Getting Around Taiwan: High-Speed Rail, Trains, Buses and Scooters

The HSR is Taiwan’s shinkansen: Japanese-built 700T and newer trains at up to 300 km/h on a dedicated line along the west coast. Its 12 stations run north to south: Nangang, Taipei (inside Taipei Main Station), Banqiao, Taoyuan (on the Airport MRT, 20 minutes from the terminals), Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan and Zuoying, which sits on the Kaohsiung metro Red Line. Most HSR stations outside Taipei and Kaohsiung are built away from the old city centres, so budget 20 to 40 minutes for a shuttle bus, a local train or a metro ride at each end; Taichung and Tainan both have connecting TRA trains from the HSR station.

Official one-way adult fares from Taipei, valid in 2026 (children under 12 pay half):

Trains run from about 6am to midnight, with up to six departures an hour at peak times. Non-reserved cars (usually cars 10 to 12) save only 3 percent, but they let you board any train on your travel date, which is handy if your plans are loose; on Friday evenings, Sunday afternoons and holiday weekends they fill up and you may stand. Business class buys a wider 2+2 seat, a drink and a snack. Book on the T Express app or the THSR website, at station ticket machines, or at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Hi-Life kiosks. Reservations normally open 28 days ahead, earlier before Lunar New Year.

Three discounts beat the full fare, and the maths is simple.

• Early-bird fares: up to 35 percent off on selected trains, in tiers of 35, 20 and 10 percent, sold for trains departing at least five days after booking. They are tied to the passenger’s ID, so foreigners book with a passport number. Allocations on popular weekend trains go within hours of release.
• Foreigner one-way ticket: foreign visitors on a short-term entry get 15 percent off any reserved standard-car fare (Taipei to Kaohsiung about NT$1,265) through the THSR pass site, with the ticket collected at a station counter on your passport.
• THSR Pass: a 3-Day Pass for NT$2,200 (unlimited rides on three consecutive days) and a Flexible 2-Day Pass for NT$2,500 (any two days within a seven-day period), sold to short-term foreign visitors through the THSR Pass site and authorised agents. Redeem the code and collect the pass at any HSR counter.

Do the maths before buying. A Taipei to Kaohsiung return at full fare is NT$2,980, so the 3-Day Pass saves NT$780 if you can fit the trip into three consecutive days, and the flexible pass saves NT$480 with a week to play with. A Taipei to Taichung return (NT$1,400) does not justify either pass. A typical first trip that rides Taipei to Tainan on day one, Tainan to Kaohsiung on day two and Kaohsiung back to Taipei on day three costs about NT$3,190 at full fare, so the 3-Day Pass wins by almost NT$1,000.

The government-backed Taiwan PASS bundles three days of long-distance travel with a city metro and a scenic shuttle route: the HSR version costs NT$2,800 and the TRA version NT$2,500. It pays off if you would use the metro and a Tourist Shuttle line, for example the Sun Moon Lake bus, inside the same window.

TRA runs the conventional network: the west coast main line, the east coast from Taipei via Yilan to Hualien and Taitung, the South Link back to Kaohsiung, and branch lines to Pingxi, Jiji and Neiwan. For the east coast it is the only rail option and the main reason to use TRA. Puyuma (tilting red-and-white trains), Taroko and the newer EMU3000 expresses take about 2 to 2 hours 20 minutes from Taipei to Hualien for about NT$440 ($14), and 3.5 to 4 hours to Taitung for about NT$780. Tze-Chiang limited expresses on the west coast are slower and cheaper than the HSR: Taipei to Taichung about NT$375 in 2 to 2.5 hours, to Kaohsiung about NT$845 in 4.5 to 5 hours.

East coast expresses are all reserved and sell out on Friday evenings, Sunday afternoons and holidays. Tickets open 28 days ahead on the T-Railway app and the TRA website, and you can collect them at stations or convenience stores. If expresses are full, you can still board a Tze-Chiang without a seat on many east coast trains by tapping an EasyCard and standing, though Puyuma and Taroko trains do not allow standing passengers. Local trains (Ordinary and Local, Chu-Kuang) are unreserved and accept IC cards: tap in, tap out, and pay a few dozen NT$ for short hops such as Taipei to Keelung or Ruifang for Jiufen.

Hualien is the gateway to Taroko Gorge. Parts of the gorge road and several trails remained closed for repairs after the April 2024 earthquake, so check the national park’s current trail status before you build a trip around it. TRA’s TR-PASS gives unlimited travel for set periods, with general 3-day and 5-day versions and cheaper student versions for foreign students; buy it at major stations and compare it with point-to-point fares, which are low enough that it rarely pays off unless you circle the island.

Buy a stored-value card on your first day. EasyCard (from Taipei) and iPASS (from Kaohsiung) both cost NT$100 for a plain card with no credit, are sold at every MRT station and at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Hi-Life, and work interchangeably nationwide: on the Taipei, Taoyuan Airport, Taichung and Kaohsiung metros, city buses, many intercity buses, TRA trains (except reserved seats), YouBike, ferries to some islands and at convenience stores, cafes and supermarkets. Top up with cash at any station machine or at a convenience-store till; the maximum balance is NT$10,000.

Contactless Visa, Mastercard and JCB cards now tap directly at Taipei MRT gates and on many buses, which is fine for occasional rides; EasyCard remains more widely accepted outside Taipei. A card shows its balance on station machines and readers. You cannot get the NT$100 card price back, so treat it as a souvenir, and spend down leftover credit at a 7-Eleven before you fly.

The cities have their own systems: Taipei’s six MRT lines are covered in our getting around Taipei guide, Kaohsiung has two metro lines (Red and Orange) and a circular light rail along the harbour, and Taichung has one MRT line plus a dense bus network that has long made the first 10 km free for EasyCard users (check the current scheme).

Buses are the budget alternative to the HSR and the only practical way to some places. The main operators, Kuo-Kuang, UBus, Aloha and the luxury Ho-Hsin, run from Taipei Bus Station next to Taipei Main Station and from stations across the island, many through the night. Expect about NT$300 from Taipei to Taichung (2.5 to 3 hours), NT$450 to NT$700 to Kaohsiung (5 hours or more, depending on traffic), and about NT$130 to Yilan or Luodong through the Hsuehshan Tunnel (about 1 hour, faster than the train). Seats on the luxury lines are wide recliners with personal screens. Avoid buses on holiday weekends, when the freeways jam.

The Taiwan Tourist Shuttle is a network of tourist bus routes from HSR and TRA stations to scenic areas, with English signage and day passes on some lines. The ones visitors use most: Taichung HSR station to Sun Moon Lake (about 1.5 hours), Chiayi HSR and TRA stations to Alishan (about 2.5 hours, though the restored Alishan Forest Railway from Chiayi is the more scenic way up), and the Kenting Express from Zuoying HSR to Kenting (about 2 to 2.5 hours). Pay by EasyCard or buy tickets at the station, and sit on the left heading to Kenting for sea views.

Taiwan runs on scooters, and renting one is the standard way to explore Kenting, Green Island, Orchid Island, Penghu and the east coast. The rule is strict: you need a licence from your home country that covers motorcycles plus an International Driving Permit (IDP), and Taiwan only recognises IDPs from countries that have reciprocity with it (most of Europe, North America, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand do; check with your issuing body). An IDP lets you drive or ride for 30 days from entry; if you stay longer, register it at a Motor Vehicles Office. Japanese licence holders can use an official Chinese translation of their licence instead.

Rental shops have become stricter, because they are fined when tourists without a licence crash, and many on the islands now ask for the IDP. Without one you are uninsured, and riding unlicensed brings a fine in the thousands of NT$ and impoundment of the scooter. Helmets are compulsory for rider and passenger. A 125cc scooter rents for about NT$400 to NT$700 a day (electric Gogoro scooters similar), plus fuel. On Taipei’s main roads you must make a two-stage left turn using the painted box, and traffic is heavy; save scooters for the countryside.

Car rental needs the same licence and IDP, starts around NT$1,800 to NT$2,500 a day from chains at the HSR stations and airports, and is worth it for the central mountains and the east coast highway. Taiwan drives on the right, freeway tolls are charged automatically by eTag and billed through the rental company, and mountain roads such as Highway 14 to Hehuanshan close in typhoons and landslides.

Taiwan’s mainland is too small for domestic flights to matter, but the outlying islands depend on them. Uni Air and Mandarin Airlines fly from Taipei Songshan, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung to Magong on Penghu (about 50 minutes from Taipei), Kinmen (about 1 hour), and Nangan and Beigan in the Matsu Islands. Daily Air flies 19-seat Dornier propeller planes from Taitung to Green Island (15 minutes) and Orchid Island (25 minutes), and links the small Penghu islands. Expect about NT$1,800 to NT$2,500 one way from Taipei to Penghu or Kinmen, and roughly NT$1,000 to NT$1,500 for the Taitung hops. Daily Air seats are few and weight-limited, so book weeks ahead in summer; all island flights are cancelled in fog (Matsu, spring) and typhoons.

Ferries are cheaper and run mainly April to October. Boats from Taitung’s Fugang harbour reach Green Island in about 50 minutes and Orchid Island in 2 to 2.5 hours; seas are rough and seasickness is near universal outside summer. Donggang ferries reach Xiaoliuqiu in about 25 minutes, the easiest island day trip in the south. Penghu has ferries from Chiayi’s Budai port (about 1.5 hours) and Kaohsiung (about 4 hours), and the overnight Taima ferry links Keelung with Matsu. Bring your passport for all domestic flights and island ferries.

Taoyuan International is linked to Taipei by the Airport MRT (NT$160, about 35 minutes by express) and to the HSR at Taoyuan station, so you can head straight south without entering Taipei. Kaohsiung International is on the metro Red Line, 10 minutes from the centre. Luggage is no problem on the HSR and TRA expresses, which have racks at the car ends; on local trains and metros at rush hour (7:30 to 9am, 5:30 to 7pm), large cases are awkward but allowed. Coin lockers are at the main stations, and convenience stores ship bags between cities.

The apps that matter: Google Maps for trains, metros and buses with live times; T Express for HSR; T-Railway (TRA e-booking) for train tickets; Bus+ for intercity and city buses; Uber and 55688 (Taiwan Taxi) for cabs, which are metered and honest. The HSR, TRA expresses and all metros are accessible, with lifts, wide gates and staff help with boarding ramps; book an accessible seat when you reserve.

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