7 Days in Taipei and Beyond
Seven days is our 6-day plan plus the furthest reach on this list: Taroko Gorge, a marble canyon on the east coast that looks nothing like anywhere else in this itinerary. For the deep in-city version with no day trips at all, see our 7-day Taipei itinerary .
Book these before you go:
- Your Taipei hotel : base yourself centrally for days 1 through 5
- A guided Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu day tour : removes the bus-timetable juggling on day two
- A Sun Moon Lake day tour from Taichung : worth it if you’d rather not chase the connecting bus yourself
- A Taroko Gorge day tour from Hualien : covers the shuttle logistics inside the gorge itself
| 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 |
| 5 | HSR day trip to Taichung, the real home of bubble tea | ~1 hr by High Speed Rail |
| 6 | Sun Moon Lake, overnight recommended | ~1 hr HSR to Taichung, then ~1.5-2 hr bus |
| 7 | Taroko Gorge, overnight recommended | ~2-2.5 hrs by the fastest direct trains to Hualien |
Day 1: Land, get sorted, see the city in an afternoon
Land at Taoyuan (TPE), take the Airport MRT into town, and get an EasyCard the second you’re through the gate. Hike Elephant Mountain for the sunset skyline shot instead of queuing at Taipei 101. Dinner at Raohe Street Night Market rather than Shilin.
Day 2: The north coast loop
Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu Geopark in one long day: Jiufen about an hour to ninety minutes out by MRT plus the 1062 bus, Shifen’s old railway street and sky lantern releases, and Yehliu Geopark’s wind-carved rocks about 75 minutes out via bus 1815. A guided combo tour handles all three legs in around nine hours.
Day 3: Tamsui
Tamsui sits at the end of the MRT red line: Fort San Domingo, the old street, and Fisherman’s Wharf for sunset, no bus transfer needed.
Day 4: Beitou and Yangmingshan, the volcanic day
Beitou via the direct Xinbeitou MRT branch for hot springs, then a short bus from Jiantan MRT station to Yangmingshan National Park for the sulfur vents and caldera hiking trails.
Day 5: HSR day trip to Taichung
Taiwan’s High Speed Rail reaches Taichung in about an hour, the real home of bubble tea, not Taipei. Tainan and Kaohsiung are both under two hours further out by HSR if a longer trip appeals, but save them for a future visit rather than a rushed there-and-back today.
Day 6: Sun Moon Lake
Treat this as an overnight if you can. HSR to Taichung, then a further bus, roughly one and a half to two hours, reaches Taiwan’s largest lake, ringed by hiking trails and a cable car over to Wenwu Temple. Cramming the ropeway, a boat crossing and the return journey into a single day leaves almost no time actually at the lake.
Day 7: Taroko Gorge, the furthest reach
Is Taroko Gorge worth the furthest, longest leg of the whole trip? Yes, and it should be the last one for exactly that reason: it’s the one landscape on this itinerary that looks nothing like the north coast, the volcanic hills, or the lake, a marble canyon carved by the Liwu River with trails threading through tunnels blasted into the rock face itself.
The fastest direct trains from Taipei to Hualien take roughly two to two and a half hours; from there, shuttle buses and taxis run into the gorge itself, where the Shakadang and Swallow Grotto trails are the two most rewarding short walks. An overnight in Hualien turns this into a proper two-day close to the trip rather than an exhausting single-day round trip layered on top of six days of moving around already.
Getting around and gotchas
The EasyCard covers city transit and convenience stores; keep cash on hand once you’re outside greater Taipei. Typhoon season runs June through October, peaking August and September, and can cancel or delay any of the further-out legs on this itinerary with little warning, so build a spare day into the schedule if you can.
One concrete tip
Book the Taipei-to-Hualien train segment as early as you can once your dates are fixed; the Taroko Express and other fast services toward the east coast sell out first on weekends and around Taiwanese public holidays.