Attraction
Taipei 101 Observatory
The observation floors of Taipei 101, the 508-metre Xinyi tower, offer views across the Taipei Basin and a close look at its giant tuned mass damper.
Taiwan is a compact island with a big range of experiences, from the temples, night markets and museums of Taipei to mountain scenery, hot springs and historic towns. Taipei is the capital and the usual starting point, with the National Palace Museum, Taipei 101 and Yangmingshan National Park all within the city. Beyond the capital, Tainan, the former capital, is known for its temples and heritage, Kaohsiung is a large port city in the south, and Taichung sits in the centre of the west coast. Taroko Gorge on the east coast is the best-known natural landmark. The island is safe, well organised and easy to travel by high-speed rail, trains and buses, and its food culture alone makes it worth the trip.
Attraction
The observation floors of Taipei 101, the 508-metre Xinyi tower, offer views across the Taipei Basin and a close look at its giant tuned mass damper.
Attraction
Taipei's National Palace Museum holds around 700,000 objects of Chinese art and antiquity, including the Jadeite Cabbage and the Mao Gong Ding bronze.
Attraction
Founded in 1738 by settlers from Fujian, Lungshan Temple in Wanhua is Taipei's best-known temple, dedicated to Guanyin and home to many deities.
Attraction
A 76-metre memorial hall completed in 1980, set in a large park beside Liberty Square, with hourly honour guard drills on Democracy Boulevard.
Attraction
A temple to the healing deity Baosheng Dadi, begun in 1804 by settlers from Tong'an and honoured with a UNESCO Asia-Pacific conservation award in 2003.
Attraction
A volcanic national park on Taipei's northern edge, with fumaroles, hot springs, seasonal flowers and the 1,120-metre Qixing Mountain.
Café
The Huashan flagship of Simple Kaffa, the speciality coffee company founded by 2016 World Barista Champion Wu Tse-lin.
Café
James Chen's Nordic-inspired coffee bar on Yitong Street, known for its Capulypuly house blend and drip coffee; Chen won the 2013 Nordic Roaster Competition.
Café
Founded in 1949 by Russian emigres and a Taiwanese partner, Astoria is a historic bakery and cafe that became a meeting place for Taipei's writers.
Café
A tea company founded in 1890 in Dadaocheng and run for five generations, where visitors can tour the charcoal roasting room and taste before buying.
Café
The East District coffee bar of Chad Wang, the first Taiwanese winner of the World Brewers Cup, focused on precise pour-over coffee.
Café
Taipei's former mayoral residence, built in 1940 in a mix of Japanese and Western styles, is now an arts centre with a restaurant and bookshop.
Hotel
A luxury hotel on Dunhua North Road with a full spa, the Cantonese restaurant Ya Ge and quick access to Songshan Airport.
Hotel
A lively luxury hotel above Taipei City Hall MRT station in Xinyi, with a heated outdoor pool, WOOBAR cocktail lounge and AWAY Spa.
Hotel
A five-star hotel beside Taipei Main Station with baroque-inspired interiors, an airport shuttle and the three-Michelin-star Cantonese restaurant Le Palais.
Hotel
Founded in 1952 by Soong Mei-ling, the Grand Hotel's 14-storey palace-style building on Yuanshan is one of Taipei's best-known landmarks.
Hotel
A boutique design hotel in Taipei's East District by architect Ray Chen, with a third-floor terrace bar, an outdoor pool and the restaurant L'Idiot.
Hotel
A boutique design hotel opposite Songshan Station, with views of Taipei 101 and the Keelung River and Raohe Night Market close by.
Bar
A space-themed cocktail bar on Dunhua South Road, ranked No. 35 on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026, known for high-tech drinks and playful bar food.
Bar
An Asia's 50 Best Bars regular since 2019, Bar Mood builds its cocktails around Taiwanese botanicals, many grown in a garden on the bar itself.
Bar
A British pub-inspired cocktail bar on Xinyi Road from bartender William Wu, ranked on Asia's 50 Best Bars lists in 2022, 2025 and 2026.
Bar
A minimalist cocktail bar on Ren'ai Road run by scientist-bartender Makita Takafumi, ranked on Asia's 50 Best Bars extended list in 2026.
Bar
A 1,000-capacity live music hall in a former liquor production building at Huashan 1914 Creative Park, hosting pop, rock, hip-hop and electronic acts.
Bar
A 600-capacity basement club in Gongguan that has championed emerging Taiwanese bands since 2003, from rock and punk to electronic music.
Restaurant
A three-Michelin-star Cantonese restaurant on the 17th floor of the Palais de Chine Hotel, known for roast duck, Peking duck and refined dim sum.
Restaurant
Chef Kai Ho's three-Michelin-star restaurant reinterprets Taiwanese food culture and seasonal island produce through French technique.
Restaurant
The original Xinyi Road branch of Din Tai Fung, the Taipei business that grew from a 1958 oil shop into an international xiaolongbao restaurant brand.
Restaurant
A third-generation family restaurant in Tianmu with a Michelin star for classic Taiwanese cooking, especially its twice-fried pork ribs and mullet roe fried rice.
Restaurant
A one-Michelin-star restaurant in a 1930s-style mansion that revives elaborate historic Taiwanese banquet dishes using produce from small local farms.
Restaurant
The Michelin-starred flagship of the Shin Yeh group serves the long-running brand's signature Taiwanese dishes, from shrimp toast to perilla oyster fritters.
Thing to do
Taipei's best-known night market spreads through the lanes of Shilin, combining a large food court with street snack stalls and clothes shops.
Thing to do
A compact 600-metre night market on Raohe Street, anchored by the 18th-century Ciyou Temple and famous for pepper buns and herbal pork ribs.
Thing to do
A short, steep hiking trail in Xinyi whose rocky viewpoints look straight across at Taipei 101 and over the whole Taipei Basin.
Thing to do
A 4-kilometre gondola from Taipei Zoo up to the tea hills of Maokong, where tea houses serve Tieguanyin and Pouchong with views over the basin.
Thing to do
Taipei's oldest trading street runs through historic Dadaocheng, lined with shops selling tea, Chinese herbs, fabric and Lunar New Year goods.
Tour operator
A Taipei tour company running daily pay-what-you-like walking tours since 2014, plus small-group food tours, a pub crawl and tea tastings.
Tour operator
A Taipei food tour company founded in 2015 by Mike Lee and Tina Fong, running signature-dish, old-town and night market tasting walks.
Tour operator
A Taiwanese walking tour company founded in 2015, running free historic and modern walking routes in Taipei seven days a week, plus food and private tours.
Tour operator
Hop-on hop-off double-decker buses on Red and Blue routes from Taipei Main Station, with a four-language audio guide and free Wi-Fi on board.
Tour operator
A four-hour guided morning bike ride of about 15 km from Dadaocheng, taking in Longshan Temple, the CKS Memorial Hall, the riverside and Dihua Street.
The high-speed rail runs down the west coast from Taipei, and conventional trains and buses reach most other towns; in Taipei itself the MRT is the easiest option.
Autumn is usually the most comfortable season, with lower rainfall. Summer is hot and humid, and the typhoon season runs from May to October.
Tainan for temples and history, Kaohsiung for a southern port city, Taichung in the centre of the west coast and Taroko Gorge on the east coast.