Taipei, Taiwan 7 Day Itinerary

Taiwan has more Michelin-starred restaurants per capita than almost anywhere in Asia, yet the cheapest meal you will eat all week will almost certainly be the best. Seven days in Taipei is enough time to move beyond the tourist checklist and into a city where convenience stores function as community centres and a NT$50 bowl of noodles at a street stall regularly beats what you pay NT$500 for elsewhere.

Day 1: Arrival and Taipei 101

Land at Taoyuan International Airport and buy an EasyCard immediately at the arrival hall. The EZfly counter near baggage reclaim sells pre-loaded cards for NT$300 (NT$100 deposit plus NT$200 credit) and accepts credit cards, which is useful since most EasyCard machines elsewhere only take cash. From the airport, the Taoyuan Airport MRT Express train runs to Taipei Main Station in around 36 minutes and costs NT$160 with the EasyCard. Taxis from the airport into central Taipei run NT$1,100 to NT$1,500 and take 40 to 60 minutes depending on traffic. The train is almost always faster.

Check in to a hotel near Taipei Main Station or Zhongxiao Dunhua, which puts you near both the MRT network and the bulk of the food scene. Skip the chain hotels on the main boulevard and look at mid-range boutique options in the Da’an or Zhongshan districts (typically NT$2,500 to NT$4,000 per night for a double).

In the afternoon, take the MRT to Taipei 101. The observation deck on the 89th floor costs around NT$600 and the views on a clear day extend to the mountains ringing the basin. Skip the indoor observation deck in favour of the outdoor platform if the weather permits. The building’s structural damper, a 660-tonne steel sphere hanging from the 92nd floor, is worth five minutes of your time on the way back down.

Dinner at Raohe Night Market (20 minutes by MRT to Songshan). Start with the pepper pork buns outside the temple entrance before working through the stalls. Budget NT$300 to NT$500 per person for a full meal.

Day 2: Ximending and Longshan Temple

Breakfast at Fuhang Soy Milk, near Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT. The traditional Taiwanese breakfast here, warm doujiang (soy milk) with a fried cruller, costs under NT$100 and is a genuinely local experience in a room where locals elbow past tourists without ceremony. Arrive before 09:00 or the queue stretches out of the door.

Ximending, Taipei’s pedestrianised youth shopping district, is best in the morning before the crowds build. The mix of street food, cinema houses, and independent clothing shops is more interesting than the Instagram photos suggest, particularly the Red House Theatre weekend market which runs on the southwest corner.

Longshan Temple in Wanhua is a working temple, not a set piece, and the contrast between the elaborate exterior and the focused devotion inside is striking. Go mid-morning and stay at least 30 minutes. The surrounding Bopiliao Historic Block preserves Qing Dynasty shop facades and is almost always uncrowded.

Lunch at Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle near the Ximending pedestrian zone: vermicelli with braised pork intestine in a thick, savoury broth for around NT$60 a bowl. Addiction Aquatic Development (A.A.D.) in Zhongshan is an excellent seafood market-restaurant if budget allows, with whole fish, oysters, and sashimi at market prices.

Evening at Daan Forest Park, which fills up at dusk with Taipei residents jogging, skateboarding, and sitting on the grass. The park functions as one of the city’s main communal living rooms and gives you a sense of the city that no night market can replicate.

Day 3: National Palace Museum and Jiufen

Breakfast at Yongkang Beef Noodle on Jinshan South Road. The shop opens at 11:00 but the braised beef noodle soup is so good the queue builds before the door unlocks. It is worth planning your morning around it.

The National Palace Museum in Shilin houses one of the world’s greatest collections of Chinese imperial art and artefacts, amassed over centuries and evacuated to Taiwan in 1949. Adult admission is NT$350. The most famous object is the Jadeite Cabbage, a piece of nephrite the size of a small watermelon carved to resemble a Chinese cabbage. It is absurdly popular. Allocate three hours minimum and accept that you will not see everything.

Take a direct bus or taxi from the museum to Jiufen in the afternoon. Bus 965 from Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station takes around 70 minutes and costs NT$90. Jiufen gets extremely busy after 14:00 when coach tours arrive from Taipei and the narrow staircase lanes become effectively impassable. Arrive before noon if possible and plan to leave before the worst of the afternoon crush. The teahouses on the hill with views over the bay are the primary reason to visit. Pick one, order a tea set, and stay for an hour. The views at dusk are outstanding but the crowds are also at their peak.

Return to Taipei for dinner at Shilin Night Market. The stinky tofu and oyster omelette stalls near the main building are the ones to hit. Budget NT$400 to NT$600 per person for a proper tour of the stalls.

Day 4: Yangmingshan National Park

Take an early morning bus from Jiantan MRT station (Red Line) directly to Yangmingshan. The park sits above the city in the volcanic mountains to the north and on weekdays before 09:00 the trails are often practically empty. Carry water and rain gear regardless of the morning forecast as mountain weather changes fast.

The main draw is the Xiaoyoukeng volcanic crater area, where sulphur vents steam dramatically from white rock faces and the hiking trails loop around the crater rim. This is the thing that most itineraries bury or omit entirely: Taipei has an active volcanic field 30 minutes from the city centre. The hike around the main trail takes about 90 minutes at a moderate pace.

Hot spring bathing is the afternoon activity. Millennium Hot Spring in Beitou (on the way back to the city) offers gender-segregated public baths for around NT$40, which is extraordinary value for a genuine hot spring soak. Skip the more expensive private-room spas unless you specifically want the privacy.

Dinner back in the city. The Tonghua Night Market in Da’an, less famous than Shilin or Raohe, has a higher ratio of actual restaurants to tourist stalls and the food quality per dollar is consistently better.

Day 5: Tamsui and the North Coast

Take the Danshui Line MRT (Red Line) all the way north to Tamsui, the end of the line, in about 40 minutes. The old colonial quarter near Fort San Domingo (a 17th-century Dutch-then-Spanish-then-British consulate complex, adult admission NT$80) is genuinely photogenic and the river-facing promenade is one of the better places to eat cheaply: grilled squid, iron eggs, and fish balls from the outdoor stalls along the waterfront.

Yehliu Geopark is about 40 minutes from Tamsui by bus and worth the trip for the bizarrely eroded sandstone formations, the most famous of which is the Queen’s Head mushroom rock. Admission is NT$120. Go early afternoon when the morning tour groups have largely moved on.

For lunch, the seafood restaurants along Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf serve fresh clams, crabs, and fish priced by weight. Choose a restaurant with a tank of live seafood at the entrance and point at what you want.

Day 6: Beitou and Yongkang Street

Beitou Thermal Valley (also called Hell Valley) is a free outdoor park containing a milky turquoise hot spring pond that emits permanent steam. It is one of the most unusual things in greater Taipei and it costs nothing. Combine it with a soak at Millennium Hot Spring (if you skipped Day 4) and you have a complete morning.

Lunch back in Da’an. Yongkang Street and the surrounding blocks form one of Taipei’s best neighbourhoods for food and browsing. Din Tai Fung’s original branch is on Xinyi Road, a short walk from here, and the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) are worth the queue even though the chain has expanded globally. Budget NT$400 to NT$600 for a full meal including dumplings, noodles, and greens.

Afternoon: browse the independent bookshops and tea shops along Yongkang Street. The boutique clothing and homeware stores here are considerably more interesting than anything in Ximending and far less crowded.

For dinner, RAW in Zhongshan (reservations required, book online weeks ahead) offers a tasting menu built entirely around Taiwanese seasonal ingredients. It is expensive by Taipei standards (around NT$3,000 per person) but genuinely world-class. If RAW is not an option, MUME in Da’an District offers a similar level of kitchen ambition at a slightly lower price point. On a tighter budget, the small ramen and noodle shops on the side streets behind Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT are excellent and rarely crowded.

Day 7: Departure

Taipei’s best breakfast is at a traditional diner rather than the hotel buffet. Look for a xifan (rice porridge) shop near your hotel, usually open by 07:00, and order congee with pickled vegetables and a side of pan-fried dumplings. Total cost: under NT$100.

If your flight departs from Taoyuan, allow 90 minutes from central Taipei including the Airport MRT journey. Check in two hours before departure for international flights. The duty-free at Taoyuan Terminal 2 has genuinely good selections of Taiwanese pineapple cakes, sun cakes, and tea packaged for travel; these are significantly cheaper than airport shops in Singapore or Hong Kong and make better gifts than anything you will find at the souvenir stalls on the Royal Mile.

Things to Know

The Taiwan New Dollar (TWD or NT$) is the local currency. ATMs at convenience stores (7-Eleven, FamilyMart) reliably accept foreign cards. Keep some cash for night market stalls and traditional restaurants, which often do not accept cards.

The MRT is clean, fast, air-conditioned, and covers most of Taipei’s main attractions. Load NT$500 or more on your EasyCard at arrival, top it up as needed at any MRT station. Uber operates but is rarely faster or cheaper than the MRT within the city.

Weather in Taipei is subtropical. Summers (June to September) are hot and humid with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Typhoons are possible from June to October and can disrupt transport with little warning. Check the Central Weather Bureau app if you are visiting in this window. Winters (December to February) are mild but can be surprisingly grey and wet.

Tipping is not expected in Taiwan and can sometimes create awkwardness. Excellent service is the norm and does not require extra payment.