Taiwan is truly a hidden gem in Asia. While it is popular with visitors from South East Asia, it remains unknown to most countries outside the area, especially the West. But don’t let that stop you from booking a trip there, in fact it’s hidden status makes it one of the most affordable destinations at the moment. If you love food, this is where you need to go!
Less than a 2 hour flight from Hong Kong, or a direct flight from Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago etc, on EVA Air and others, it doesn’t get any easier than this.
G & B were almost 7 & 5 during this trip. The age was perfect, because now they were very confident about public transportation, reading all the signs, willing to try new things, and sacrificing convenience if needed.
We spent about 5 days there, and honestly it wasn’t enough. We were only able to see most of the capital, Taipei, and a day trip around the northern parts of the country.
We visited Taiwan over US Thanksgiving week, which was almost perfect. It rained lightly on some of the days, and was cool the rest of the time. Only a light jacket or a good sweater was enough for most of the time. When looking to book, consider typhoon season, Chinese New Year and other holidays in order to avoid crowds and high prices.
TRANSPORTATION:
Public transportation via the MRT is the easiest way to get around Taipei and the surrounding area. UBER was also extremely easy and cheap! All signs on the MRT system are both in English and Mandarin, making the whole thing very foolproof. The only difficulty we had was when we first purchased our Easy Cards, but quickly we got the hang of using and refilling it.
While signs in English are everywhere, it is NOT widely spoken. Therefore not everyone will be able to help you if you have a question, but almost all the Taiwanese we spoke to were always happy to help anyway they could. We even had several people offer up their seats to us. That has never happened to us anywhere else!
For our day trip to Jiufen, Pingxi and Yehliu, we hired a driver for about 8 hours at a very affordable price at OwnRides.com. I highly recommend Mr. Michael Feng.
Although Wifi is easily available, especially with pocketwifi, it is a good idea to use download Maps.Me to use maps offline, just in case.
STAY:
Try to stay close to downtown Taiwan or along the main MRT lines. We stayed at Hotel Green World Zhongxiao. I cannot say enough great things about this hotel. For a little more than a $100 USD/night, they had the biggest and most varied complimentary breakfast, the MRT entrance was right below the hotel! Which meant we were just a few stops away from everywhere basically! Not to mention, Uniqlo and H&M were right next to it, so we could run over and grab a warm sweater or jacket if we were not prepared for the weather. AND, there was a whole world at the MRT station: underground markets, eateries and so much bargain shopping! The staff spoke English and were very helpful. I would happily go back to this location!
-
Stewed pork, sweet potato sesame bun -
Another delicious breakfast -
Taiwanese “burger”
EAT:
Food in Taiwan is cheap!
Din Tai Fung: There are a few locations of this world-renowned chain in Taipei, but you can be sure the wait is long at almost all of them unless you go at off-peak hours or right when they open. We passed by the original and found the line snaking around the building, so we went to the location at Taipei 101, where we could shop at the mall or enjoy the lights at night. Be sure to get their soup dumplings or Xiao Long Bao, we couldn’t get enough of these! The kids loved watching the various dumplings and buns being made in the open kitchen. The whole, satisfying meal cost us about $30, which we would gladly have paid three times as much for!
-
Taipei 101 -
Dessert at DTF -
Shu mai -
The incredibly popular Xiao Long Bao
Hot Star Fried Chicken: This stall, also with many locations, has the best fried chicken I have ever eaten! Seriously! It’s large, and fresh, and cheap and you can ask for the spicy version. Grab a side of sweet potato wedges to go with it. You will not regret this, I promise you. We loved it so much we made two trips to the Ximending location and one at Shilin, even when we were already full from eating other things! Right around the corner from Hot Star in Ximending is a vendor selling giant ice-cream in a cone. You do not want to miss this one!
-
Neon lights -
Hot Star XL fried chicken -
Tallest ice cream
Themed restaurants: Taiwan is big on themed restaurants, from characters such as Hello Kitty, Rilakkuma, Alice in Wonderland to robots and the infamous Modern Toilet! I hadn’t planned on this one, but if you’re in the Ximending neighborhood and intrigued as we were, the food was actually pretty good, if you can get past the gross factor!
7-11: I’m not even kidding! They have pretty decent food whether you want dinner or just a snack. The kids LOVED the sweet potato/yam while I almost always grabbed the hot tea eggs (eggs hard boiled in tea). And with one on almost every block, you will never be hungry!
-
tea egg -
Halal Chinese Beef Noodle Restaurant: You should never leave Taiwan unless you’ve had plenty of beef noodle soup. The Da’an location of this restaurant had some of the best! This was also the only place we didn’t have friendly service, but looking at their reviews, it wasn’t just us. However, the food was worth it. Get the pancakes and shredded beef as well.
Chun Shui Tang: The original location in Taichung is where bubble tea is supposed to have been born, but we paid homage at the Taipei location. Make sure to request to be seated and not do a take-out. The original location also offers classes daily on bubble-tea making! While we didn’t get to go to Taichung, I can imagine that would be a unique experience!
Night Markets: While Shilin is the most famous, Raohe and the smaller Ningxia are close behind. Go to as many as you possibly can. With hardly any signs in English, and plenty of mystery meat, you may be confused, but find the stall with long queues and you can’t go wrong. The food is fresh, cheap, fast and delicious. It doesn’t get better than that! If bugs and mystery meat aren’t your thing, there’s plenty of stalls selling all kinds of barbecue, chicken, snails, squid, almost anything you can think of.
-
Temple inside Shilin Market -
Food Courts: You will find pretty soon that shopping is a major pastime here, and almost all centers/malls have food courts with really good food! Our favorite was the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi mall.
The only time I didn’t go with the rule of long queues above, was in the case of stinky tofu. It must be an acquired taste because it was truly horrendous-smelling. I eat almost anything in this world, but this stomach-turning smell was something I couldn’t get past. YMMV though!
Other foods to try if you get a chance: Gua Bao (“Taiwanese burger”), You tiao (cruller), Shao Bing (pancakes with different fillings), congee with toppings, hot soybean milk.
DO:
There is so much to do, you will not have enough time for it all!
Chang Kai Shek memorial is absolutely beautiful. The whole complex of buildings is stunning. Take a few minutes to sit down and enjoy the serenity of the place.
Sun Yat Sen memorial: This one was my kids’ favorite because of the military changing of the guard. The perfectly synchronized moves were at once reminiscent of the Evzones in Greece that we had seen earlier in the year, and yet unique in their moves. My kids were totally spellbound. Learn more about the great leaders and the birth & history of this nation here.
Long Shan temple: This beautiful temple is about 300 years old. Go reverently, and notice the details. With it’s mix of Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist beliefs, I think this temple is a good representation of the country itself in how inclusive it is. Spend an hour or so wandering the Wanhua neighborhood, to get a taste of old Taipei.
Taipei Zoo: Super cheap to enter, at about NT$ 60. We didn’t spend too much time here, as our main purpose was to get to Maokong. A shuttle from the zoo takes you the gondola, which then takes you to Maokong.
Maokong: This town in the Wenshan district is fairly easy to get to, but once you are there, it can be confusing. From where the gondola drops you off, you can take a bus to any of the renowned tea-houses that Maokong is famous for. We picked Yao Yue, and had a fantastic time brewing our own tea in almost a ceremonial way. Yao Yue also served great food. Getting back to the main station however proved to be difficult as there were hardly any signs, and we spent a good deal of time standing on the wrong side of the road. We didn’t realize that the bus we were waiting for only ran one way! So make sure to ask for details at whichever teahouse you pick. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience!
Shopping: As mentioned previously, shopping is a serious thing here. There are malls everywhere! Check out the tallest one Taipei 101, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (loved their shoe section!), SOGO and Core Pacific. But malls aren’t the only places to shop. Night markets have great finds, as do pop-up ones at street corners, and the ones at the MRT stations. The quality is really good for the price, and most places be sure to haggle. As you can imagine, this isn’t easy when you don’t know Mandarin and the vendor knows no English, but use your phone or hands or notepad to indicate what you are willing to pay! One of my favorite stores, thanks to a good friend, was the Eslite bookstores.
Play areas: In addition to kid-centric museums, you will find “play cafes” at restaurants, but the best in terms of price and choice was the Core Pacific (Living) mall, which had about 6 or more floors of play areas! We had never in our lives experienced anything like this! Our kids chose Austin Land, but there were so many other choices such as BabyBoss, FEBO, Hape and Crazy Kart. They check the kids for fever before admitting them in, which ensures that kids don’t get sick from other kids. Mine spent 2 full hours there, but I am certain they would be happy to spend the entire day or two if they could. If we had a day to spare, this mall would have been the place we’d probably be at. There was even a Toys R Us store! Austin Land even had a robot the kids could ride, and little robots that danced! By far, the best play area my kids had ever been in.
Huangshan Creative Park in Zhongzheng District is quiet park/recreational area. They have some interesting stores such as It’s a Wooderful Life. We noticed many families flying kites or playing with their kids outdoors.
Hello Kitty: The Hello Kitty obsession is obvious from the moment you land in Taiwan. Luckily, it is so very tastefully done, that you can’t help but fall in love with it too! Visit the HK lounge, store and check-in counter at Taoyuan International Airport.
Taipei airport is one of the best I have experienced! Shop for pineapple cake or Kavalan whiskey, and if you have lounge access, your choices are very large. The lounge food is excellent, and include self-serve ice cream and beer! There are rooms with chaises and enough to get you comfortable.
It’s not just the restaurants in Taiwan that are themed, it happens at the airport too! Of course, one was Hello Kitty themed! And then there were others like Reading, one for Culture and so on! It’s hard not to love the details!
Christmasland: If you’re in Taipei late Nov to Dec, be sure to visit Christmasland in Banqiao for their beautiful decorations. It’s amazing to see how the holidays are celebrated around the world.
Get a foot massage for cheap at Villa.Like or many other similar spots that are all over.
For great views of the city, head up Elephant Mountain Trail.
SIDE-TRIPS:
For the post about the side trips we did during our time in Taipei, please refer to the post on Taiwan’s north coast and Beitou.
CHECK OUT OUR YOUTUBE VIDEO WITH PICTURES FROM THE BLOG AND ADDITIONAL VIDEO!
NOTES:
Getting around is also made so much easier with pocket Wifi! We rented ivideo routers at the airport (book online as soon as you can to avoid shortages) and for just a few US Dollars a day, you can enjoy 4G connectivity for up to 5 devices. We booked ours at ivideo. They can be picked up at the airport as soon as you arrive or at various locations in the city.
Credit cards are not used everywhere. Cash is still king. Many places do use Apple pay, WeChatpay or Alipay.
Most everyone uses WhatsApp, WeChat or Line for communication, since Wifi is ubiquitous. Make sure you have at least WhatsApp on your phone.
If you are not a Mandarin speaker, do not attempt to tell a driver the name of the destination. Many words sound the same but could mean something totally different. Show the driver the characters on Google Maps and check on your map periodically to make sure he/she is going where you intended!
FUTURE:
It is said that Taiwan is so small, you could go from North to South in 4 hours. But clearly we would need another 10 days at least to see and experience the rest of the country. We cannot wait to go back for the following:
- National Palace Museum
- Tamsui
- Taroko National Gorge
- Sun Moon Lake
- Neihu Flower Market
- Taichung
- Whale-watching is at Wushih Harbor, on Gueishan Island
- Kavalan Whiskey in Yilan
- Hualien
- Kaohsiung
- West coast: Zhongshe Flower Market, Gaomei wetlands, Rainbow village
We had such a blast not just in the country, but also getting there on EVA Air. Very friendly staff that goes out of the way to make your flight easier. Look at the goodie bag they gave my kids! It’s no wonder that we can’t wait to go back!
