Taipei is the capital and largest city of Taiwan (population 2.6 million city, 7 million metropolitan area), situated in the Taipei Basin at the northern end of Taiwan island, at the confluence of the Danshui and Jilong rivers, enclosed by volcanic mountains (Yangmingshan National Park) and 25 minutes from the Pacific coast. The city is the political, cultural and economic capital of the Republic of China — the state that retreated to Taiwan in 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party won the Chinese Civil War and the Kuomintang (KMT) government under Chiang Kai-shek withdrew with 1.2 million mainland Chinese soldiers, bureaucrats and their families, bringing the entire contents of the Palace Museum in Beijing (the most important collection of Chinese imperial art in existence — 700,000 objects spanning 7,000 years of Chinese history) to Taiwan for safekeeping; the National Palace Museum in Taipei thus holds the finest collection of Chinese civilisation artefacts in the world, with more Chinese imperial treasures than the Forbidden City in Beijing itself. Taipei is defined by the collision and synthesis of indigenous Taiwanese (Han Taiwanese and the 16 official indigenous peoples), mainland Chinese (the 1949 refugees and their cultural institutions), and Japanese colonial culture (Taiwan was a Japanese colony 1895-1945; the Japanese influence is visible in the city planning, the architecture, the food culture (Japanese cuisine has the deepest roots in Taiwan of any non-Chinese food culture), and the cultural aesthetics). Taipei 101 (the 508-metre skyscraper that was the world's tallest building from 2004-2010) rises above the Xinyi business district; the Shilin Night Market (the largest and most visited night market in the world, drawing 100,000+ visitors nightly) is in the northern Shilin District; the Longshan Temple (the most important folk religion temple in Taipei, built 1738) anchors the traditional Wanhua (Bangka) neighbourhood — the oldest district of the city, established by Han settlers in the early 18th century.
National Palace Museum (故宮博物院 — 700,000 objects from 7,000 years of Chinese history; only 8,000-10,000 objects displayed at any given time in the permanent galleries; the collection was the contents of the Palace Museum in Beijing (founded 1925 in the Forbidden City) — transported to Taiwan in two shipments (1933 and 1948) during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War; the key pieces: the Jade Cabbage (翠玉白菜 — the Qing dynasty jadeite carving 18.7 cm long depicting a Chinese cabbage with two insects (a locust and a katydid) — the most visited single object in the museum, formerly in the Forbidden City, from the dowry of a Guangxu Emperor concubine; the white-and-green jadeite is a single stone, the colour transition from white to green exploited precisely to separate the cabbage body from the leaves); the Meat-Shaped Stone (肉形石 — a piece of banded jasper that perfectly resembles a piece of braised pork belly (dongpo pork); the simulation of the fatty layers, the skin pores and the colour gradation from fat to lean is so precise that it was originally doubted to be a natural stone); the Mao Gong Ding (毛公鼎 — the Western Zhou dynasty bronze ritual vessel with the longest inscription in any bronze vessel: 497 Chinese characters, dating to approximately 850 BCE).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTaipei 101 (台北101 — the 508 m skyscraper in the Xinyi business district; designed by C.Y. Lee and Partners; completed 2004; world's tallest building from 2004 to 2010 when the Burj Khalifa in Dubai surpassed it; the building is named for its 101 floors above ground and designed in the style of a bamboo stalk with 8 sections of 8 floors each (8 is the luckiest number in Chinese culture); the tuned mass damper (the 660-tonne steel sphere suspended on cables from the 92nd to 87th floor — the largest and most visible tuned mass damper in the world; the sphere swings to counteract the building's sway in typhoon winds and earthquake tremors; visible from the 89th floor observatory through a glass window); the outdoor observatory at 448 m (the most panoramic view in Taiwan — on clear days: the entire Taipei basin, Yangmingshan volcanic mountain range, the Danshui River to the sea, and south to the snow-capped peaks of the Central Mountain Range; the wind at this altitude on clear days is exhilarating); the indoor observatory at 382 m; the basement floor food court.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLongshan Temple (龍山寺 — built 1738 by the earliest Han Chinese settlers in Taipei's oldest neighbourhood of Bangka (now Wanhua); the most important folk religion temple in Taipei; dedicated primarily to Guanyin (the Bodhisattva of Compassion) but incorporating elements of Taoism, Buddhism and traditional Chinese folk religion simultaneously (the unique religious syncretism of Taiwanese folk religion — the same temple worships Guanyin, Mazu (the sea goddess), Wenchang (the god of literature) and Guandi (the god of war and justice)); the temple survived bombing by US forces during WWII in 1945 (the main hall was destroyed; the Guanyin statue in the centre of the main hall survived undamaged, considered miraculous); the temple restoration (1953) and the current complex with the tiered roof system (the flying eaves decorated with porcelain dragons, phoenixes and immortal figures — the most elaborate ceramic roof decoration of any temple in Taipei); the constant incense smoke, the fortune-tellers working under the colonnade, and the 24-hour prayer schedule.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideShilin Night Market (士林夜市 — the largest and most visited night market in the world; open from approximately 17:00 to 00:00 daily (busiest 19:00-22:00); 100,000+ visitors on weekend evenings; the market covers the Jihe Road and Wenlin Road area of the Shilin District; the underground food court (the Shilin Market building has a basement food court with 500+ stalls — the most concentrated street food density in Taiwan; the Taiwanese street food canon: the oyster omelette (蚵仔煎 — NT$50-70), the stinky tofu (臭豆腐 — the deep-fried fermented tofu: dramatically pungent exterior, crispy shell, creamy interior; NT$60-80), the scallion pancake (蔥抓餅 — the layered egg-and-scallion flatbread made to order; NT$30-50), the grilled corn (玉米 — corn brushed with butter and soy sauce; NT$50), the freshly made tang yuan (湯圓 — the glutinous rice balls in sweet ginger broth or in peanut-sesame; NT$50), the stinky tofu hotpot, and the Taiwanese fried chicken cutlet (雞排 — the enormous breaded fried chicken thigh (larger than the plate); NT$50-70).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBeitou Hot Springs (北投溫泉 — the geothermal spa district 30 min north of Taipei by MRT; built up during the Japanese colonial period (Japan has a deep hot spring (onsen) culture that was transferred to Taiwan; the Beitou hot spring area was developed by Japanese colonists from 1896 onwards and remains the most developed spa district in Taiwan); the Beitou Thermal Valley (地熱谷 — the bright green "Green Hell" pool (the naturally boiling sulphurous spring (98°C) whose colour comes from the radium (radon) and sulphur content — one of only two places in the world where the Hokutolite mineral (a radium-containing plumboan barite) forms naturally; the other is the Beppu hot spring area in Japan)); the types of Beitou spring water (the "green sulphur spring" (bolusite water) — mildly radioactive, distinctive light green colour, soft on skin; the "white sulphur spring" — sodium chloride type, standard onsen water; the "bicarbonate spring" — the mildest type, suitable for sensitive skin)); the hot spring public bathhouse (Xinbeitou Park Public Bath — NT$40, gender-separated).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideYangmingshan National Park (陽明山國立公園 — the volcanic mountain national park 20 km north of Taipei city centre, accessible by bus from the Jiantan MRT station; the park encompasses 11,456 hectares of volcanic landscape including the Qingtiangang (the high-altitude grassland at 771 m where the Formosan water buffalo (台灣水牛) graze freely — the volcanic plateau with the 360° views of the Taipei basin on the south side and the Pacific Ocean and the Danshui River mouth on the north side); the Xiaoyoukeng volcanic crater (the most active volcanic vent in northern Taiwan — sulphur fumaroles, the boiling mud pools and the yellow sulphur crystalline deposits on the vent rim; the crater is 1,000+ years old but the fumarole activity is ongoing); the spring cherry blossom (Yangmingshan Cherry Festival — March-April, the most popular domestic cherry blossom event in northern Taiwan; the Yangmingshan cherry combines the Yoshino cherry (日本吉野) with the Taiwan mountain cherry).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLin Family Mansion and Garden (林家花園 — in Banciao, 30 min from Taipei by MRT; the most important classical Chinese garden and mansion complex in Taiwan; built 1838-1893 by the Lin family (the most powerful landed gentry family in northern Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty; the Lin family controlled the northern Taiwan trade monopolies on camphor, tea and rice; their mansion represents the largest private construction project of the Qing colonial period in Taiwan); the garden (the 6,400 m² classical Chinese garden with the ornamental lake, the rockery (the Taihu stone formations from Lake Tai in China), the pavilions connected by zigzag bridges, the "borrowed scenery" (jiejing) technique framing the distant mountains within the garden composition); the architecture (the 5 compounds of the Lin mansion — each compound accessed through a ceremonial gate with the calligraphic inscriptions in the Emperor's hand (the Daoguang Emperor granted the Lin family the honour of imperial inscriptions at the mansion gate)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRaohe Street Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市 — the oldest purpose-built night market in Taipei (established 1987); 600m long straight market street; distinct from the chaos of Shilin — the Raohe Night Market has a more linear, navigable layout; the specialty: the Fuzhou Original Peppercorn Bun (福州世祖胡椒餅 — the "pepper bun": the baked bun filled with green onion, pork and ground pepper; the bun is baked by sticking to the interior wall of a cylindrical tandoor-style oven (the clay oven keeps the temperature at 200-250°C); the fresh bun comes out with a crispy shell and a steaming interior; the queue for the Fuzhou pepper bun often reaches 30-40 people; the pepper bun at Raohe is one of the 10 most recommended specific street food items in all of Taiwan per the Michelin Guide Taiwan Bib Gourmand); the stinky tofu hot pot (the Raohe stinky tofu vendors serve the tofu in a mild dipping broth rather than deep-fried — a different texture experience).
Jiufen (九份 — 50 km northeast of Taipei; the former gold mining village on the steep sea-facing slope of the Jinguashi mountain; the village was established during the Japanese colonial gold rush (1895-1945; the Jinguashi gold mine (now the Gold Ecological Park) was one of the most productive gold mines in Asia; at peak production in the 1930s, the mine employed 4,000 workers and produced 6 tonnes of gold per year); after the mine closed in 1971, the village declined; the 1989 Taiwanese film "A City of Sadness" (悲情城市 — the first Taiwanese film to win the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion; set in Jiufen during the 228 Incident of 1947) brought the village back into national consciousness; the director Hayao Miyazaki has publicly denied that Jiufen was the inspiration for the bathhouse in "Spirited Away" (2001), but the visual similarity between the Jiufen Old Street tea house lanterns and steep stairways and the bathhouse scenes is so striking that the comparison is now inseparable from the Jiufen tourism identity); the Old Street teahouses with the balcony views over the sea.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideNortheast Coast Scenic Area (東北角暨宜蘭海岸國家風景區 — the coastal highway (Route 2) from Jiufen along the Pacific-facing northeast coast of Taiwan; the Nanya Rock Formation (南雅奇岩 — the most distinctive coastal rock on the northeast coast: the tilted sedimentary rock strata with the honeycomb weathering pattern (the "tofu rock" — the regular rectangular joint pattern in the sandstone creates a natural tofu-grid appearance); the Longdong Cape (龍洞岬 — the cape with the finest rock climbing and snorkelling on the northeast coast: the sheer sea cliffs of the Szelii quartzite rock (the hardest rock type on the Taiwan coast; the climbing routes range from easy slab routes to the hardest outdoor sport climbing routes in Taiwan); the Longdong Bay (龍洞灣 — the protected bay with the flat underwater rocky bottom at 3-5 m (the snorkelling: the sergeant fish, the tang, the butterflyfish and the occasional sea turtle in the bay's protected water)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide228 Peace Memorial Park (二二八和平紀念公園 — the park in the Zhongzheng District, established at the location where the February 28, 1947 incident began; the 228 Incident: on February 27, 1947, KMT (mainland Chinese) agents beat a Taiwanese widow selling contraband cigarettes near the park; a crowd gathered; the agents fired into the crowd, killing a bystander; the next day, a crowd surrounded the KMT monopoly bureau building demanding justice; the agents fired from the upper windows, killing and wounding dozens; the violence triggered an island-wide uprising of native Taiwanese against the mainland Chinese KMT administration; the KMT government brought in mainland military reinforcements (arrived March 8, 1947) and conducted a systematic massacre of the educated Taiwanese elite (the estimates range from 10,000-30,000 killed, including most of the lawyers, doctors, teachers and journalists of the Taiwanese middle class); the 228 Massacre was the founding trauma of Taiwanese national identity; the 228 Peace Memorial Museum (the most important museum for understanding modern Taiwanese identity and the KMT-Taiwan relationship).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideYongkang Street (永康街 — the most pleasant pedestrian food street in central Taipei, in the Da'an District; the Taiwanese food landmark: Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐 — the original Xinyi Road branch; the restaurant that made xiaolongbao (小籠包 — the Shanghainese steamed soup dumpling) globally famous; the one restaurant that appears in every top-10 Asian restaurant list and has the most consistent quality record of any single restaurant concept in Asia; the Din Tai Fung xiaolongbao standard: exactly 18 folds in the top knot, the wrapper exactly 5 grams of flour dough, the pork filling + gelling stock mixture exactly 16 grams; the quality control performed by the restaurant management team on every batch; the wait at the Xinyi Road original: 45-90 minutes on weekends; the Yongkang branch (2 min walk) is less crowded; the sweet taro xiaolongbao and the steamed red bean bun are the most popular dessert items).
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