Watching the sunrise over the Alishan National Scenic Area feels like being in a dream—thick white clouds cover the valley below and towering mountaintops look like tiny islands in an endless ocean. It’s worth visiting during the day too, with treetop boardwalks, forests, and temples making for incredible photos.
Often compared to Tokyo’s Shibuya or Harajuku, Ximending is a lively shopping and entertainment district in Taipei. Located in historic Wanhua, the area teems with shops selling clothing, accessories, electronics, and more, as well as myriad dining and entertainment venues. It’s a place to see and be seen for locals and visitors alike.
Located in northeast Taiwan, Yilan is a popular day trip and weekend destination from Taipei. Set on a lush plain, with the ocean on one side and mountains on the others, the district offers plenty of natural beauty, a variety of outdoor activities, as well as historic towns, and a wealth of cultural and other attractions.
Once the sun sets, the Shilin district comes alive with hundreds of stalls selling souvenirs and Taiwanese fare. As the most famous of Taipei’s night markets, Shilin Night Market draws large crowds of adventurous eaters, who want to be the first in line to try delicacies such as stinky tofu and braised pork intestines.
Visitors come from throughout Asia and the world to soak in the healing waters of Taiwan’s natural hot springs. One of the most famous collections of natural volcanic hot springs are clustered in the Beitou District of Taipei in an area known as Hell Valley. The sulfurous mist gives the area an otherworldly vibe.
One of the oldest night markets in Taipei, Raohe Street Night Market offers an authentic glimpse into the city’s street-food scene. Visitors and locals browse 2,000 feet (600 meters) of stalls selling such Taiwanese delicacies as braised pork rice and xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings).
Set amid the historic houses of one of Taipei’s oldest neighborhoods, Ningxia Night Market offers a taste of traditional Taiwan with its age-old street vendors and neon-fronted buzz. Here, locals and tourists mingle in search of an evening snack, and enjoy smaller crowds than you’d find at the more famous Shilin Night Market.
Modeled after the oldest and largest Confucius temple in the philosopher’s hometown in Shandong, China, the Taipei Confucius Temple displays all the characteristics of traditional Chinese temple architecture. The temple as it stands today was erected in 1930, though it briefly served as a Shinto shrine during World War II.
Yongkang Street, with seemingly endless rows of independent cafés and no-frills eateries, represents the best of Taipei’s food scene. This area offers a mix of Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese joints, so it’s best to arrive at Yongkang hungry and ready to sample staples from Chinese fluffy pancakes to shaved mango ice.
Taipei’s Presidential Office Building has housed the offices of the Taiwan president since 1949. Built in 1919 for the ruling Japanese governor general, the building is renowned for its baroque architecture, red-brick facade, and central tower.
Originally built as a bathhouse by the Japanese Colonial Government in 1913, today’s Beitou Hot Spring Museum was the largest bathhouse in East Asia at the time, and the first public bathhouse in Taiwan. Abandoned after World War II, it was renovated and reopened in 1998 as a museum documenting Beitou’s hot spring history and culture.
Located at the northern tip of Taiwan, Keelung Harbor is the largest port of entry into the island. A narrow waterway surrounded by mountains, it's an important container and fishing port and serves both military and commercial vessels, including cruise ships. Visitors come here for the bustling markets and restaurants near the harbor.
The first whisky distillery in Taiwan, Kavalan Whisky Distillery has earned a number of international awards for its single malts. Founded in 2005 and open to visitors since 2008, the distillery is located in Yilan, southeast of Taipei, and now produces dozens of world-class single malts, as well as its own gin.
One of the largest zoos in Asia, Taipei Zoo—also known as Muzha Zoo—features a wide variety of animals from around the world and those that are native to Taiwan. A popular attraction for locals and visitors alike, Taipei Zoo is also a leader in wildlife and ecological research, education, and conservation.
Located just 30 minutes north of central Taipei, Beitou is a mountainous area full of natural hot springs and supporting spas, hotels, teahouses, and parks. It’s a popular destination for locals and visitors looking to escape the city and enjoy a soak in warm, mineral-rich waters surrounded by lush forests and beautiful scenery.
During the nineteenth century, the seaside village of Danshui (also known as Tamsui) was Northern Taiwan’s busiest shipping and commerce port. Today, this historic town at the mouth of the Danshui River is known for its European architecture (Spanish, Dutch, and British influences), delicious seafood, and stunning sunsets.
The 25-minute, 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) journey on the Maokong Gondola takes visitors from Taipei Zoo up to Mount Maokong. You can simply take the gondola and enjoy the stunning views, or you can visit the many attractions along the gondola route—including the zoo, temples, shrines, tea plantations, teahouses, and nature walks and hikes.
Repurposed from a tobacco factory, the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park is one of Taipei’s top creative hubs. Featuring a lush garden and ponds, the spacious park offers plenty of exhibition space, design and art studios, galleries, boutiques, pop-up shops, cafés, restaurants, a museum, and a massive Eslite mall.
Founded in 1908, the Red House is an iconic cultural landmarks in Taipei. Originally built to serve as Taipei’s first public market, the 2-story, red brick building is now a multifunctional cultural center, complete with creative studios and boutiques, event and performance spaces, and a teahouse.
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum opened in 1983 in the building that once housed the United States Defense Command. The collection highlights work by Taiwanese and international artists from the late 19th century onwards, picking up where the National Palace Museum’s collection ends.
Taipei’s Xiahai Chenghuang Temple houses the largest concentration of deity statues of any temple in the country. Though the temple is dedicated to Chenghuang, the Xiahai City God, young single locals come here to visit another deity, that of the Chinese version of Cupid, to pray for a marriage partner.
Established in 1951, Huaxi Street Night Market was the first night market in Taiwan built specifically for tourists. Despite being known as Snake Alley for the various serpent delicacies and drinks sold here, you can find more than just snake—the food stalls, restaurants, and shops sell an array of popular Taiwanese foods and other goods.
Just a short trip south of Taipei, the green, mountainous district of Wulai is a destination for its scenery and its history. An important center of Atayal Indigenous culture, the region also offers ample opportunity for relaxing in the great outdoors, from its many hot springs to the Wulai Falls and companion cable car.
The Lin Family Garden represents the best preserved surviving example of traditional Chinese garden architecture. Built in the late nineteenth century in Qing Dynasty style for one of Taiwan’s wealthy merchant families, the mansion and asymmetrical gardens were designed to make the residents feel closer to nature.
One of the oldest and most important buildings in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District, Fort Santo Domingo has stood tall for nearly 400 years. A historic base for Spanish, Dutch, and Chinese interests before becoming a British consulate, the vermillion-hued landmark (and the adjacent red-brick consular residence) now stands as a living symbol of Taiwan’s colonial past.
One of Taiwan’s most prized natural attractions, the East River Valley National Scenic Area (Huadong Valley is a long, narrow tract of land that stretches from Hualien to Taitung. It encompasses mountains, fields of flowers, hot springs, and other scenic highlights, and is popular among trekkers and day-trippers alike.
The National Theater and Concert Hall, located at the National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center, are two of Taiwan’s first, and premier, performing arts venues. Constructed in 1987, the twin buildings mirror one another and feature classical Chinese palace architecture. Both host a wide array of musical and theatrical performances.
Perched in the hills near the Taipei Zoo, Chih Nan Temple was founded in 1882, making it one of the oldest in the country. As with many of Taipei’s temples, Chih Nan blends Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist traditions within its four main halls and five smaller halls. The temple’s main deity, Lu Tang Pin, thought to dwell within one of the temple’s courtyards, was a Confucian scholar who became honored as the immortal Deliverer from Poverty. You’ll see many families bringing their young children to the temple, as offering a child as a foster son or daughter of Patriarch Lu is thought to help cure their ills.
One of Taipei’s most significant 20th-century landmarks—and now a listed national historic site—Zhongshan Hall was built in 1936 and is recognizable for its distinctly modernist architecture. Used by Chiang Kai-shek for public speeches and the site of Japan’s formal surrender to the Allies in 1945, the building is today a popular tourist destination and performing arts space.
Spanning 64 acres (26 hectares in central Taipei’s Da’an District, Da’an Forest Park is one of the city’s largest and most popular green retreats. An oasis from the Taiwansese capital’s always-on bustle, the park offers walking trails, ponds, athletic facilities, public artworks, and plenty of grassy space for lounging and picnicking.
