I landed in Taipei expecting a smaller, quieter Tokyo and got something entirely its own. My first evening I followed the smell of stinky tofu into Raohe night market, ate a pepper bun straight out of a tandoor oven, burned my mouth, and grinned the whole walk home. By night three I had figured out the metro, made friends with a tea vendor, and soaked in a mountain hot spring twenty minutes from downtown. Taipei is the easiest big Asian city I have ever travelled, and somehow the most underrated.
Two days covers the icons. You ride to the top of Taipei 101, eat your weight in soup dumplings, wander the old temple district, and lose an evening to a night market. It is fast but Taipei's compactness and metro make it work.
End at a night market with a stinky-tofu dare and a bubble tea chaser. You are in the city that invented the second one.
Temples, Tea, and a Gold-Rush Town
Three days adds Jiufen, the lantern-lit hillside town that inspired a famous animated film, plus the teahouses of Maokong by gondola. Taipei starts revealing its layers: street food, mountains, and history all within an hour.
Taipei With Room to Breathe
Four days lets you slow down. Add a morning soaking in the Beitou hot springs, a hike up Elephant Mountain for the skyline shot, and the unmissable National Palace Museum. This is the version where Taipei truly clicks.
Taipei as a Northern Taiwan Base
A week opens up the whole north coast. Day-trip to the surreal rock formations of Yehliu, the surf town of Fulong, and the dramatic Pingxi rail line where you launch a sky lantern. Sleep in the city, explore the island.
Estimated budget:$150-$320
Estimated budget:$220-$480
Estimated budget:$300-$640
Estimated budget:$520-$1100
Day 1
Icons and the First Night Market
The tower, the old town, and street food after dark
Taipei 101
Once the world's tallest building, with a giant gold pendulum inside
Start at the icon. The observatory ride is one of the fastest elevators on earth, and the 660-tonne tuned mass damper that keeps the tower steady in typhoons is weirdly mesmerising. Go early to beat crowds, then explore the food hall in the basement.
Longshan Temple and Bangka old town
Taipei's most atmospheric temple, founded in 1738
In the historic Wanhua district, Longshan is a working temple thick with incense and chanting, dedicated to a crowd of Buddhist and Taoist deities. Watch locals toss divination blocks, then wander the surrounding old streets and herbal medicine shops.
Raohe Street Night Market
A tight, lantern-lined market famous for black-pepper buns
More manageable than the famous Shilin, Raohe is my pick for a first night market. Queue for the hujiao bing pepper buns baked in a tandoor at the entrance, try stinky tofu if you dare, and finish with a cup of fresh bubble tea. It is a single glorious street.
Day 2
Dumplings and the Palace Treasures
The best soup dumplings, then imperial art
Din Tai Fung original branch
The xiao long bao that conquered the world started here
Yes it is a chain now, but the soup dumplings at the Xinyi flagship genuinely earn the hype, each one pleated 18 times and filled with scalding broth. Order the classic pork and the crab roe, and watch the chefs work behind glass. Put your name down early.
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
A vast white-and-blue monument with a precise hourly guard change
A grand civic plaza flanked by the national theatre and concert hall. Time your visit for the hourly changing of the honour guard, a slow ceremonial drill that draws a crowd. The surrounding gardens are a popular spot for tai chi at dawn.
National Palace Museum
Nearly 700,000 pieces of Chinese imperial art, the world's greatest collection
Whatever you think of the politics, this is one of the planet's finest museums, holding treasures carried over from Beijing's Forbidden City. The famous jadeite cabbage and the meat-shaped stone are tiny and mobbed; the bronzes and scrolls are the real depth.
Day 3
Jiufen and the Mountain Teahouses
A lantern-lit gold town and a gondola to the tea hills
Jiufen Old Street
A cliffside ex-gold-mining town of red lanterns and teahouses
An hour out of the city, Jiufen tumbles down a mountainside in a maze of narrow lanes, food stalls and teahouses overlooking the sea. Its lantern-lit alleys are widely linked to a famous animated film. Go on a weekday morning before the tour buses choke it.
Maokong Gondola and tea houses
A cable car over forested hills to Taipei's tea country
Back near the city, ride the Maokong gondola, ideally a glass-floored crystal cabin, up into the tea-growing hills. At the top, settle into a terraced teahouse for a pot of local tieguanyin as the lights of Taipei come on below. A perfect slow finish.
Day 4
Hot Springs and the Skyline Hike
Soak in Beitou, then climb for the postcard shot
Beitou hot springs
A steaming volcanic spa valley at the end of a metro line
Beitou is a genuine hot spring resort you can reach on the subway. Visit the geothermal Thermal Valley first, then book a private room or a public pool at one of the bathhouses. The Beitou Library and old hot spring museum are lovely free extras.
Elephant Mountain hike
A short, sharp climb to the definitive Taipei 101 view
The Xiangshan trail is a steep 20-minute stair climb to the city's most famous viewpoint, with Taipei 101 framed dead centre. Arrive an hour before sunset to claim a rock and watch the tower light up. Bring water; those steps are no joke in summer.
Day 5
Yehliu and the North Coast
Alien rock formations on a wild coastline
Yehliu Geopark
Wind-carved mushroom rocks, including the famous Queen's Head
An hour up the north coast, Yehliu is a narrow cape of bizarre eroded sandstone formations shaped over millennia by sea and wind. The Queen's Head rock is the star, with a permanent photo queue. Go early and follow the boardwalk to the quieter far end.
Fishing-port seafood lunch
Same-day catch at a working harbour near Yehliu
The villages along this coast are real fishing ports, so lunch is whatever came in that morning, grilled or steamed and pointed at from a tank. It is rougher and far better value than anything in the city. Bring cash and an appetite for whole fish.
Day 6
Pingxi Sky Lanterns
A heritage rail line and a wish sent skyward
Shifen Old Street and waterfall
Trains rumble through a market street beside a broad waterfall
On the single-track Pingxi line, Shifen has a market street so narrow the train passes within arm's reach of the stalls. Walk fifteen minutes to Shifen Waterfall, a wide curtain often called Taiwan's Niagara. The whole valley is green and unhurried.
Release a Pingxi sky lantern
Write a wish, light it, and let it rise over the tracks
The Pingxi tradition is to paint a wish on a paper lantern and release it into the sky, and doing it yourself is genuinely lovely rather than cheesy. Stalls on the old street set you up. Ride the heritage train back, then change for the express to Taipei.
Day 7
Tamsui Sunset Finale
Riverside old town and a ferry into the sunset
Tamsui Old Street and Fort San Domingo
A riverside town of street snacks and Spanish-Dutch forts
At the end of a metro line where the river meets the sea, Tamsui is the locals' favourite sunset escape. Eat your way down the waterfront old street, see the red-brick colonial fort, and feel the city's pace ease. It is the perfect low-key last day.
Tamsui to Bali ferry at sunset
A short river crossing timed for the golden hour
Hop the little ferry across to Bali as the sun drops over the Taiwan Strait, one of the best free sunsets near Taipei. Grab a snack on the far bank, then ride the metro straight back into the city, glowing and a little sad to leave.
Taipei is the city I keep telling people to stop overlooking. It has the street food of Bangkok, the order of Tokyo, and a friendliness that is entirely its own, all wrapped around a metro system so clean and intuitive you will navigate it like a local by day two. It is also one of the best-value major cities in Asia: a world-class museum, a soup dumpling pilgrimage and a mountain hot spring can all happen in a single day without denting your wallet.
What makes Taipei special is how close the wild stuff is. You can stand atop a former world’s-tallest skyscraper in the morning, soak in a volcanic hot spring on the end of a subway line by afternoon, and be eating pepper buns in a lantern-lit night market by dark. The mountains press right up against the city, the sea is forty minutes away, and the whole northern tip of Taiwan is yours for the price of a train ticket.
How to use this plan
Pick your length and the plan adjusts. Two days hits the icons: Taipei 101, the old temple district, Din Tai Fung, and a night market. Three adds the cliffside gold town of Jiufen and the tea hills of Maokong. Four brings in the Beitou hot springs, the National Palace Museum, and the Elephant Mountain skyline hike. Seven uses Taipei as a base for the whole north coast, from the alien rocks of Yehliu to the sky lanterns of Pingxi.
One tip that will save you money and queues: get an EasyCard the moment you land. It works on the metro, buses, the gondola, the ferries, and even at convenience stores, and it turns the entire region into one tap-and-go network. Load it up, and Taipei opens right up.
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