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Featured Replies

Going to be there in early June. Going to be primarily in Taipei. Where should I go, what should I do, and where should I eat? I don't think there is any better source than the Shaggy Surly brain trust.

Actually had a 24 hour layover last week - Taipei is awesome. We just referred to the Eater 38 for the city and bounced around. Din Tai Fung for dumplings, Wistaria for tea, and Gongguan night market for street food. That one was OK, but looks like there were much better night markets to hit up (like Raohe). As for sights, lots of great temples, particularly in Zhongzheng. Really wish we had time to head out to the National Palace Museum, and looks like there’s some good hiking in the surrounding parks. 

Taipe was an unexpected hit and I wish we had several days there, incredible food city. Looking forward to your report back. 

  • Author
7 hours ago, We’reTexas said:

Actually had a 24 hour layover last week - Taipei is awesome. We just referred to the Eater 38 for the city and bounced around. Din Tai Fung for dumplings, Wistaria for tea, and Gongguan night market for street food. That one was OK, but looks like there were much better night markets to hit up (like Raohe). As for sights, lots of great temples, particularly in Zhongzheng. Really wish we had time to head out to the National Palace Museum, and looks like there’s some good hiking in the surrounding parks. 

Taipe was an unexpected hit and I wish we had several days there, incredible food city. Looking forward to your report back. 

Thanks for the advice! What was special about the National Palace Museum that made you wish you saw it? And what make Raohe better than Gongguan in your opinion?

I'm sitting in Taipei now. How long is your visit, what types of activities do you enjoy, what kind of foodie are you, and what budget are you on?

Sam

Quote

Din Tai Fung for dumplings

You can go to the original location. Those soup dumplings are so good. 

Now back to a computer with real keyboard:

The MRT subway system is fantastic and will get you to most places in town. Other places can be accessed cheaply by bus (and Google Map transit directions are fantastic for bus lines and realtime time updates), or easily via Taxi or Uber. Don't worry so much about staying in the heart of town, but do try to stay close to an MRT stop.

The National Palace Museum is world famous, they have by far the largest and best collection of Asian artifacts and art in the world. It's somewhat like the Louvre: If you're into art or culture, you can easily burn multiple days there. If you aren't, then there are a few famous pieces you should see.

Plenty of parks dotted around the city, depending if you like to hike and how much time you want to devote. Right in the middle of town is Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan), which is also the best view of Taipei 101 over the city at dusk, and only a 30min climb. Has its own MRT stop, very accessible. If you want to go further, Yangmingshan is about an hour away and is a large national park.

Both the Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Shek memorial halls are neat visits, esp at changing of the guard. The National Concert Hall shares the plaza with the CKS memorial hall, if you happen to be there when there's a performance. Close to the plaza is Takumi Dumplings. No English or photo menus, but point to what you see on other people's tables (this is a good strategy for all the local food in Taiwan):  https://goo.gl/maps/1VRomfT9Ya32

Eveningtime you really need to experience the night markets. Shihlin is the big one, but they all have different flavor and are known for different things, whether specific specialty foods or shopping. Ningxia, Liaoning, Raohe, Huaxi are others. Search Night Market on Google Maps and it'll find you all of them.

For food recs, this is an old article, but is still mostly relevant. Don't worry about going to their specific recommended restaurant, use the list as a guide to the types of food, and ask a local or your concierge for a nearby recommendation for that type of food:  http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/40-taiwan-food/index.html

If you have extra time for an out-of-Taipei jaunt, there are a couple famous/breathtaking scenic areas. In order of time/difficulty: Yehliu (in Keelung), Sun Moon Lake, and Taroko Gorge. All will use at least a day. Yehliu you can combine with Keelung's famous Miaokou night market. The other 2 are better over 2 days due to travel. If you're traveling with a romantic, an overnight at Sun Moon Lake is hard to beat. Taroko is like a combination of Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, just stunning geographic features at a massive scale.

Edited by Sam Lin
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  • Author
On 4/13/2018 at 10:21 AM, Sam Lin said:

I'm sitting in Taipei now. How long is your visit, what types of activities do you enjoy, what kind of foodie are you, and what budget are you on?

Sam

I'll be there for only 4 days unfortunately. I love hiking (and nature in general for that matter), love learning about history, and most of all love eating food. I'm a pretty big foodie. I'd prefer to hit a range of restaurants at different price points ideally (from fantastic street vendors to Michelin starred restaurants to things in between) to get a feel for the food scene there. Obviously I prefer to conserve money where possible, but dropping some at a nice place that's worth it is fine by me. That being said, considering it is my first time to Taiwan, I'd prefer to have more traditional meals than a Taiwanese twist on haute cuisine. 

 

Edit: Just saw you went even more in depth after the post I quoted. Thanks so much for this info, this helps a lot.

Edited by TheFlyingBoat

My brother lives in Taipei. He's been there for a while. It's a fun city. The island as a whole is pretty neat too.

  • 6 years later...

Bump. Headed there in a week for 10 days. Hopefully China doesn't invade while I'm there. Any new stuff to see/do since the last post in 2018?

Some good recs here.  I will add that we enjoyed taking a quick day trip out to Tamsui and just walking around, eating, enjoying the day.  

Can confirm Raohe is great but its been a few years.

You could look up Kyo & Deiko, our former live-in house maids from 1958.

 

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I've been over twice in the past year, primarily in Tainan, with a handful of days in Taipei and Kaohsiung thrown in. Can't recommend Tainan enough, esp if you like exploring a city on foot. Let me know if you're looking for anything specific. Also, check out al.dente.life on IG. He does a great job chatting up chefs and industry people on their favorite spots... primarily in Taipei but plenty of recs around the island.

In Taipei, Nanmen Market remodeled last year and is a really neat "modern" version of local market, lots of preserved items, dried foods and seafoods, lots of prepared food stalls. One noodle shop in the cafeteria upstairs got Michelin listed, you'll know it by the goddamn line around the building. Just outside to the right is another Michelin listed food stall, again look for the line.

I'm biased, but second the Tainan rec, super foodie city and still small town feel.

Edit: the Outdoor Boys just did 2 weeks in Taiwan not long ago, see if anything in here catches your eye. A nice outsiders view of Taiwan and activities:

https://youtu.be/h9I85veqN2Q?si=k4X0ozbcs0D0o8px

Jiufen that they visited is really cool, little mining village hanging on the side of a mountain. But has gotten so insanely crowded with tourists, esp on weekends.

Edited by Sam Lin
Add link

12 hours ago, creeper said:

I've been over twice in the past year, primarily in Tainan, with a handful of days in Taipei and Kaohsiung thrown in. Can't recommend Tainan enough, esp if you like exploring a city on foot. Let me know if you're looking for anything specific. Also, check out al.dente.life on IG. He does a great job chatting up chefs and industry people on their favorite spots... primarily in Taipei but plenty of recs around the island.

Thanks. I was actually debating whether to stay a night there. I'm going to add Tainan. 

The only phrase you need to know is:

哪家上海饭馆的小笼包最好吃?

thank me later

3 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

The only phrase you need to know is:

哪家上海饭馆的小笼包最好吃?

thank me later

Ha! I've been watching lots of YouTube videos on the food there. Soup dumplings sound amazing. I'm looking forward to trying all the food offerings. 

When you’re grubbing at a night market give the Taiwanese version of takoyaki a spin. I actually enjoyed it more than the Japanese version, way more emphasis placed on creating crispy edge/texture.  

 

image.jpeg

I took the family to Taiwan for the kids’ spring break. The weather this time of year is great.

In general, Taiwanese people are friendly and a good portion of them can speak enough English to be helpful. Public transportation is the way to go - the subway system is awesome, the busses not so much, but you can take them to places the subway won’t reach. Get a transit card while you’re there, you can use it for subways, busses, and some stores will take it as a form of payment. Credit cards are generally accepted, but some places only take cash.

Food and groceries are generally CHEAP! We ate like kings for probably 1/3 to 1/2 of what you’d pay in the US. We had combo meals with entree, soup, veggies, etc. for $5. Breakfast for 4 for less than $8.

The architecture is something… some designs are WTF, some have great designs, but ruined by people installing bars on their balconies, different kinds of A/C units, and dirty because they don’t clean the facades.

 

On 3/31/2025 at 7:26 AM, texasdago said:

Some good recs here.  I will add that we enjoyed taking a quick day trip out to Tamsui and just walking around, eating, enjoying the day.  

My parents live in Tamsui. I don’t think it’s all that, but I went on a weekday, so maybe not all the vendors / entertainers were out. It’s along the Tamsui river and has a great sunset. It’s the last stop on the red line.

 

22 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Jiufen that they visited is really cool, little mining village hanging on the side of a mountain. But has gotten so insanely crowded with tourists, esp on weekends.

We went to Shihlin night market for nostalgic reasons. There are hole-in-the-wall restaurants, food stalls and food carts that had tasty street food. Also good shopping with cheap clothing, gifts and other baubles.

We also went Jiufen. It’s similar to the Nishiki Market in Kyoto with a narrow pedestrian street and lots of restaurants, food vendors, shops, etc. Lots of international tourists. If you have time, the ladies can rent traditional Qipao to take photos at the market and some famous tea houses. My wife and daughter rented the dresses to do a mommy daughter photo shoot.

 

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I’d also hit the Taipe XIngyi district. It’s the financial hub with great shopping. The Taipei 101 tower is there. You can go up to the 86th floor coffee / lunch spot as long as you spend 300 NTD per adult which comes to <$10. There is GREAT shopping on the lower levels if you have $$$. Lots of very high end watch, clothing and jewelry stores. There’s also a food court at the bottom level which has great options for not much money.

Enjoy your trip in Taiwan. If you have any questions, I’m sure Sam Lin, YChang and I would be willing to help.

 

And yes, hit up Din Tai Fung for the soup dumplings. They are really good. There are DTF restaurants in SoCal so I’ve had my share. But if you don’t know what a soup dumplings (xiao long bao) are, you need to give them a try. They are very tasty.

Not sure if still a good recommendation but I remember some nice reasonable food options underneath Taipei 101.

Yeah, the subway system is excellent and everyone was generally nice.  

Oh... stinky tofu is stinky, indeed.

If it's your first time, do the fried version, not the soup version.

14 hours ago, Superhero said:

Stinky tofu is yummy though, once you get past the smell.  

I'll stick to those glorious pork buns... the ones that sear the roof of your mouth

Edited by texasdago

4 hours ago, texasdago said:

I'll stick to those glorious pork buns... the ones that sear the roof of your mouth

These? 

IMG_1712.jpeg

What I crave above all else is the fried chicken.

IMG_1237.jpeg

Edited by YChang

These are the pork soup dumplings (xiao long bao) from Din Tai Fung.

Order Din Tai Fung (University Village) Delivery in Seattle | Menu & Prices  | Uber Eats

 

These are pan fried pork buns (生煎包)

Six freshly cooked Sheng Jian Bao (生煎包, pan-fried pork buns) served with Chinese chilli oil.

 

There's a place by my work that has really good ones. The ones I bought at the Shihlin night market (10 for $10) were amaze-balls.

 

 

Edited by Superhero

58 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Love the suggestions, I'll be there in late May.

Ooomph, it’s gonna be Houston-level muggy and hot. But thank goodness for all the yummy food and drinks.

17 minutes ago, YChang said:

Ooomph, it’s gonna be Houston-level muggy and hot. But thank goodness for all the yummy food and drinks.

A travel video I watched said it's a top 5 food destination in the world. I'm pumped. 

On 4/3/2025 at 1:02 PM, texasdago said:

Not sure if still a good recommendation but I remember some nice reasonable food options underneath Taipei 101.

Yes.

My wife got an oyster pancakes, rice noodles, veggies and soup for $5.

 

A lot of items combos are 160 NTD, at $1 to 33 NRD, this is a pretty good deal. 

3 hours ago, YChang said:

Ooomph, it’s gonna be Houston-level muggy and hot. But thank goodness for all the yummy food and drinks.

Yes on the pork buns and YES on the mugginess.  We went in June. 

For those planning your upcoming visits, if y’all have the time head up to the mountains. Easily 10 degrees cooler and some amazing groves of old growth forests and great hiking for all levels. Not to mention some fantastic variety of tea and coffee tasting. Coffee is still super niche compared to tea, but I had some amazing craft coffee in Taiwan. 

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image.jpeg

Edited by YChang

On 4/3/2025 at 1:02 PM, texasdago said:

Not sure if still a good recommendation but I remember some nice reasonable food options underneath Taipei 101.

This applies pretty broadly as well: There are food courts under most of the big dept stores, and if you're looking for something easily accessible (AC, parking, picture menus, usually with some English, "clean" environment) with variety for everyone's taste, it's an easy option for a meal.

1 hour ago, Sam Lin said:

This applies pretty broadly as well: There are food courts under most of the big dept stores, and if you're looking for something easily accessible (AC, parking, picture menus, usually with some English, "clean" environment) with variety for everyone's taste, it's an easy option for a meal.

Kind of like Tokyo.  Department stores often have lots of options and excellent, high quality food.

8 hours ago, texasdago said:

Kind of like Tokyo.  Department stores often have lots of options and excellent, high quality food.

Don't forget the underground subway stations.

Taipei also has a few subway stations with good food (at least that's what my parents say).

On 4/3/2025 at 3:02 PM, texasdago said:

Not sure if still a good recommendation but I remember some nice reasonable food options underneath Taipei 101.

There's also a Din Tai Fung in Taipei 101, on one of the lower levels. A friend took us to A Joy, which is on the 86th floor. An over-the-top buffet with awesome views. I'm not a buffet guy but it was pretty cool.

Din Tai Fung is fucking awesome. My wife and I love everything they make. We do something we call the "Din Tai Fung world tour" and have ate at one of their locations in Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Washington, and California. 

17 hours ago, Reynolds Woodcock said:

image.gif.37af912affc8fcdac30073d60f8c630e.gif

 

Maybe from October to March until it gets humid and hot.

There's a reason my parents come to California from July to September.

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