A brief guide on what to eat, see, and experience in Taipei and surrounding areas, from a person who lived here for 2+ years 😋

What to do in Taipei?

• 🚴🏻‍♂️ Bicycle — a huge network of bicycles. You need to get an Easycard (easier) or use the app to scan to unlock the bicycles. Biking is fun, except on the streets, where drivers aren’t very nice. Best biking is alongside the river, and you can go for hours in both directions!
• ⛰️ Hiking — this is #1 activity in Taipei. Almost every subway line ends with a mountain trail, and if the weather is nice, it is a spectacular activity! Some favorite trails (there are hundreds, so this is just to get going):
  • Jinmianshan Trail
  • Jiantanshan Trail
  • Junjianyan Trail
  • Xiangshan
• 🌚 Night markets — one of the favorite activities of Taiwanese is to go to night markets, do people watching and eat fried snacks. Almost every neighbourhood would have a night market! However, most tourists love this one, and it’s a fantastic choice for your first night market. 💡 Tip: don’t show up too early, it usually gets busy after 7pm or so:
  • Raohe Street Night Market
• 🧋 Drink bubble tea — Taiwan is home to thousands of bubble tea shops. While many chains exist and many of them are fantastic, you can also hunt for single shops or small chains that offer something unique! 💡 Tip: you can select sweetness of a drink, so if you are not sure, start with “half sugar” and adjust from there. I order mine as “little sugar” or “1/4” (wei tang 微糖).

🦺 What to remember:

• Taiwan is safe, you can be in any area at any time
• However, Taiwan drivers are… not good. Be very accurate when crossing the road or biking. Accidents do happen and they are not pretty!
• Cross even small streets on the green light — police will often fine even for the most minor of jaywalking
• Taiwanese are polite and courteous almost all the time, except when it’s the last train or some other emergency situation. Try not to get yourself in very large crowds.
• Taiwan has earthquakes. You might feel trembles from time to time. If you have a local number, it will likely alarm you a few seconds before a big earthquake is coming. Most buildings in Taipei are OK even for serious earthquakes.
• Subway service ends around midnight, but taxis are affordable for short distances (ie I’d recommend a train from/to airport, but OK to taxi around the city if you like).
• Taiwanese love to line up for various foods. If there’s a line up outside, it is likely a great choice, however if there’s no line up, it can also be great ¯\ (ツ)/¯ In any case, be prepared to line up for 1-2 hours for popular spots!

💳 What you need to get:

• Easycard — can get it at the major subway stations (ie Taipei Main Station). You can use it to pay for metro, bus, taxi, bicycles, and in convenience stores