Okay so Taipei is one of those cities that just keeps giving — and somehow it's still slept on. Flights from Bangkok are 3.5 hours, no visa needed for Thais, and you can eat like royalty for the price of a Bangkok lunch. The food alone is reason enough to book.
What makes Taipei special is the mix. One minute you're 89 floors up looking down at a sea of skyscrapers, the next you're soaking in a 100-year-old sulfur hot spring or eating xiaolongbao in a market that hasn't changed in 50 years. The locals are genuinely some of the warmest people in Asia, the MRT is spotless, and crime is basically a non-issue. It's the kind of place where you can hand your phone to a stranger to take a photo and they'll spend five minutes getting the angle right.
Best time? October to December or March to May — that sweet 18-28°C window with low humidity. Summer brings typhoons and sweat, winter brings rain but also cherry blossoms. Plan 4-5 days for the city plus day trips to Jiufen and Beitou. Here are the 10 places that should be on your list.
#1 Taipei 101
This is Taipei's icon — 508 meters, 101 floors, and the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010. The design mimics 8 sections of bamboo (lucky number in Chinese culture) and the elevator is the fastest in the world at 16.83 m/s — you'll hit floor 89 in 37 seconds. The 89th and 91st floor observatories give you 360° views of the whole city. Down at the base is a luxury mall with the original Din Tai Fung. On NYE they shoot fireworks straight off the tower — free show, totally worth staying up for.
- Go 30 min before sunset — you get day, magic hour, and night views in one ticket
- Book online, saves you NT$200 vs walk-up
- Don't skip the 660-ton Damper Ball on floor 88 — only one in the world you can see
#2 Shilin Night Market
The biggest, most famous night market in Taipei, open daily 5pm-midnight across several blocks. The underground food court packs 100+ local food stalls in one spot — order stinky tofu, oyster omelette, beef noodle soup (some say the best on earth), lu rou fan (braised pork rice), Hot Star fried chicken (literally bigger than your face), proper bubble tea, and mango shaved ice in summer. Most things are NT$50-150 (~~$1-$4). The vibe is loud, packed, and exactly what you want from Asia's best night market.
- Get there before 7pm — fewer crowds, food not sold out yet
- Hot Star fried chicken has the longest line, totally worth it
- There's an old-school carnival games area — kids love it
#3 Jiufen Old Street
The mountain village that inspired Miyazaki's Spirited Away. In the 1930s this was a gold mining town, then it got abandoned for decades until Hou Hsiao-Hsien's 1989 film A City of Sadness put it back on the map. The money shot is A-Mei Tea House — a three-story red wood building with red lanterns stretching as far as you can see. Looks exactly like the movie. Shuqi Street is 360 stone steps down the hill, lined with snack shops, souvenir stalls, and local sweets. Go in late afternoon and stay through dusk.
- Go late afternoon — lanterns light up at dusk and it's magic
- Try the local taro balls, you won't regret it
- Bus 1062 from MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing goes direct in 1 hour
#4 Ximending
Taipei's Harajuku — the youth fashion and entertainment zone that's buzzing day and night. The main 100-meter pedestrian street is packed with clothing shops, sneaker stores, K-beauty, cinemas, karaoke joints, and food from street stalls to fine dining. The old Qing-era Tianhou Temple sits right in the middle, and the Red House (a late-1800s theater) now hosts art exhibitions and cafes. Hit Ay-Chung Mian Sian for what locals call the best vermicelli with intestines in Taiwan. Cheapest shopping in the city — t-shirts from NT$300.
- Grab free iTaiwan WiFi at Taipei Main Station — works city-wide
- Ay-Chung Mian Sian has a long line but it's worth it
- Hunt for street art in the Hanzhong Street alleys
#5 National Palace Museum
Home to the largest collection of Chinese art in the world — 700,000 pieces spanning 8,000 years from the Shang to Qing dynasties. The wild part: this entire collection got smuggled out of Beijing's Forbidden City by the Kuomintang during the 1949 civil war. They show 15,000 pieces at a time and rotate the rest. Star pieces are the Jadeite Cabbage (a hyper-detailed jade cabbage with white stems and green leaves), the Meat-Shaped Stone (a rock that looks exactly like braised pork belly), and the 2,800-year-old Mao Gong Ding bronze vessel with 500 characters inscribed inside.
- Book online before you go — saves you 10% on the ticket
- Get the English audio guide for NT$150, you'll need the context
- Go weekday mornings at 9am for the smallest crowds
#6 Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
The memorial to Taiwan's first president, built in 1980 five years after his death. The main hall is pure white with a blue roof, 70 meters tall, symbolizing sky and earth in Chinese tradition. You climb 89 steps (his age when he died) to reach a 6.3-meter bronze statue of Chiang seated inside. The real reason to go is the Changing of the Guard ceremony every hour from 9am-5pm — the soldiers' synchronized marching is genuinely impressive. The whole thing sits on Liberty Square, 240,000 square meters of open plaza, the biggest in Taipei.
- Guard change happens on the hour — get there 5 min early
- Free entry to the whole memorial complex
- The lower level has a cool vintage car museum with Chiang's personal stuff
#7 Beitou Hot Springs
A whole hot spring valley inside the city — 30 minutes on the MRT from downtown and you're walking to natural springs. There are three types here: Green Sulfur, White Sulfur, and Iron Sulfur, each with different mineral profiles. The centerpiece is Thermal Valley (aka Hell Valley), an emerald-green steaming pool at 70-90°C — way too hot to touch but you can walk the bridge around it. The bathing pools cool down to 38-42°C. Hit the public bath for NT$40, splurge on a hot spring hotel, or try Long Nai Tang, an outdoor bath running since 1907.
- Beitou Public Bath opens 5:30am-10pm — cheapest in town
- Don't soak more than 15 min — these waters are strong
- The free Beitou Hot Spring Museum is worth a 30-min stop
#8 Yangmingshan National Park
The closest national park to any capital city in the world — a dormant volcano covered in forest and seasonal flowers. February to March is cherry blossom season, March to April brings white Calla Lilies, March to May fills the slopes with pink Azaleas, and October to November turns everything silver with grass plumes. Hikes range from easy (Qingtiangang Grassland, where buffalo graze) to moderate (Mt. Qixing at 1,120m, the highest peak in Taipei). Don't miss Xiaoyoukeng's bubbling mud pools — gray steaming sulfur pits that smell intense.
- Take the Red 5 bus from MRT Jiantan, goes straight in
- Bring a jacket, it's 5-8°C cooler up top than in the city
- Calla Lily season (Mar-Apr) you can pick your own at Zhuzihu
#9 Longshan Temple
Taipei's oldest temple, built in 1738 during the Qing dynasty. The architecture is pure Taiwanese — multicolored ceramic roofs curled into dragon scales, hand-carved stone pillars, and walls covered in relief sculptures telling old stories. It mixes Buddhism, Taoism, and Taiwanese folk religion: the main deity is Guanyin, but there are over 100 other gods crammed into the same complex. Locals come here to pray for work, love, exams, and health — especially Yue Lao, the god of love who's still genuinely popular with young people swiping on dating apps.
- Morning ceremony at 6am — watch locals praying, it's beautiful
- Walk over to Snake Alley (Huaxi Street) right next door for old-school street food
- Free to enter but keep it quiet and respectful
#10 Xiangshan / Elephant Mountain
A short hill one MRT stop from Taipei 101 — climb 600 steps for 15-20 minutes and you've got the best view of the city. Taipei 101 rises in the same frame as the entire skyline, and this is the shot every Asian Instagrammer comes for, especially at magic hour and sunset. The top photo spot is the 6 Giant Rocks, six boulders lined up that you can stand on for the iconic 101-plus-city angle. Free, no ticket required, and honestly a better view than paying for the 101 observatory.
- Arrive 1 hour before sunset — catch day, magic hour, and night lights
- Bring water and a flashlight, the descent gets dark fast
- Wear sneakers, some sections of the steps are steep