Taiwan (travel tips/recommendations) (1 Viewer)

[Marius L]

We are traveling to Taiwan in about two weeks time. Would love some recommendations on where to eat, and generally just fun stuff to for anyone's who's been.

We are going north to south and back up north, on the west side of the island. Stops along the way as it looks right now:

Taipei area,
Yushan/alishan area,
Gaoxiong/Tainan/Kenting,

Already got some tips from @Changster a while back (thanks!), but very happy to take any more tips from him or anyone else.

 

[LotsOfChips]

It’s been several years, but there’s a gondola near the zoo in Taipei. You can take the subway there.

Street food stalls in Taipei were pretty good, but if you’re not familiar with Asian hygiene standards, you might be a bit put off (better to get past that, street food is usually safe and incredibly tasty).

 

[ATLarchip]

Night markets for all the food. Xiao long bao, beef noodle soup, oyster omelet, chicken butt, fried chicken with basil, stinky tofu, Hot pots.
Taipei 101.
Gondola ride to Maokong for tea. Oolong.
Karaoke.

 

[TheOffalo]

If you see this, get it:

大腸包小腸, translation is "big sausage wraps small sausage". The "bun" is a rice sausage. Even though this is hot dog-like, since there's no bread involved, is this a sandwich or not?

 

[Marius L]

If you see this, get it:

大腸包小腸, translation is "big sausage wraps small sausage". The "bun" is a rice sausage. Even though this is hot dog-like, since there's no bread involved, is this a sandwich or not?

Sausage in a rice sausage. Interesting!

Planning on hitting quite a few night markets for sure

 

[lib]

I've been going regularly to Taiwan for >20 years. I don't have a lot of recommendations to give you but Seafood is generally of really high quality and I love those restaurants that serve shrimp in clay pots with different seasonings. Also superb Japanese food in Taiwan. Beef Noodle soup is great but stinky tofu is not.

 

[Changster]

Yushan/Alishan is great. No need for recommendations because there is nothing to choose from.

I'm not a fan of night markets but that's probably because I'm not a tourist anymore. If you like Japanese food Taiwan has the best in the world outside of Japan, bar none. Some places I've been are better than Japan and way cheaper.

There's just too much selection for food so it depends what you like. Street stuff is mehhh.

Around Taipei it's worth going to Jiu Fen and then going to the tea houses there. Don't do the gondala thing by the zoo as thats lame Imo. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRbwVcHw/

If you like massages go to Sakura in Taipei. Two hours for about $100 usd. Book a day in advance.

For red light stuff PM me, lol.

For poker in Taipei you're more than welcome to join our game. We've been playing kinda regularly these days on Fridays or Saturdays usually 8pm till early morning. We've toned down the stakes to just 100/100 200bb min buy in. If you come maybe I'll use the Wynn chips. We normally just use 43mm AS100s and Jack Cincy 1k's and Pharaoh 5k plaques.

GX/Tainan is pretty much all food sightseeing.

I highly recommend driving from Kending to Taidong. There's a new tunnel. The drive is just effin amazing. It's like PCH in Cali but better although smaller in scale.

 

[Marius L]

Thanks for the tips guys! I think we'll do the zoo/gondola. (Lol even though @Changster is not a fan). We have our 3yo with us, so it's probably fun for her.

I highly recommend driving from Kending to Taidong. There's a new tunnel. The drive is just effin amazing. It's like PCH in Cali but better although smaller in scale.

We went up the East side of the island a couple of years back from Tainan, to Taidong, then Hualian after a couple islands vsits (Ludao and Lanyu), and lastly back to Taipei via Jiufen. That was amazing and we had a day cycling up the shore between taidong and hualian. It was awesome and I think our favourite place of the whole trip was Lanyu!

Anyways, figured this time around we'd focus on places we didnt go last time, like the mountain area (yushan/alishan), Kenting for some beach life, and driving/train down the west ish side.

Our current plan is roughly this:
Spend a few days in Taipei after we arrive, then we are renting a car and driving from Taipei to Yushan, then Alishan both with a good amount of hiking spending like 3-4 nights in the area. Then keep driving down the coffee road(?) to GX. visiting xiao liuqiu, and then go down to Kenting for a few days of beach. After that we'll just take the high speed rail back to Taipei from GX (maybe spend two nights here or in Tainan first) I think, and have a few more days in Taipei area. Maybe visit Jiufen, Wulai, or something. Still TBD, based on our mood after almost 3 weeks.

We will have a few days in Taipei both at the start and end of the trip. We have Jiufen on the list this time as well, but last time we were there it wasn't as enjoyable as expected because of too many people. It was in July though, and maybe on a weekend (cant remember), so might be a bit more chill if we go on a weekday in april instead. However I remember really enjoying visiting a nearby Shinto shrine in the mountainside near Jiufen which had amazing views, which I wouldn't mind doing again.

Which area of Taipei are you in @Changster? Would love to join your game, but I think we will only have 1 friday or saturday in Taipei, which is the day we arrive (march 25th). Need to discuss a little with the others and also might be tired after 24h travel, but if you have a game that day I will definitely do my best to come!

 

[ATLarchip]

Din Tai Fung restaurant for xiao long bao. Yummy.

 

[Marius L]

Din Tai Fung restaurant for xiao long bao. Yummy.

Thanks. Already on our list. Tried them in Shanghai before!

 

[Changster]

Thanks for the tips guys! I think we'll do the zoo/gondola. (Lol even though @Changster is not a fan). We have our 3yo with us, so it's probably fun for her.


We went up the East side of the island a couple of years back from Tainan, to Taidong, then Hualian after a couple islands vsits (Ludao and Lanyu), and lastly back to Taipei via Jiufen. That was amazing and we had a day cycling up the shore between taidong and hualian. It was awesome and I think our favourite place of the whole trip was Lanyu!

Anyways, figured this time around we'd focus on places we didnt go last time, like the mountain area (yushan/alishan), Kenting for some beach life, and driving/train down the west ish side.

Our current plan is roughly this:
Spend a few days in Taipei after we arrive, then we are renting a car and driving from Taipei to Yushan, then Alishan both with a good amount of hiking spending like 3-4 nights in the area. Then keep driving down the coffee road(?) to GX. visiting xiao liuqiu, and then go down to Kenting for a few days of beach. After that we'll just take the high speed rail back to Taipei from GX (maybe spend two nights here or in Tainan first) I think, and have a few more days in Taipei area. Maybe visit Jiufen, Wulai, or something. Still TBD, based on our mood after almost 3 weeks.

We will have a few days in Taipei both at the start and end of the trip. We have Jiufen on the list this time as well, but last time we were there it wasn't as enjoyable as expected because of too many people. It was in July though, and maybe on a weekend (cant remember), so might be a bit more chill if we go on a weekday in april instead. However I remember really enjoying visiting a nearby Shinto shrine in the mountainside near Jiufen which had amazing views, which I wouldn't mind doing again.

Which area of Taipei are you in @Changster? Would love to join your game, but I think we will only have 1 friday or saturday in Taipei, which is the day we arrive (march 25th). Need to discuss a little with the others and also might be tired after 24h travel, but if you have a game that day I will definitely do my best to come!

XLQ is cool. My friend runs a freediving school there if you have interest to look at some sea turtles.

Looks like you are all planned and ready to go with a packed schedule!

 

[grandmeme]

It looks like your itinerary is already jam packed!

When I went to Alishan, I really enjoyed having tea and some snacks at a tea farm/cafe with a great view of the mountain ranges. Ended up doing a whole tea tasting session as well - I recommend it if you enjoy tea!

 

[ATLarchip]

kaoliang 58 is a local liquor you must try if you get the chance. I think it’s delicious. Very unique. The older the bottle, the less burn. We have that when the fam is over.

 

[Rakrul]

At my game, I couldn't even give it away and we were alcoholics in our 20s then.