I focused my two week itinerary Taiwan trip on the biggest cities of Taiwan, Taipei in the North, Taichung in the center and Kaohsiung in the south. I did this trip in 2 weeks and the logistics was pretty easy and straight forward. Many independent travelers would add the east coast to visit Taroko National Park. I skipped because is beautiful but not impressive and the increase of costs & complicated logistics made the place not worth for me to visit. Additionally I visited the harbor city of Keelung and Tainan, the oldest city in the country.
Taipei: 5 days
I would separate 1 day for temples, 1 day for Taipei 101 region, 1 day for liberty square and surroundings, 2 nights for markets. Additionally I would do a day trip to Thousand islands, a beautiful nature region not explored by mainstream tourists.
Taiwan is famous for its street night markets and the wide range of food they offer in the stalls. Those markets operate between sunset and sunrise in sidewalks or even entire streets that carry vehicle and pedestrian traffic by day. Most of them operate daily and offer a mixture of individual stalls selling drinks, goods and xiaochi, an important category of Chinese food which translated means “small eats”.
Served in portions similar to Spanish tapas, those dishes and snacks are offered as carry-out items. Most of the prices range between 1 and 2 USD and a visitor will spend around 3 to 10 USD while trying different food.
Some of the xiaochi food include dumplings, oyster omelets, spring onion pancakes, stinky tofu, hot pot, fresh squid, grilled taiwanese sausage, iron eggs, fried chicken and chicken shawarma. One of the most famous and largest night markets in Taipei include Shilin Night Market opened in 1899 is located right across the street from Jiantan Metro Station.
Another market that stands out in Taipei is Raohe Street Night Market, located in Songshan District on Raohe Street. It is a 600 meters stretch from Fuyuan Street to Ciyou Temple.
Taiwan is also famous for temples and the capital of the country offer a big range of option for visitors. The most visited one is Lungshan Temple due to it’s easy access via public transport. My favourite was Zhinan temple, a Taoist temple on the slopes of Houshan, in Muzha suburb. It was founded in 1882 and is accessed using the Maokong Gondola and getting off in Zhinan Temple Station.
Beside temples and night markets, Taipei has important historical sites such as Liberty Square (or Freedom Square), a public plaza covering over 240,000 square meters in the Zhongzheng District. Located within sight of the Presidential Office Building, it has served as the city’s public gathering place since its completion in the late 1970s.
The name of the square recalls the important historical role it played in Taiwan’s transition from one-party rule to modern democracy. The are is home to three major landmarks such as National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, National Concert Hall and National Theater. A park surrounds the plaza and a wall surrounds the site.
Another landmark of Taiwan is the Taipei 101, that had hold the record of tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010, being surpassed by Burj Khalifa. Formally know as Taipei World Financial Center it is a skyscraper with postmodernist architecture style and 101 floor above ground, as well as 5 basement levels. It was not only the first building in the world to break the half-kilometer mark in height (509.2m), but also the world’s tallest building from 31 March 2004 to 10 March 2010. As of 18 April 2019, it is still the world’s largest and highest-use green building.
A famous spot to see the building is from the top of Elephant mountain after a few staircases.
A place that completely blowed my mind, not far from Taipei was Thousand Islands Lake. A region with tea plantations, nature and beautiful lake landscapes. The best way go get there is renting a scooter for a day trip. The scooter gives you flexibility to stop and take pictures on the way. Is even possible to enter the tea plantations and take nice pictures, such as the main one from the article.
Keelung: 1 day
Not far from Taipei, is Keelung, a port city with the famous Keelung Temple Night Market. Started in order to serve the needs of the many worshipers who came to the popular Dianji Temple to pray for fortune, good luck, and health, or to seek answers to their problems, this night market quickly got bigger and bigger.
Today, with over 60 food stalls registered, it is famous for its fresh seafood and popular drinks such as Paopao Ice, which is ice shaved and beaten up into fine, smooth, snow-like texture and then flavored with fruity jams and nuts.
Taichung: 2 days
Taichung, in central Taiwan, is the second most populous city of the country. The city became a major economic and cultural hub. Planned and developed by the Japanese, it was called “the Kyoto of Formosa” in Japanese era because of its calm and beauty. Taichung city is quietly known for its colorful art scene and food. A place that cannot be missed while visiting Taichung is the Painted Animation lane, a street art alleyway, where you’ll come across some familiar faces from manga, anime, and cartoon classics: Super Mario, Luigi, Goku, Naruto and much more. The walkway is short, which it means won’t take up too much out of your day, but is worth a stop for anime and cartoon fans. There are also nearby stores offering cool souvenirs and snacks you can take home with you.
Another must visit in the city is Rainbow Village, a settlement in the Nantun District which is famous for its vibrantly painted houses and streets. The village was created by an ex soldier that wanted to save his village from demolition.
Local university students discovered Huang’s work and campaigned to save the village. Authorities eventually agreed that it should be preserved and hopefully become a designated cultural area. It is a popular tourist attraction, bringing more than a million visitors annually. Kindly called as “Grandpa” the creator of the colorful village has an inspiring story and can still be seen in the village. This article explain in details how to get there: How to visit rainbow village
Another important attraction of Taichung is the Feng Chia Night market, stablished in 1963 in Xitun District, it was claimed to be the largest night market in Taiwan.
Kaohsiung: 4 days
Kaohsiung is a city in southern Taiwan and the third most populous city of the country. The city has grown from a small trading village into the political and economic centre of southern Taiwan, with key industries such as manufacturing, ship building, steel-making, freight transport and oil refining.
The most popular tourist sight is Lotus Pond an artificial lake and popular tourist destination on the east side of Zuoying District. Opened in 1951, it is famous for numerous temples around the lake, including the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. There is a sign outside the pagodas that tells you to enter through the dragon’s mouth and come out from the tiger’s mouth. It says that by doing this, you’ll be able to get rid of your bad luck and increase your good luck.
Another impressive temple in the pond include the Statue Of Taoist God Xuan Tian Shang Di.
In the port area of Kaohsiung, the district of Cijin, established by the fisherman Hsu Ah-hua (徐阿華) in the mid-17th century forms the original core of the city. He realized the attractiveness of the location when he was forced to seek shelter from a typhoon.
The main attraction in the region is Cijin Island easily accessed by a ferry. To get there you’ll need to take the Kaohsiung MRT to Sizihwan Station, walk about 5-10 minutes to Gushan Terminal where you can take a ferry. The ticket costs 25 NTD each way. For me, the highlight of the island was Cihou Market, that had stalls selling mostly dried fish.
One of the most popular markets in Taiwan, Liuhe Night Market is the biggest market in Kaohsiung and a must place to visit.
Another place recommended to visit on a day trip is Fo Guang Shan Buddha in the outskirts of Kaohsiung. Previously known as the Buddha Memorial Center, is a Mahayana Buddhist cultural, religious and educational museum located in Dashu District. The museum is affiliated with Fo Guang Shan, one of Taiwan’s largest Buddhist organizations.
Construction of the museum began in 2008, and the museum was opened to the public in December 2011. Since its opening, the Buddha Museum has frequently been featured in the top 10 landmarks of Taiwan. The Fo Guang Big Buddha took more than a year to cast, using a total of 1,800 tons of metal, and was completed in 2011. The statue itself measures 40 meters high, the seat is 10 meters high. Altogether, the total height is 108 meters (an auspicious number in Buddhism). The statue depicts Sakyamuni Buddha.
While in Kaohsiung I did Couchsurfing in the house of an English teacher. He kindly invited me to perform a lecture about my travels to the kids. Couchsurfers in Class is a platform that aims to combine traveling with education. While in Taiwan travelers are invited to visit schools and interact with students. The goal is to motivate the students to communicate with different people and let them see a new world beyond their imagination.
Tainan: 1 day
Tainan is the oldest city of the island and used to be the capital during imperial times for its over 200 years of history. It is famous for its temples, historic buildings and snack food. The city is currently the fifth largest city on the island with a population of over 1.8 million. The city houses the first Confucian school-temple in Taiwan, built in 1665, the remains of the Eastern and Southern gates of the old city, and countless other historical monuments. Tainan claims more Buddhist and Taoist temples than any other city in the country.
It is possible to visit Tainan by train on a day trip from Kaohsiung.
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