use your card(s) at Point of Sale and ATMs.

Complete the Taiwan online entry form. This makes going through immigration much quicker.

Taipei Hotel: GreenWorld ZhongXiao

Day One – Taipei

Ximending: This is a shopping area. There are souvenir shops, regular stores, and restaurants here. At night there are street food vendors and artisan vendors in addition to what’s already there. It’s a busy area but it’s so fun! Highly recommend.

Ri Xing Type Foundry: This is a unique stamp shop. You can come here to get your Chinese name stamps. A few of my friends got their Chinese name stamps here. It was so cool to visit and see all the different Chinese characters. The staff here were super helpful.

Shi Lin Night Market: This is a night market in Taipei. It does get very packed here on the weekends. There is a food area and then a game/shop area.

Day Two – Taipei

Elephant Mountain: A great park/hiking area in Taipei. The top has a beautiful view of the city. The trail here is not long to reach a peak, but the trail is all stairs, and the elevation gain is very quick. It’s very vertical. It’s a great way to work out if you’re in the city though! There were families when we visited.

Taipei 101: You will know Taipei 101 when you see Taipei 101. One of the tallest building in Taipei with unique Chinese-inspired architecture. It’s beautiful and unique. Inside there is the World Trade Center, and another area is a shopping mall and restaurants. We stopped here to shop and dine at Din Tai Fung.

Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall: This is a beautiful building. We came when they were closing we didn’t get to go inside, but it was beautiful with the lights on at night.

Shopping near our hotel: We stayed in Da’an near the ZhongXiao Dunhua train stop. There are a lot of stores and restaurants here so we spent the evening shopping around. Plus, the stores were having their 11/11 weekend sale, which was amazing!

Day Three – Taipei:

Shifen Waterfall: This is a scenic area in New Taipei City. It’s a beautiful area, highly recommend visiting. When you arrive, you’ll walk down towards the suspension bridge. There is a waterfall there that is beautiful. Keep walking and you’ll encounter a small temple, and a market with food and souvenirs. Then you will come to the big waterfall. It’s beautiful!

Shifen Old Street: This is a 10-15 minute walk from the waterfall. It is a street built around a train track. The tracks are still used so there will be trains coming through. This area is known for their lanterns. You will see that most of the shops here have lanterns you can buy to light and fly. It’s such a charming area. There are also plenty of restaurants and souvenir shops.

Jiufen Amei Teahouse: This is the infamous teahouse that people say resembles the house in the animated film Spirited Away. There is no RSVP, getting in is first come first serve. When we arrived there was no line, so we had to wait but the wait wasn’t too long. When we left, the line was down the stairs. The teahouse comes with snacks and tea. It’s a super fun experience!

Jiufen: This town is on a hillside overseeing the sea. It’s truly a beautiful sight. It does get really crowded so prepare for that. Definitely go off the stairway and venture into the markets.

Day Four – Taipei

Yehliu Geopark: Located on the north coast of Taiwan. It’s a landscape of honeycomb and mushroom rocks eroded by the sea. Truly an amazing site. Accessible by bus. Entrance fee is 130 NTD. This was one of my favorite locations we visited, it’s one of those places that doesn’t look like earth.

Maokong Gondola: A fun gondola ride that takes you to Maokong mountain. The ride is quite long but you get a beautiful view of Taipei. There is a temple and the Taipei zoo here that you can stop by and visit. These stops are on the way to the mountain top. At the top, there are tea houses you can dine in.

Raohe Night Market: This is a popular night market in Taipei. It’s quite spacious and there are public trash bags scattered around which is super convenient. There is a good variety of food here as well. Make sure to bring cash! I love the mushroom stand and the dumpling stand.

Karaoke: If you’re into karaoke, definitely check out the karaoke in Taipei. This is a great fun activity to do in the evening.

Day Five – Taipei

Yangmingshan National Park: This is a national park in Taipei. It’s about an hour with public transportation from the city center. You can also take a taxi or uber there. The park has a lot of trails you can hike. The bus also runs pretty frequent here which is convenient to get around.

We hiked the QiXing Park Trail.

Beitou Hot Springs: This area is very close to the Yangmingshan national park. You can get here by bus from the national park. It’s known for its hot springs. There are public ones and private ones. There are ones for all gender, and then ones where they separate male and female. If hot springs are not your thing, there are museums you can visit here also.

Day Six – Travel day to Hualien

Paraglide: https://klook.tp.st/J7ugjMiA

Paragliding in Hualien was such a beautiful experience. This was not my first time paragliding but it was still just as exciting and fun! I would paraglide again and again. I love it so much. If you want something more adventurous, definitely book a paragliding session!

Beach: Hualien is right along the coast of Taiwan. We were walking distance from the beach and it was a refreshing afternoon walking along the coast.

Dongdamen Night Market: This night market was by far our favorite night market that we visited. It had plenty of room for people to walk around without squeezing between one another. It had seating available for people to sit and eat. It was also big with a lot of different vendors. It also had trash bins available and live music! It was great. We came here both nights while we were in Hualien.

Day Seven – Hualien

Taroko National Park: We spent the whole day at Taroko National Park. The views were a dream. It was absolutely stunning and totally worth the hype. The only issue is buses don’t run as often on the weekdays so you will have to plan ahead. It’s also not very walker friendly so I recommend booking a tour or getting a dedicated taxi for the day.

Dongdamen Night Market: Spent the evening here for dinner. As already mentioned, this is a great night market. The food was also 10/10!

Day eight – Travel day back to Taipei

Discovery Center of Taipei: After dropping our luggage at the hotel, we went to this free museum. It was so cool to learn about the past and the present Taiwan. If you’re looking to fill time, highly recommend dropping by this museum!

Xingya Fude Temple: We came across this temple. There was an event happening. I’m not sure what it was, but it was interesting to witness. I noticed that most temples in Taiwan are colorful and bright.

Ximending: We ended the day going to Ximending for last minute shopping. It was also International Hanfu Day so there were local vendors and hanfu rentals here. It was seriously so cool to see!

We flew out the next day. I would have loved to travel to other cities of Taiwan. I’ve heard great things about them.

I think you can definitely do Taipei in 2 days, and then spend the remaining days in other cities. Even without a car, you can travel to other cities by the express train.

If you’re just planning to stay in Taipei, there’s still plenty to do! We took a lot of day trips and you can too.

If you’re visiting Taiwan soon, have so much fun! Taiwan is beautiful. Loved how much nature there is among the cityscape.

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8 Days in Taiwan | A Taiwan Guide