When to go to Taipei?
→ The detailed month-by-month page, with real weather records
Best time: October to December and March to April
At a glance
Why go to Taipei?
Taipei sits in a basin hemmed in by volcanic mountains, which makes for a dense, vertical city ringed by hiking trails. Twenty minutes on the metro and twenty minutes of steps take you from the foot of the 508-metre tower to a forested ridge where you look down on it. The Yangmingshan volcano steams to the north, the Beitou hot springs flow down from it, and the spa district the Japanese laid out in 1896 has its own branch of the metro. Few Asian capitals put nature this close.
The island's history is written into the city. Longshan Temple, founded in 1738 by settlers from Fujian, marks the Chinese arrival. Beitou and the railway station bear the stamp of fifty years of Japanese colonial rule, from 1895 to 1945. The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, completed in 1980, speaks for the Nationalist regime, and its square, renamed Liberty Square, saw the 1990 student movement that led to democratisation. The Palace Museum, for its part, holds 700,000 pieces taken out of the Forbidden City.
Then there is the reason many people come: you eat extremely well for next to nothing. Night markets open at 16:00 and run until midnight, with dishes at €1 to €4 cooked in front of you. Beef noodle soup, xiao long bao, stinky tofu, fried oysters and bubble tea, born in Taiwan in the 1980s, are on every street corner. Add a spotless metro, near-total safety and locals who walk you to your destination when you ask the way.
Map of Taipei: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- Taipei 101
- National Palace Museum
- Longshan Temple
- Shilin Night Market
- Beitou
- Jiufen
How much does a trip to Taipei cost?
Taipei costs a good deal less than Tokyo, Seoul or Singapore for the same level of comfort. Eating out comes to a few euros a meal, the metro to less than €2 a journey, and many major sights are free. Accommodation remains the main expense.
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €40-65/day | Hostel in Ximending, night markets, metro and YouBike, free sights and one museum |
| Comfort | €100-160/day | Neighbourhood hotel in Da'an, noodle and dumpling restaurants, Taipei 101, a day in Jiufen |
| Premium | €350+/day | Xinyi hotel with a hot spring, fine dining, private guide and car for the day |
The Taiwan dollar trades at around 34 to 35 to €1. Cards are accepted in hotels, department stores and convenience stores, but night markets and many small stalls take cash only. Convenience store cash machines work 24 hours a day with foreign cards. The EasyCard, which you top up with cash, can also be used to pay in convenience stores.
Is Taipei safe?
Taipei ranks among the safest cities in Asia: petty crime is marginal, you walk alone at night without a second thought and lost property often finds its way back to its owner. The real issues are natural ones. Typhoons hit the island from July to October, with schools, the metro and the airport closed on notice given the day before: follow the Central Weather Administration and keep your plans flexible. Earthquakes are frequent; recent buildings are designed for them, and knowing the basic safety drill is enough. The humid heat of July and August makes the days gruelling, so alternate between the streets and air-conditioned places. On the practical side, tap water is drinkable once boiled but rarely straight from the tap, and hot and cold water dispensers are everywhere, in the metro as in the parks. Finally, scooters go fast and weave through traffic: look before opening a car door or crossing away from a pedestrian crossing.
What to see and do in Taipei
- Taipei 101
- National Palace Museum
- Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
- Longshan Temple
- Shilin Night Market
- Elephant Mountain
- Beitou and its hot springs
- Jiufen Old Street
Taipei 101
Five hundred and eight metres and 101 floors, the tallest tower in the world from 2004 to 2010. Its silhouette stacks eight flared modules inspired by offering boxes and bamboo. Between the 87th and 92nd floors, a 660-tonne steel sphere hung on cables damps the sway caused by typhoons and earthquakes: it is the largest visible damper in the world, and you can go and see it. The lift reaches the 89th floor in 37 seconds. In 2011 the tower became the first skyscraper certified LEED Platinum.
National Palace Museum
Nearly 700,000 pieces from the Chinese imperial collection, evacuated from the Forbidden City in 1933 ahead of the Japanese advance, moved across the mainland during the war, then shipped to Taiwan in 1948 and 1949. The Waishuangxi building opened in 1965. Only a few thousand objects are on show at any one time, rotated every quarter. The Jadeite Cabbage and the Meat-shaped Stone, two feats of 19th-century carving, draw the biggest crowds.
Longshan Temple
Founded in 1738 by immigrants from Fujian in Wanhua, Taipei's oldest district, and rebuilt after the 1945 bombing. It gathers more than a hundred Buddhist, Taoist and folk deities: Guanyin in the main hall, Mazu, protector of sailors, at the back, and Yue Lao, the god of marriage, before whom singles cast wooden divination blocks. The communal chanting at the end of the day, around 18:00, is worth the trip on its own.
Shilin and Raohe night markets
Shilin is the biggest, open from 16:00 to midnight, with a basement food hall far better than the stalls at street level. Raohe, smaller and older, stretches for 600 metres behind Songshan Ciyou Temple and packs in the best stalls: pork and pepper buns baked against the walls of a clay oven, chicken balls, oysters. Allow €1 to €4 a dish. Cash is still a must, as many stalls refuse cards.
Beitou and Yangmingshan
Beitou is Taipei's hot-spring district, developed by the Japanese from 1896 and served by a branch of the metro. Its Thermal Valley steams day and night, with water between 80 and 100°C and a mineral deposit, hokutolite, found only here and in one river in Japan. Above it, Yangmingshan National Park covers a volcanic massif of fumaroles, elephant-grass meadows and trails up to Qixing, Taipei's highest point at 1,120 metres.
Jiufen and the northeast coast
A former mining village 400 metres above the sea, 45 km to the northeast. Gold was mined here from the 1890s to the 1970s. Shuqi Road steps down between wooden houses, red lanterns and teahouses with terraces, the sea as a backdrop. On the same road, Yehliu Geopark lines up mushroom-shaped rocks carved by erosion, including the Queen's Head, and in Shifen you can release paper lanterns over a railway line that is still in use.
How many days, and which itinerary?
Three full days cover the city and its major sights. Four or five allow a day on the northeast coast for Jiufen, Yehliu and Shifen, plus a morning in Yangmingshan National Park among its fumaroles.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Taipei guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of Taiwan
The essentials (3 days)
Day 1: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the changing of the guard, Longshan Temple and the Wanhua district, then Raohe night market. Day 2: the National Palace Museum at opening time, lunch in Shilin, Taipei 101 in the late afternoon and the climb up Elephant Mountain at sunset. Day 3: Beitou and its baths in the morning, Yangmingshan National Park and its fumaroles in the afternoon, back via Ningxia night market.
Taipei and the northeast (5 days)
The three-day core, plus a full day on the northeast coast: Yehliu Geopark and its mushroom rocks in the morning, Jiufen in the late afternoon once the coaches have left and the lanterns come on, back late. Spend the fifth day in Shifen and Pingxi, on the old mining line, for Shifen Waterfall and the paper lanterns released from the railway track. A rechargeable transport card covers everything.
Around Taiwan (2 weeks)
Four days in Taipei to start, then the high-speed train to Taichung and Sun Moon Lake, Tainan for its temples and food, Kaohsiung and its port. Head back up the east coast: Kenting, Taitung, the Rift Valley and Hualien, the base for Taroko Gorge and its marble walls. Return to Taipei on the coastal train, in three hours. Hiring a scooter is still the best way to get around the east coast.
Getting there and getting around
The Taipei metro has six lines, runs from 6am to midnight and covers everything that matters, Beitou and Tamsui included. A ticket costs 20 to 65 Taiwan dollars, or €0.60 to €2. The EasyCard, with a 100 Taiwan dollar deposit, also works on buses, suburban trains and in convenience stores.
Taoyuan Airport is 40 km away. The airport metro reaches Taipei Main Station in 35 minutes on the express trains, for about €4, from 6am to 23:00. Buses make the trip in an hour for half the price and run through the night, handy for early-morning flights.
The high-speed train links Taipei to Kaohsiung in 1 hour 45 minutes along the west coast, with departures every twenty minutes. Allow €40 to €45 one way. Regular TRA trains serve the east coast and Hualien, three hours away, with seats to be booked several days ahead at weekends.
The YouBike bike-share scheme has more than a thousand stations and costs less than a euro an hour, with continuous cycle paths along the Keelung and Tamsui rivers. Yellow taxis are plentiful and metered, with a flag fall of around €2.50 and drivers who rarely speak English.
Where to stay in Taipei?
Hostels and capsule hotels around Main Station and Ximending: €25 to €50 a night. The area is noisy but perfectly placed, with the metro, the airport buses and two night markets within walking distance.
Mid-range business hotels in Zhongshan and Da'an: €70 to €120, small but spotless rooms, often with a kettle, laundry and breakfast. Da'an is the most pleasant district to walk around, with its tree-lined lanes and cafés.
Rental flats in the residential towers of Xinyi or Songshan: €80 to €140 for two, with a washing machine and a convenience store downstairs. A practical option for stays of four nights or more and for families, with the metro less than five minutes away.
Top end: the big international names cluster in Xinyi, at the foot of Taipei 101, and along Dunhua Road. Allow €200 to €450 a night, with a pool, a spa and, at the addresses in the north, sometimes a hot spring fed from Beitou.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in Taipei?
Beef noodle soup, Taipei's signature dish, simmers for hours in a soy and spice broth. Allow €4 to €8 a bowl at a neighbourhood stall. The city has held an annual festival in its honour since 2005, complete with a ranking of the best places.
Night markets are eaten standing up: fried chicken cutlet, oyster omelette, stinky tofu fermented then fried, sausage stuffed in sticky rice. Each dish costs €1 to €4. Raohe and Ningxia are more rewarding than Shilin, which is bigger but more touristy.
Xiao long bao, soup dumplings pleated with eighteen folds, are eaten steamed in specialist restaurants: €8 to €15 for a basket of ten. The technique is to pierce the wrapper, drink the broth, then eat the rest with ginger and black vinegar.
Bubble tea was born in Taiwan in the 1980s and is drunk everywhere, at €1.50 to €3 depending on the size and the sugar level, which you choose. The teahouses of Maokong, in the southern hills reached by gondola, serve mountain oolongs the traditional way.
Entry requirements
Visa-free for 90 days for EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports, valid for at least six months on arrival, with an onward or return ticket. Fill in the online Taiwan Arrival Card in the three days before you land.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about Taipei
When is the best time to visit Taipei?
October to December, then March and April: 20 to 27°C, drier air and clear skies. July and August are hot, very humid and exposed to typhoons. January and February stay mild, around 16°C, but it rains or drizzles half the time in the Taipei basin, which spoils the viewpoints.
How many days do you need in Taipei?
Three full days are enough for the city: the tower, the Palace Museum, the memorial hall, Longshan, one or two night markets and a climb up Elephant Mountain. Two more days open up the northeast coast with Jiufen, Yehliu and Shifen, as well as Beitou and Yangmingshan volcanic park, all reachable by public transport.
Is English spoken in Taipei?
Not much in the street or at the stalls, more among the under-thirties, in hotels and in department stores. Signage in the metro, stations and tourist sights is bilingual and very clear. A translation app with a camera function solves the problem of restaurant menus. People are helpful to a degree that often comes as a surprise.
How do you get from Taoyuan Airport to the city centre?
By the airport metro, which reaches Taipei Main Station in 35 minutes on the express trains, for about €4, between 6am and 23:00. Buses take an hour for half the price and run through the night, which helps with early flights. A taxi costs €35 to €45 and takes 45 minutes outside rush hour.
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