4 Days in Taipei and Beyond
Four days is our 3-day plan plus a volcanic park and a second round of hot springs, both reached without an overnight bag. This itinerary treats Taipei as a base camp, not the destination; for the version that stays in the city with no day trips at all, see our 4-day Taipei itinerary .
Book these before you go:
- Your Taipei hotel : base yourself centrally since every day starts from here
- A guided Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu day tour : removes the bus-timetable juggling on day two
| Day | Focus | Transit from Taipei |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Land, EasyCard, Elephant Mountain sunset, Raohe Night Market | in-city |
| 2 | Jiufen, Shifen, Yehliu Geopark (the north coast loop) | ~1-1.5 hrs to Jiufen, ~75 min bus to Yehliu |
| 3 | Tamsui: Fort San Domingo, the old street, Fisherman’s Wharf | ~40 min MRT, direct |
| 4 | Beitou hot springs and Yangmingshan’s volcanic trails | Beitou ~30 min MRT direct; Yangmingshan ~30-45 min bus from Jiantan |
Day 1: Land, get sorted, see the city in an afternoon
Land at Taoyuan (TPE), take the Airport MRT into town (Express in 35 to 38 minutes, Commuter around 50, both NT$160), and get an EasyCard the second you’re through the gate. Skip a long observatory queue at Taipei 101 and go straight to Elephant Mountain instead for the sunset skyline shot, free, a steep 20 to 40 minute climb. Dinner at Raohe Street Night Market rather than Shilin, cash in hand for the stinky tofu and oyster omelets. That’s the entire city portion of day one.
Day 2: The north coast loop
Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu Geopark, in one long day. Jiufen is a mountain town, not a Taipei neighborhood, about an hour to an hour and a half out by MRT plus the 1062 bus, or by train to Ruifang and a connecting bus. Arrive early or the lantern-lit alleys turn into a slow shuffle by mid-morning. Shifen follows, with its old railway street and the sky lantern releases. Yehliu Geopark closes the loop, coastal rock formations including the famous Queen’s Head, about 75 minutes out via bus 1815.
A guided combo tour handles all three legs in around nine hours and spares you the bus-timetable juggling. Either way, treat this as the actual centrepiece of the trip, not a side excursion squeezed in around the city.
Day 3: Tamsui
An easier day after yesterday’s marathon. Tamsui sits at the end of the MRT red line: Fort San Domingo, the old street, and Fisherman’s Wharf for a sunset that earns its reputation. It’s the rare day trip here that needs no bus transfer at all, just the MRT straight there and back.
Day 4: Beitou and Yangmingshan, the volcanic day
Why pair Beitou with Yangmingshan instead of doing either alone? Because they sit on the same MRT-plus-bus line north of the city and cover two different registers of the same volcanic geology: Beitou’s hot springs are the soak, Yangmingshan’s sulfur vents and hiking trails are the hike. Doing both in one day is more efficient than treating them as separate half-day trips on different days.
Start at Beitou via the direct Xinbeitou MRT branch: free foot baths if you’re short on time, paid spa hotels for the full soak, Thermal Valley steaming in the middle of it. From there, a short bus ride from Jiantan MRT station reaches Yangmingshan National Park, volcanic terrain with active sulfur vents at Xiaoyoukeng and hiking trails through the caldera. Go on a weekday if you can; Taipei residents fill the park on weekend mornings.
Getting around and gotchas
The EasyCard covers city transit and most convenience stores, but keep cash on hand for Jiufen, Shifen and rural bus fares. Typhoon season runs June through October, peaking August and September, and can cancel a day trip outright, so keep some slack in the schedule if you’re travelling then. MRT paid zones ban food and drink, water included, fines start at NT$1,500.
One concrete tip
Do the north coast loop and the Beitou/Yangmingshan day on different days of the week if you can choose; both get noticeably busier on weekends, and splitting them across a weekday and a weekend keeps at least one of them calm.