Taiwan Activities: What to Do and Where
One island, five easy wins
Taiwan rewards visitors who build days around trains, weather and appetite. A hot spring soak, a mountain railway ride and a night market crawl can all fit into one week, and most of them cost less than a restaurant dinner at home. Here is how the activities sort out by interest, with the practical rules that catch first-timers.
Sort the paperwork first
Every foreign visitor files the free online Taiwan Arrival Card, and paper cards have been replaced. Submit it at the official TWAC site up to 7 days before you land. US and UK passport holders get 90 days visa-free, with a passport valid for 6 months and an onward ticket. Prices on the island are in New Taiwan Dollars (NT$), roughly NT$32 to US$1, and an EasyCard works on the MRT, local trains, buses, YouBike rentals and in convenience stores.
Eat your way through a night market
Wandering a night market costs nothing until you get hungry. Raohe, Shilin and Ningxia are the Taipei names, Fengjia is in Taichung and Liuhe is in Kaohsiung. Typical prices: braised pork rice NT$35 to NT$60, an oyster omelette NT$70 to NT$90, a pepper pork bun from the Raohe clay oven NT$60 to NT$70 and brown sugar boba NT$60 to NT$85. Go hungry and share plates.
Soak, climb and ride
Beitou’s Millennium public hot spring charges NT$40 to NT$60 for its outdoor mineral pools, and swimwear is required. The free open-air foot baths at Fuxing Park are good for a ten-minute rest. For a view, the stone staircase up Elephant Mountain gives the classic skyline photo of Taipei 101, and the Maokong Gondola climbs to the tea-house hills (check the operator for the current fare and pick the glass-bottom cabin if you like heights).
Lanterns, lakes and a mountain railway
At Shifen on the Pingxi line, a single-colour paper lantern costs about NT$200 and a multicolour one NT$250 to NT$350, with free entry to the street. Sun Moon Lake offers boat hops of about NT$100 per pier and roughly NT$300 for the full circuit, plus a paved 30 km bikeway around the shore. The Alishan Forest Railway runs the full Chiayi to Alishan line at NT$600, and tickets go through the Alishan Forest Railway booking site , which has its own payment rules for 2026.
Moving between regions
Taiwan High Speed Rail serves only the west coast, from Nangang to Zuoying, and Taipei to Zuoying is NT$1,490 reserved standard. The east coast, including Hualien, is served by Taiwan Railways (TRA) trains. If you plan guided days, you can browse Taiwan day tours on GetYourGuide and compare pickup points and cancellation terms.
Weather and rules worth knowing
Typhoon season runs July to October, and the Central Weather Administration posts warnings; local governments can close schools, offices and mountain parks on typhoon days. Eating or drinking anywhere inside MRT fare gates, water included, carries a fine of NT$1,500 to NT$7,500, so finish your boba outside.
Eating between activities
Breakfast at a soy milk shop is a ritual: a crispy fried cruller wrapped in flatbread with hot sweet or savoury soy milk costs NT$35 to NT$75, with Fu Hang Soy Milk the name locals mention. Eight steamed soup dumplings from a night market stall run NT$80 to NT$140, while a sit-down xiao long bao meal at Din Tai Fung costs NT$450 to NT$750 a head. Plan lunch around whichever sight you are visiting rather than crossing town for a table.
For a ready-made route, the 2-day itinerary strings several of these together. Tip: buy your EasyCard on arrival and top it up at a convenience store counter.