Taipei Itineraries: 2, 3 and 5-Day Plans Plus a Hot Springs Route

Sleep near Taipei Main Station (Red and Blue lines plus the Airport MRT) or in Ximending (Blue and Green lines). Both put Longshan Temple one or two stops away and Taipei 101 within 20 minutes.

Day one is old Taipei. Longshan Temple fills with chanting worshippers at 6am and 8am, and the walk to the restored Qing-era shophouses of Bopiliao takes five minutes. The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall’s honour guard changes every hour from 9am to 5pm in the main hall (since 2024 the ceremony is held outside on the plaza rather than beside the statue, so check the time on the day). Lunch is Din Tai Fung’s original Xinyi Road branch or a bowl of beef noodles on Yongkang Street, both by Dongmen station. In the evening, walk through Ximending’s lanes and the octagonal Red House, then take the Green Line two stops to Zhongshan for Ningxia Night Market, the most food-focused of the central markets.

Day two starts at the National Palace Museum in Shilin, home to 700,000 pieces of the former imperial collection. Go at opening to see the Jadeite Cabbage and the Meat-Shaped Stone before tour groups arrive; adult entry is around NT$350 (about $11) and the museum closes on Mondays (check before you go). Afternoon belongs to Xinyi: the Taipei 101 observatory on the 89th floor costs NT$600 ($19), opens 10am to 9pm, and shows the 660-tonne tuned mass damper that steadies the tower. Time the Elephant Mountain climb for 30 minutes before sunset; the stairs start five minutes from Xiangshan station and the viewpoint at the first platforms gives the classic tower shot.

Cost: about NT$950 in entry fees, NT$150 in MRT fares, NT$500-800 on food. Budget NT$2,500 a day with a hostel bed, NT$5,500 with a mid-range hotel.

Keep the two days above and use day three for the hill towns east of the city. Jiufen, a former gold-mining town that climbs a mountainside above the Pacific, and the Pingxi branch railway, with its sky lanterns and waterfall, fit into one long day.

Leave Taipei by 8am. The Pingxi line runs roughly hourly, so check the timetable at Ruifang and plan around it: Houtong first if you like cats, Shifen for the lanterns and waterfall, and Pingxi or Jingtong if you want the same scene with fewer people. Lanterns cost more for multi-coloured versions; you paint wishes on them and release them from the tracks between trains.

Jiufen is busiest from 11am to 3pm and again when tour buses arrive for sunset, and the main lane, Jishan Street, is narrow enough to stall. Go up the hill past the teahouses for the view over Keelung Mountain and the sea, sit in a teahouse such as A-Mei for a pot of oolong (NT$300-500 for two with snacks), and see the lanterns light up around 5-6pm. Rain is common here even when Taipei is dry; take an umbrella.

Cost: three mid-range days run about NT$15,000-18,000 ($480-580) per person including a NT$3,000 room.

Five days lets you see the green edges of the city. Keep the three days above and add Beitou and Yangmingshan on day four, and Maokong or the north coast on day five. Stay in the same hotel all week: from Main Station, Beitou is 30 minutes on the Red Line and Keelung 45 minutes by train.

Beitou is where the Japanese built Taiwan’s first hot-spring resorts, and it is still the easiest soak in any capital city. Thermal Valley (closed Mondays) is a steaming lake of acidic spring water you look at but cannot touch; the Hot Spring Museum shows the original 1913 public bath. The Millennium Hot Spring is a cheap outdoor public pool with strict rules (swimwear, a rinse first, short sessions), and the hotels on Guangming Road and Youya Road rent private rooms by the hour if you are not staying overnight. See the where to stay guide for overnight hot-spring hotels.

Yangmingshan is a volcanic park on the city’s northern rim, best in spring for cherry and calla lilies and in autumn for silver grass. Qixing Mountain is the highest peak in the Taipei basin; from Xiaoyoukeng the trail climbs past sulphur vents on stone steps and takes about 90 minutes to the top. Weather changes fast, so start by 10am and carry a rain jacket.

Option A is the gentle day: the Maokong Gondola rises 4 km over forested hills to the tea village of Maokong, where teahouses serve Tieguanyin and Baozhong with tea-flavoured snacks and views back to Taipei 101 at dusk. Option B is the coast: Yehliu’s eroded sandstone formations take an hour, and Keelung’s Miaokou market around the Dianji Temple opens all day but is best after 6pm for crab soup, tempura and nutritious sandwiches.

Cost: five mid-range days come to around NT$26,000-32,000 ($840-1,030) per person, or NT$12,000 with hostels and buses.

If you want the mountains more than the markets, base yourself in Beitou for two nights and keep one night in the city.

The Four Beasts trail links four small peaks on the edge of Xinyi with steep stone stairs and repeated views of Taipei 101; it starts at the Elephant Mountain trailhead and drops down near Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall or the Hutai cemetery road. Mount Guanyin, on the far side of the Tamsui River, is the alternative to Yangmingshan when the national park is in cloud.

Eating your way through Taipei’s night markets is a valid plan on its own. Go hungry and share everything.

Raohe is a single straight lane 600 m long, which makes it the easiest first market; Shilin is the biggest and most touristy, spread over several streets around the Cixian Temple. The Taipei food guide covers every dish and price.

Tamsui: the end of the Red Line, 40 minutes from Main Station. Walk the riverside Old Street, visit Fort San Domingo, ride the ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf for sunset, and eat the local fish-ball soup and “a-gei” stuffed tofu. Half a day.

Keelung and Yehliu: see day five above. Keelung is on the TRA line from Taipei (45 minutes, about NT$40-60); Yehliu is reached by bus 1815 or 862 from Taipei. Combine with Jiufen by bus 788 from Keelung if you start early.

Taroko Gorge: Hualien is 2 to 2.5 hours away on the Puyuma or Taroko express trains from Taipei Main Station (around NT$440 one way). Book the train 28 days ahead on the Taiwan Railway app, because weekend seats sell out. Taroko National Park was badly damaged in the April 2024 earthquake and many trails and parts of the gorge road have been closed for long periods; check the national park’s current trail status before you commit a day. As a day trip it is long; an overnight in Hualien is better.

High-speed rail: Taichung is 50 minutes away and Tainan 1 hour 45 minutes on Taiwan High Speed Rail if you want to add another city.

First-timers: follow the two-day plan and add Jiufen. The museum, Taipei 101, Longshan Temple and two night markets give you the city’s range.

Families with children: swap Jiufen for Maokong and Taipei Zoo (the zoo is cheap, large and next to the gondola), add the Children’s Amusement Park in Shilin and the National Taiwan Science Education Center near the museum, and use Da’an Forest Park’s playgrounds for an afternoon break. Shilin market is crowded with strollers; Raohe’s single lane is easier.

Rainy days and typhoon season (July to September): Taipei rains hard and often. Indoor anchors are the National Palace Museum, the Taipei 101 mall, the Huashan 1914 and Songshan creative parks, the Eslite bookstores and a hot-spring soak. If a typhoon warning is issued, the government may declare a typhoon day, closing offices, some museums and the gondola; trains to Hualien are often suspended.

On a budget: sleep in a Main Station or Ximending hostel (NT$500-900 a bed), eat breakfast at a soy-milk shop and dinners at night markets (NT$150-300 a meal), hike instead of paying for the observatory, and use the free Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and temples. Two days then cost around NT$1,500-2,000 a day.

Slow travel: add Da’an’s cafes and bookshops, a morning tea at a Dadaocheng teahouse on Dihua Street, a day cycling the riverside YouBike paths, and the onward trip to the rest of the island.

Taipei travel guide · Costs · Food · Getting Around · Where to Stay