Affiliate links may be sprinkled throughout this post, and I may receive a small commission when you purchase from my links (at no extra cost to you!). I only recommend products that I believe in and would purchase myself. Thanks so much for supporting my blog 🙂

---

Taipei is a delightful city to visit, with bustling night markets, intricate temples, and beautiful greenery. There were cute cartoon animal photos on the subway car walls and the garbage truck plays Fur Elise; even the ambulance didn’t have the piercing siren noise I was used to. If you’re limited on time and staying around Taipei, 5-6 days is a perfect amount of time to see the main sights, and this one-week itinerary also sets aside 2 days for day trips outside Taipei. If I had more time, I would have loved to rent a car and explore the rest of Taiwan, as each region has its own unique culture, food, and scenery.

---

We went in mid-August, and I do not recommend going then if you can avoid it haha. But if you do find yourself there in the heat of summer, be prepared for a good amount of humidity. Bring a sun umbrella, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, bug spray, all the things. Thankfully there are plenty of convenience stores selling water bottles and electrolytes (I recommend Pocari Sweat – it’s comparable to the clear-colored Gatorade) for quite cheap, so you can ensure that you stay hydrated all day.

I’ve organized this 6-day itinerary by location to minimize your travel time. It should be a busy but not too busy itinerary – depending on how much time you spend at each stop, you could probably don’t need an entire day for each day’s itinerary, but it’ll also easily fill up your day, and you won’t be rushing to see everything and will have plenty of time to enjoy and add impromptu excursions if you wish.

Some observations and things to know about Taiwan:

• Data: You can get a SIM card at the airport, or to save time and hassle during your trip, I recommend getting one before you leave. This prepaid e-SIM card worked really well for me – they have both physical and e-SIM cards for 7, 15, and 30 days, based on how long your trip is. It was pretty easy to activate: you just register 2 days in advance before your trip, and then scan the QR code to activate it as you’re boarding the plane.
• The currency is the New Taiwan Dollar (NTD). NTD became the new currency after WWII, when Taiwan was no longer colonized by Japan. As of this writing, $1 is equivalent to about 32 NTD.
• Bring cash, as many places don’t take credit card. You’ll definitely need cash at the night markets and to top up your public transit card (an EasyCard, which you can initially buy at the subway help desk booth and can load at the subway or at convenience stores). Depending on what credit card you have, it may not work at some places – my Chase Visa card didn’t work at a 7/11 and a food truck, even though they both take credit card. So you can plan to spend mostly cash. You can get it at the airport, or order it from your bank before you leave for Taiwan.  
• Uber is pretty affordable here, so a great option if public transit is not available.
• The subway stations have public bathrooms that were impressively clean and well-maintained, which is very convenient as most shops/restaurants don’t have public bathrooms. Also, apparently, as an old lady kindly informed us, don’t use the electric hand dryer in summer. This is to save energy – they’re only used in the winter.
• In general, people seem to dress a little more conservatively. Dress modestly, e.g. don’t wear spaghetti strap dresses, when visiting temples or religious sites. It’s fine to wear tank tops; you just don’t see people wearing them that much, especially among older people. I think people might actually cover up more during the day to avoid the sun.
• Keep your receipts! The Taiwan Receipt Lottery apparently does a lottery every two months, on the 25th! Foreigners can win, but if you are that lucky, you’d have to go back to collect your winnings. If you aren’t planning to check your numbers, you can donate your receipts to locals or hotel staff as tips. You can just Google “Taiwan Receipt Lottery results,” or the Ministry of Finance in Taiwan updates this list of winning numbers every couple of months.
  

The Itinerary

• Day 0: Night Market
• Day 1: National Palace Museum, Temples, Dihua Street, and Dadaocheng Wharf
• Day 2: Lungshan Temple, Ximending Shopping Center, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and Yongkang St
• Day 3: Day Trip – Jiufen and Shifen
• Day 4: National Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall + 3 Views of Taipei: Taipei 101, Elephant Mountain, and Rooftop Bar
• Day 5: Day Trip of Your Choice
• Day 6: Maokong Gondola, Pineapple Cakes, and Raohe Night Market

Day 0: Night Market

If you’re arriving in the afternoon/evening, what better introduction to Taiwan than the night markets! There are so many night markets in Taiwan, as a quick Google search will reveal. I find that there’s something really special about night markets in Asia – the bustling energy in the air, and so much good food to try. I would recommend going to several night markets, as each one is slightly different.

For our first night, we went to one not too far away from where we were staying – the Huaxi night market.

This one had a street with mostly sit-down restaurants and quite a few spas/manicure shops. Just walking around, we found Wang’s Broth, a Michelin Guide restaurant. Luckily we made it just before they were about to close, and I was impressed by how amazing their braised pork rice was! I also liked their fried tofu. The Huaxi market is right next to the Guangzhou Night Market, so stop by that one too. This one has more of the night market feel – casual stalls selling meat/veggie skewers (like the grilled bell pepper below), a grass jelly drink, a waffle dessert, fruits, and much more.

Another night market to check out is the Ningxia night market. Apparently this is where locals go for slightly better prices, and the market was very organized. I tried stinky tofu (if the odor repels you, try it boiled – the taste isn’t as strong!), tofu on a skewer, sausage wrapped in an egg tortilla, and mango shaved ice.

I also highly recommend checking out the Shilin Night Market. It is a pretty large and lively market, spanning several streets with games and food stalls.

Our strategy was to go where the line was. This fried chicken place had a long line – apparently fried popcorn chicken is a must try here. We also had the most delicious grilled oyster mushrooms (you can choose from about 8-10 different sauces – we had the spicy and the lemon pepper, which was also pretty spicy!). And the pan-fried pork buns (生煎包) are amazing. I also heard the oyster omelet is good, but I was too full to try it. 

Day 1: National Palace Museum, Temples, Dihua Street, and Dadaocheng Wharf

Today is focused on the northern part of Taipei!

Seven-Eleven and FamilyMart became my go-to, grab-and-go breakfast spots. They are the convenience stores you’ll see everywhere and quickly grow to love. They have all the essentials, from ready-to-eat onigiri – triangular sushi balls with filling inside, ranging from pork floss and chicken to salmon and tuna flavors (see below) – and cut fruits to iced coffee and hot foods (pork buns, sausage, soup, fishballs, etc.). The onigiri and Taiwanese rice balls (which they heat up for you) became a delicious and regular breakfast staple while I was here.

Start off the day at the National Palace Museum (故宫博物馆), a must-visit in Taipei. I would budget 2-3 hours. It contains primarily ancient Chinese artifacts – ceramics, jade, kitchen vessels, furniture, calligraphy and inkstones, and flower paintings from the Qing dynasty (the emperor likes his flowers too!). Fyi, the museum is a little controversial because Chiang Kai-Shek, head of the Nationalist party and leader of the Republic of China from 1928-1949, brought all the artifacts to Taiwan from China.

One of the most well-known exhibits in the museum is the jade cabbage! The cabbage is a symbol of purity, and the fact that this one looks so lifelike shows how exquisitely it must have been crafted.

Get boba/bubble tea at 50 Lan. They have several locations around the city. Boba originated in Taiwan in the 1980s, so Taiwan is the place to try it! It’s also more affordable here compared to the U.S., and their portions and sugar amounts seemed to be less than in the U.S. I would try the oolong milk tea – I got the light oolong (silichun) because I wanted slightly less caffeine, but it didn’t have the nice roasted flavor that the oolong tea had.

The story about the invention of boba (according to our tour guide for a tour we did later in the trip): Taiwanese people used to only drink hot tea, but around 1985, a tea vendor left the country for the first time and visited Japan, where he tried iced coffee and loved it. So he tried selling iced oolong tea in Taiwan, but no one wanted iced tea. So he tried putting milk and sugar in it, but that also wasn’t successful. Then one day, his 10-year-old son brought home shaved ice, which comes with multiple toppings. So he put all the toppings into the milk tea and was amazed how good it tasted. But the taro and sweet potato balls were too big, so he just left the boba in, and today it’s the most popular drink in Taiwan!

Next, head over to some temples! We ended up using Uber to get around for most of today, which works well as it’s not very expensive here.

Fagushan Nongchan Temple (or Dharma Drum Mountain Nung Chan Monastery in Google Maps), a Buddhist temple in Beitou district, had few tourists – it felt local and really peaceful. It was very beautiful – it was set around a lotus pond, with a meditation hall and resident monks. The ladies there were very welcoming and told us about their faith and invited us to sit in meditation. We sat by the large pond with lotus flowers for a while, next to other meditators. We removed our shoes and sat on the edge of a soft cushion. A lady led a brief meditation in Chinese, and then we sat there quietly for a few moments longer. It was a really hot day, but sitting in the shade of the trees with a cool breeze, it didn’t feel hot at all, and it was really peaceful.

Guandu temple is a Buddhist temple dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of the sea, built in 1712 during Kangxi emperor’s rule. From the temple there’s a flight of stairs leading to the top of a hill, where you can get a nice view of the river.

Coming out of the temple, you can walk on the pedestrian and bike path to Guandu Wharf, where there were some nice large wooden chairs you can sit in while admiring the view of the bridge and river, as well as some food stands and music nearby.

Taipei Confucius Temple: This temple honors the well-known philosopher Confucius, who is known as the model teacher of all ages. Confucian thought is the foundation of Chinese values: kindness, honesty, work ethic. Confucius also valued simplicity, thus the temple wasn’t elaborate and rich like other temples. His birthday, September 28, is officially celebrated in Taiwan as Teacher’s Day, and on that day, a ceremony with traditional music and stylized dancing is held at the temple. The temple also has buildings on the side that act as a museum with educational displays and descriptions.

Dalongdong Bao-An Temple: right across the street from the Confucius Temple

Walk around the Dihua Street area, a pedestrian-only (plus some motorcycles) street lined with shops and restaurants. There was a store selling nuts (with samples!), qipao 旗袍 (the traditional Chinese dress), and other things. 

Watch the sunset at Dadaocheng Wharf/Pier. The wharf is just a short walk away from Dihua Street and a really nice area. We watched the sunset from a bridge, then had dinner at one of the many food tents there (they have international options, in case you need a break from Taiwanese food!). You can then walk along the river for a nice evening stroll. There was live music (there would be multiple groups playing live music at the same time, so that at one time, you could hear music from 3 different places!), a tennis court, people singing karaoke, couples dancing to music. The place felt chaotic, fun, and peaceful all at the same time. 

Have a late-night dessert at ChunYongTang: they’re known for serving boba in a glass cup. I got their guava lemon honey jasmine tea, which is pretty sweet and refreshing.

Day 2: Lungshan Temple, Ximending Shopping Center, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and Yongkang St

Start the day with a hearty traditional breakfast at Fuhang Soy Milk. The restaurant is located on the second floor of the market – you order at the counter and seating is first come first serve. I think they specialize in their youtiao (油条), or fried dough, because everything we ordered had some of it inside, including the rice ball pork floss (which was so good) and their salty soymilk (also recommend!).

Visit Lungshan Temple, a Buddhist and Taoist temple built in 1738 during the Qing dynasty as a place of worship for Han-Chinese immigrants. One of the largest and most popular temples in Taiwan that worships Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy. It has gone through some hardship: between 1796 and 1874, several heavy earthquakes, storms and termite erosion damaged the temple, and in 1945, the U.S. bombed the temple by mistake during WWII, destroying the main hall but leaving the Buddha miraculously unscathed. After rigorous reconstruction, the temple returned to its original state. In 2018, it was listed as a National Historic Site by the Ministry of Culture.

Then head next door and have some tea on Herb Lane (Lane 224), a street of herb and tea stalls. It’s right down the block from the temple, and you can walk through very quickly – there’s not many stalls. I really enjoyed the tea I tried from one stall: I had the herbal tea (unsweetened) and winter melon (which was very sweet). The lady recommended drinking the unsweetened one first so that the sweetness of the other tea doesn’t distract from the original flavor of the unsweetened tea (and I agree it was good advice!).

Next, stroll around the Ximending Shopping District, a popular shopping district with multiple streets of shops and restaurants.

Taiwan No.1 Xing Fu Tang (also in Ximending) has the best brown sugar milk boba I’ve ever had. They don’t serve milk tea (you can order either milk or tea, but not both), but the brown sugar milk boba is their specialty and it is so so good. They use a flame (see dinosaur head below) to roast the brown sugar right before serving it, which adds a nice roasted flavor to the drink, and to my pleasant surprise it wasn’t too sweet, especially compared with the brown sugar milk boba I’ve had in the States. The boba is superbly tender and chewy as well. If you’re going to have boba only once, this would be the place to try it.

Taiwan is known for its tea, and can make a great gift. A good place to go for tea is TenRen’s Tea. TenRen Tea is one of the largest and best known Chinese tea manufacturers in Asia. Tea from Nantou and Alishan are the most well-known, and in particular, the Dong Ding oolong tea (from Nantou region) and Alishan oolong tea are supposed to be of high quality. And if the leaves were picked this year, the tea is higher quality. You can ask for samples too – I liked the Dong Ding oolong tea because it had the roasted oolong flavor. I also liked the Alishan oolong tea – it tasted lighter (i.e. less bitter) and more fruity. They have more expensive and less expensive options, so you can pick what works best for you!

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall: A national monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China, the Memorial Hall has become a place for mass gatherings and demonstrations. When you arrive, you’ll see a large square plaza: the structure on the north end of the square is the National Theater, and the one on the south end is the Concert Hall. When we were there, we saw a group of students practicing dance moves by the theater, so at first were a little confused haha. The monument is surrounded by a beautiful park, so you can walk around after.

The Memorial Hall (below) has a blue and octagonal roof (the number 8 is traditionally associated with abundance and good fortune in China). Two sets of stairs, each with 89 steps to represent Chiang’s age at the time of his death, lead to the main entrance. The stairs lead up to the main hall, where a large statue of Chiang Kai-shek sits. They also do a changing of the guards ceremony every hour from 9am-5pm right at the bottom of the stairs, so wait until the top of the hour and you can observe it!

The ground level of the memorial (behind the Memorial Hall) houses the Exhibition Hall, a library and museum featuring photos and archives from Chiang Kai-Shek’s life and career. (I originally thought the Exhibition Hall was beneath the theater and concert hall buildings, but there wasn’t much under the concert hall other than food and shopping). The Exhibition Hall was larger than I expected. There’s also a nice park and pond outside around the Memorial Hall that you can walk around. 

Walk to Yongkang St, a street lined with shops and restaurants. I liked this street, it felt clean and organized and even had a little park (Yongkang Park). There were many cute gift shops, clothing stores (even a Birkenstock), and cafes/restaurants (e.g. Smoothie House had delicious-looking shaved ice).

If you have time, you can also check out Da’an Park and end the day at the Shida night market. 

We wanted to have dinner at a sit-down place, so decided to go straight to dinner at Din Tai Fung, which has locations around the U.S. but originated in Taiwan. They have other locations too around Taipei so you can definitely go here another day, but I would recommend trying it while you’re in Taiwan. Go to the Xinsheng branch if you want the sit-down restaurant, since the other Xinyi branch (3 min walk away) is takeout only. There may be a little wait time, depending on when you go – we got there around 6.30pm on a Wednesday evening and waited about 30 minutes.

The food is amazing and well worth the wait: would recommend the pork xiaolongbao (小笼包), braised pork noodle soup, spicy pork/shrimp wontons, green vegetables with bamboo shoots, and the chocolate xiaolongbao for dessert (it’s so melt in your mouth and gooey good). It seemed slightly cheaper than the restaurants in the U.S. – we got all of these dishes for under $50.

Day 3: Day Trip – Jiufen and Shifen

There is so much more to see in Taiwan outside of Taipei, so I would definitely recommend venturing out of Taipei for at least one day. We spent an entire day exploring the northern coast of Taiwan by booking a tour through Klook. We did this tour, which was only about $35 per person! The bus picks up and drops off at the Taipei Main Station, and our tour guide was super friendly and funny. She explained the context behind each place on the bus, and once we arrived at each stop, we had the freedom to explore each place on our own (within the given timeframe).

I was amazed at how lush and green the area is, and would’ve loved to spend more time here hiking and enjoying the scenery. But if you’re limited on time and primarily want to see the main sights, I would recommend booking a tour to see this part of Taiwan, since going to all these places via public transportation seemed like quite a hassle, and it was less stressful to have the entire day planned out for us. The main limitation is that you have a limited amount of time at each place, but if you primarily want to see the popular sights without having to do much planning, this tour would be a good fit. Here are the sights we saw: 

Yehliu 

Yehliu is a scenic cape known for its unique rock formations. You need to buy tickets to enter Yehliu Geopark (for just a few dollars). The park is divided into 3 zones, but we only had time for Zones 1 and 2. According to our tour guide, the third zone is 17% similar to Mars, and locals like to go there for hiking and fishing. 

The most popular rock formation is the Queen’s Head (in Zone 2). It is a natural rock, formed out of weathering and erosion, so it has changed quite dramatically over time and could disappear at any time (e.g. during the next typhoon or earthquake)! If you’re going during a popular time, make sure to budget in time as there may be a line to take pictures with the Queen’s Head!

The park also had several other uniquely-shaped rocks, for example, mushroom rocks and a heart-shaped one. There were also fossilized sea urchins:

Taiwan was on the bottom of the sea floor before it was formed, and more recently has been moving upwards and getting higher. The island has shifted quite a bit too: Taiwan moved 4 inches east after a destructive earthquake in April 2024!

Yin and Yang Sea

Named because of the 2 different colors of the sea. The color of the bay is yellowish brown, in contrast with the blue color of the sea. Minerals from the Jinguashi Mountains contain pyrite, a mineral used to make copper. The area was known for its copper mining. Pyrite is not easily soluble in water and forms yellow-brown suspended matter in the water, thus causing the yellow and blue water to intersect. 

Golden Waterfall

At the Golden Waterfall, located in Taiwan’s Shuinandong area, you can continue to find the yellow-red rock that contains pyrite, and the yellow-hued water cascading down a rocky terrain. If you rub the rock, it will leave a yellow residue on your finger! The water doesn’t stem from a river, but rather comes from underground.

Jiufen Old Street 

Jiufen is a charming mountain town known for its narrow alleyways, teahouses, and stunning views of the coastline. Gold was discovered here, hence Jiufen had a thriving economy due to gold mining between 1900 and 1950. I really liked the vibe with the steep and narrow mountain alleyways, the cute gift shops, the food vendors, and the red lanterns.  

You walk 300 steps, past shops on both sides, to get to the main street (don’t need to go all the way to the top of the stairs, which we did by mistake). This is the street known for looking like the scene in the Ghibli movie Spirited Away (view of A-Mei’s Tea House) (though the movie was not inspired by this street).

On one end of Main Street, you can get a gorgeous view of the island and the ocean.

The rest of Main Street is a long street of so much good food. There’s fish ball soup, sticky rice with toppings wrapped inside (e.g. red bean, mung bean, taro), taro mochi and pineapple cake, cream puffs. The taro ball dessert is a must-try – it’s chewy taro, sweet potato, red bean and mung bean balls, with red and mung beans at the bottom, topped with crushed ice and drenched in sugar water.

I would also try the Taiwanese sausage if you haven’t had it here yet (it’s slightly sweet) – a unique way they serve it here is to wrap the sausage in sticky rice. You can sample a lot of things here – I very much enjoyed trying oolong tea from the Alishan and Nantou regions, which are known for their tea leaves. I also saw the peanut ice cream roll that I would’ve loved to try had my stomach had more room.

Shifen Waterfall  

Shifen Waterfall is the largest waterfall in Taiwan at 20 meters tall (not really comparable to say Niagara Falls but still very beautiful!). If I had more time here I would’ve liked to do some hiking here – it is such a beautiful area, surrounded by lush greenery.

Shifen Old Street 

Shifen, near Golden Waterfall, used to be a coal mining town. Shifen Old Street is a historic railway town in Taiwan famous for its sky lanterns. For about 250 NTD, you can release a lantern into the sky representing various colors, where each color represents something, like love, success, health, and happiness. You use a calligraphy brush to write your wishes on it. The guy taking photos and videos of us releasing the lantern was quite funny, giving us directions on how to pose for each photo. All in all, it was a really fun and memorable experience!

Return to Taipei

The tour bus dropped us off back in Taipei, where we witnessed a beautiful sunset.

Have dinner at Sushiro, a delicious sushi restaurant (and very affordable, compared to the States) where the sushi comes by on a conveyor belt (you can order through a menu too) and you pay per plate. My favorite sushi was the salmon belly, fatty tuna, and Japanese eel. They didn’t have many sushi roll or sashimi options, so it seems sushi is their main thing. I also liked how they provide make-your-own matcha tea: they have the matcha powder in a box on the table, which you pour into a cup and fill with unlimited hot water from a spigot that protrudes from your table! Such a brilliant idea, I wish U.S. restaurants had this too!

Day 4: National Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall + 3 Views of Taipei: Taipei 101, Elephant Mountain, and Rooftop Bar 

National Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館) celebrating Dr. Sun-Yat Sen, the founder of modern China. The hall contains many exhibitions about his life and revolutionary accomplishments, as well as a library. It’s also a cultural hotspot, serving as the meeting site for various social and educational activities including performances and lectures. Unfortunately, the museum was under renovation when we went, but we still walked around the pond and beautiful gardens outside.

Shop/eat at Taipei 101! You can’t miss the tall skyscraper building with designer stores and restaurants including Din Tai Fung (dim sum) and Haidilao (hotpot).

Take in the view of Taipei at the Taipei 101 rooftop observatory. This observatory is known for having the fastest elevator in the world! At the max speed it was going up at 1010 M/min, and took 37 seconds to get to the 89th floor. There are 3 floors you can go up to: it cost us 600 NTD to go to the 89^th and 91st floors. You can also pay extra for the 101^st floor, but the 101^st floor was sold out by the time we went, and the lady said the view was the same as from the 89^th floor anyway.

The 89^th floor had a really peaceful environment – there was calm music playing, and the observatory was decorated with flowers and nice photo op decorations: 

From there, we could see the Keelung River, the Taipei Dome (sports center shaped like a dome), the green lush mountains, buildings with flat red and green rooftops, and all the buildings of Taipei. 

On the 91^st floor you can go outside, so you could feel and hear the strong winds blowing that high up in the air. It was cool to be able to go outside, though I found the view wasn’t as great up there because the sun was so bright and strong. 

For another view of Taipei, watch the sunset at the top of Elephant Mountain (XiangShan)!

Elephant Mountain had my favorite view of Taipei. It’s a shaded path of about 20 minutes of stairs, which can be a grueling workout especially if it’s hot and humid out – but it’s so worth it for the amazing views! We saw gorgeous views of the city in the red glow of sunset and the city with the nighttime lights as it got dark.

I think it’s worth waiting until dark – there are lamps lighting the pathway so it wasn’t too bad going back down the stairs in the dark. 

Before heading home for the day, you can enjoy another night view of Taipei from Cé la vi, a rooftop bar! I highly recommend, and it was honestly such a good deal: each drink was only 400 NTD (about $12, with no tax or tip added), the drink was a solid cup of liquid (i.e. no large ice cube inside it), and there was plenty of room to enjoy and take pictures of the view without having to jostle with other people. The one thing to note is that they have a strict business/chic dress code: no open-toed sandals, no tank tops, and no shorts. We didn’t follow this dress code, but went up anyway and were lucky enough to get in. They only seemed to care about the open-toed shoes, not my running shorts – they told my friend her open-toed sandals weren’t up to par, but in the end let us through. I had their summer signature cocktail, which included gin, beer, pineapple, and lychee – it was really good (and pretty strong!). 

We were too tired for clubbing after, but if you are so inclined there are a couple bars you can go to on the streets nearby – we saw them crowded with young people outside!

Day 5: Day Trip of Your Choice

I wish we had another day to do a day trip, as I would’ve loved to see more of Taiwan. If you have more days in your itinerary or rented a car, you could explore more of Taiwan, including Tainan (history), Alishan (hiking), KaoHsiung (beaches), Wulai (Nanshi River, waterfall, and hot springs), and Sun Moon Lake (the largest lake in Taiwan – it looks beautiful!!). But if you just have one more day, I would recommend doing another venture outside of Taipei! Without a car, it’s probably going to be much easier to book a private or group tour. Here are some ideas on day trips you could feasibly do from Taipei:

Maokong, Thousand Island Lake, and Pinglin Tea Plantation

Yangmingshan National Park 

Keelung Half-Day Walking Tour

Beitou and Geothermal Valley 

Hualien – Taroko Gorge (note: due to the massive earthquake in April 2024, Hualien may be closed to visitors)

Day 6: Maokong Gondola, Pineapple Cakes, and Raohe Night Market

Start out Day 6 with a classic Taiwanese breakfast at Yong He Soy Milk King. It’s located near Da’an Station, on the way to Maokong Gondola station, and has all the essentials – egg pancakes, youtiao, xiaolongbao, sweet and salty soy milk – yum!

Maokong (貓空) Gondola: Literally means “cat holes.” Because mao means “cat”, you’ll see some cat statues and cat-shaped cookies at Maokong. Taiwan is known for its high quality tea, and Maokong is one of the few places where tea grows right in the capital city. The main teas produced in Maokong area are baozhong tea (包種茶, also spelled Baochung or Paochung), which is a lighter oolong with subtle melon fragrance, and tieguanyin tea (鐵觀音茶 or Iron Goddess), which is a slightly darker oolong with a roasted flavor.

The Maokong Gondola line has 4 stations: Taipei Zoo, Taipei Zoo South, Zhinan Temple, and Maokong, which has dozens of traditional teahouses (茶館 or cha guan), restaurants, and hiking trails. You can navigate to the Taipei Zoo MRT station, and signs will direct you to the Maokong Gondola.

You can buy a ticket using your public transit EasyCard, or buy tickets there – it’s the same price. It costs 120 NTD for a one-way ticket from Taipei Zoo to Maokong Station, but if you stop at Zhinan Temple also, it’s worth it to get the day pass (260 NTD) if you plan on coming back via gondola also (other options are to take the bus or Uber). You can choose to sit in the gondola with the crystal glass bottom – it’s transparent so you can see beneath you. But you’ll probably have to wait longer since every third or fourth carriage is a crystal glass one, so there’s a separate line. My take is that it’s not really worth it if the line is super long – I couldn’t see much through the bottom anyway, just the trees beneath me, and the best views are through the windows anyway (I also felt slightly motion sick looking through the bottom). But if the line is short, then you might as well, since it’s the same price. 

You can get off at Zhinan Temple Station (temple) – there are 3 temples to see there. Otherwise, continue on the gondola to Maokong Station. 

There are some shops right outside the station: Guanding Tea Garden (貓空觀鼎茶園), Maokong Yangtai (貓空暘臺), and Maokong Tea House (eggs roasted in tea leaves). The soft serve tea ice cream is a must-try! I had the baozhong tea ice cream with red bean and a cat-shaped cookie – it was light and sweet and delicious. You can also get lunch here. 

Hike the Camphor Tree Trail (樟樹步道): it’s more like a walk, since it’s on a paved path and not too steep. The trail offers a beautiful view of tea plantations, a pond, some people’s homes, and the surrounding green landscape. It’s not a loop trail so you can basically walk as long as you want before turning back.

Enjoy a cup of tea at a teahouse! There are several teahouses you can go to. We went to the Xiao Mu Teahouse (貓空小木屋,), which is a short walk from the Camphor Tree Trail entrance. It has both indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor seating has a nice view of the scenery, while the indoor seating has A/C and the option to sit at the traditional low tables where you sit on pillows on the ground. If you have a large group, you can get a pot of tea and take the remaining tea leaves home. They also have individually priced teas, which other teahouses may not offer. I had the premium version of the tieguanyin tea (apparently it won some award, so I paid a little extra) – they served the hot tea in a flask. They also serve iced tea and food.

Get some pineapple cake! Pineapple cake is a must try in Taiwan. Even though I personally am not a big fan of pineapple cake, I liked the ones I had here. I’ve found that It’s sweet but not too sweet, and tastes natural – a comparable difference from the pineapple cake I’ve had in the U.S.

Sunny Hills is a popular place for pineapple cake. When you walk in, they serve you a pineapple cake with tea. They’re very friendly and don’t pressure you to buy anything, but the cake is so good you probably will end up buying some (either for yourself or as a gift). You can choose between different size boxes. They sell both apple and pineapple cake – both are sweet but the apple cake is slightly sweeter. 

ChiaTe is another popular place for pineapple cake. They may have a line outside the door to get in. Unlike Sunny Hills, here they also sell other pastries: mochi cake, red bean, mung bean, taro, and date (jujube) pastries. You can mix and match however many you would like, or order a full box. I would’ve ordered more, but I noticed that many of them have a short shelf life, and because I wanted to send them as gifts, I was worried they would no longer be fresh in a few weeks. 

End the day at Raohe night market: this was one of my favorite night markets, if not my favorite. It’s right next to the subway station, has an elaborate temple next to it, and was one of the larger night markets. As with the other ones, it had everything from stinky tofu and pork buns to sugar-glazed fruits and Thai iced tea, as well as carnival-like games.

We had this amazing tang yuan (汤圆) dessert at one of the sit-down places on the side of the market: Tong Hua Jie Bing Huo Tang Yuan. Tang yuan is a traditional Chinese sweet dessert of glutinous filled rice balls; here they serve them with black sesame and peanut filling, on ice drizzled with a sweet syrup, so you get the delicious texture and interplay of warm chewy balls with the cold crunchy ice.

Would love to hear what you think if you visit any of these places, and let me know your favorite places that I missed!