Taiwan: The best things to see, eat and drink
Our guide to the very best things to do in Taiwan
Taiwan is a unique and beautiful country, with impressive modern cities separated by mile after mile of beautiful mountain landscapes and rich green spaces.
That means that picking just a few of our favourite places isn’t an easy task. But for those not fortunate enough to be able to spend several weeks exploring Taiwan, we hope this list helps you decide where you should prioritise visiting.
We’ve picked out our Taiwan bests, covering food, shopping, big cities, hiking, our favourite views in Taiwan, and much more.
Use the contents menu to skip ahead to the categories that most interest you or keep scrolling to see our full list of favourites, along with a few honourable mentions that narrowly missed the cut. You can find out more about each of our favourites by clicking the links at the top of the categories below.
Contents
Cities, shopping and culture
Best city
Liz & Josh's favourite: Kaohsiung
Clean, beautiful, spacious and with a great variety of things to do, the south coast city of Kaohsiung couldn’t have been more suited to our way of travelling if it had been designed with us in mind.
Like Taipei, it’s full of great restaurants and cafes, and modern shops and amenities for those who love a city break. And to top it off, it has much better weather than Taipei too.
Honourable mention: Taichung
Although we enjoyed our time in Taipei and Hualien, Taichung is our honourable mention. We only stayed for a day in the Cultural City, in the west of Taiwan around 45 miles (70km) from Taipei, but loved every minute of it.
Best shopping area
Liz's favourite: Yingge Pottery District, Taipei
It’s cheating a bit to pick such a specific type of shopping, but Yingge Pottery district in Taipei was my favourite shopping area in Taiwan. It has cute, easily walkable streets with pottery shops that range from offering cheap and mass-manufactured (but still often very nice) items to high-end gallery-style pieces which might cost more than you spent on your flights and hotels to buy. It was such a fun experience exploring all the different ceramics, and you might find something that makes for a good souvenir as well.
Josh's favourite: Dihua Street, Taipei
Liz picked first and picked best for this category, but I can still make a good case for Dihua Street in Taipei. Dihua Street, a long and old road close in Dadaocheng district, has lots of traditional shops as well as cute independent boutiques, and shops selling everything from herbal medicine, to food, ceramics, clothes and books. As our two stays in Taipei coincided with two tropical storms, the many cats that call Dihua Street home had sadly but sensibly taken shelter and didn’t introduce themselves to us.
Honourable mentions: Taipei City Mall and Taipei 101 Mall
If you’re looking for a bit of classic shopping therapy, Taipei is the city for you. Head to Taipei City Mall – an underground labyrinth of shops and restaurants – or the mall inside Taipei 101, the country’s tallest building, if you're on the lookout for high-end brands spread out across seven floors.
Best Museum
Liz's favourite: National Palace Museum, Taipei
The National Palace Museum is a beautiful building full of historic art and objects inside of the kind we don’t get to see as often in Europe. Open from 10am to 5pm, it would be easy to spend the whole day there – just leave a little bit of time to explore the small but well-kept gardens in front of the museum before you leave.
Josh's favourite: Houtong Miner's Culture and History Museum, Houtong Cat Village
Houtong Miner's Culture and History Museum doesn't attract nearly as many Western tourists as it deserves to. In fact, one member of staff was so surprised to see Liz and I that he stopped us to take a picture. I’m at a total loss as to why this is the case, as the museum is everything a museum should be.
Built inside a restored building that formed part of the mining complex in Houtong, it has fun, interactive exhibits that will appeal to kids (and big kids, like us), moving tributes to the miners who have long since left this small rural village, and information on the importance of mining to Taiwan’s recent history. If you can brave the walk across the bridge high above the river, you can even take a mine cart through some of the old tunnels on the other side.
Honourable mention: Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Museum
Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Museum near Kaohsiung is a different type of experience to either of the museums above. At its heart is a large temple housed under a giant golden statue of the Buddha. On the walk to the temple, you can stop inside pagodas containing exhibits showing the history of this branch of Buddhism within Taiwan, and further exhibitions are housed inside the main building.
Once you’re finished looking at the museum exhibits and the grounds, wait if you can to take in the views from the top of the temple complex at sunset. January and October are great months to visit, because you'll usually have just enough time to watch the sun go down and still make it back to the bottom of the hill before the last bus to Kaohsiung departs from outside the entrance.
Favourite Temple
Liz & Josh's favourite: Wen Wu Temple, Sun Moon Lake
Since Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Museum is so much more than just a temple, Liz and I both chose the Wen Wu Temple by Sun Moon Lake as the one we most appreciated visiting. Compared to Fo Guang Shan, this Wen Wu Temple (so called as it honours both a civil ('Wen') God and a military ('Wu') God in the same place) is much smaller but is in many ways much more beautiful.
Situated on a hill overlooking Sun Moon Lake, the views across the lake and the mountains beyond are even more spectacular than the carefully carved stonework on the temple itself. Its gardens are peaceful to walk through and there's even a nice bubble tea store at the entrance, which is very welcome after an uphill bike ride to get there.
Honourable mention: Gangtian Temple, Hualien
Gangtian Temple in Hualien was something of a lucky find, as it’s not somewhere you would know to plan a visit to. But having stopped by the temple on our way to the start of the hiking trail to Sakul Waterfall, we were struck by its ornate decoration, large traditional twin dragon staircases, and the enjoyment that came from seeing such a large temple that remains much more a working place of worship than one which had become a major tourist attraction.
Best Street Food dish
Liz's favourite: Xiao long bao from Zhou Jia Xiao Long Bao, Hualien
Xiao long bao from Zhou Jia Xiao Long Bao in Hualien (search 周家蒸餃小籠包 on Google maps) were juicy, rich, and impossibly cheap. Considering the place looked like a street food stand, I was blown away by the quality of the food – it was one of the most memorable things I ate throughout our whole trip. Xiaolongbao from here are better than Din Tai Fung, in my opinion.
Josh's favourite: Cold sesame noodles from Good Friend Cold Noodles, Shilin Night Market, Taipei
Not a hidden gem, given they’re Michelin Bib Gourmand recommended, the cold sesame noodles from Good Friend Cold Noodles were the best we had in Taiwan. With delicate and fresh lemon and chili flavours in a rich sesame sauce, they were the perfect treat on a typically humid Taipei day. Fortunately for me, a vegetarian option is available.
Honourable mentions: A Sheng Grilled Corn, Kenting Village and Uncle Lian’s Roasted Corn, Hualien
Josh’s favourite grilled corn, which comes coated and roasted in Taiwanese shacha sauce, came from A Sheng Grilled Corn in Kenting Village night market. Liz’s favourite came from Uncle Lian’s Roasted Corn in Dongdamen Night Market in Hualien. There are usually only small differences in texture and taste from one corn stand to another, but these are the places that stood out most to us..
Honourable mention: Ningxia Yue Shi Scallions Pancake, Taipei
You have to try at least one Scallion Pancake while in Taiwan, but you might need to try a few more to find the right take on this classic for you. We found our favourite on our first night in Taiwan, at Ningxia Yue Shi Scallions Pancake (search 寧夏月氏激蛋蔥油餅 in Google Maps) in Ningxia night market in Taipei. It was exactly the right balance between crispy and chewy, and was stuffed with perfectly cooked egg, chilli, basil, and delicious sauce that brought the other flavours together. Most other scallion pancakes we tried didn’t have as many toppings and felt a bit more basic compared to this one, or were so oily and stodgy that it was hard to appreciate the flavour in the pancake.
Best night market
Liz's favourite: Dongdamen night market, Hualien
Dongdamen night market is big, it has live music, it has more variety of food and drink than we found in other night markets, and we met a very cute dog there. It's exactly what I was hoping for.
Josh's favourite: Ningxia night market, Taipei
I’ll admit that Ningxia night market isn’t as lively and doesn’t have as much variety as Liz’s excellent pick, and it’s far from the most famous street food market in Taipei. Maybe we were just lucky with the stands we picked, but we found good food at each stall we tried. If you’re like me and tend to feel a bit more anxious in crowded areas, but you still want to try night market food, Ningxia is a great bet.
Honourable mention: Shilin night market, Taipei
Shilin Night Market in Taipei is overhyped and has too many overpriced places selling less-than-average food, but there are good spots if you know where to go. Good Friend Cold Noodles is a must, while Wu Family’s Tofu will sell you a big bag of very tasty, dried tofu snacks at a very low price.
Ximending night market in Taipei is very popular but we didn't find many great places to eat there
Best on-a-budget restaurant
Liz & Josh's favourite: Da Da Hui Noodles, Hualien
For the sake of content, I wanted to pick somewhere different to Liz… but I can’t lie to you like that. Da Da Hui Noodles in Hualien serves Japanese style hand-cut noodles in a light, creamy and addictive sauce. We ordered a large bowl of noodles each, slurped them down, then immediately ordered another small bowl to share. The following night, after a few snacks from Dongdamen night market, we couldn't resist going back for one more small bowl each.
Honourable mention: Mr HotPot, Shuishe, Sun Moon Lake
Mr HotPot in Shuishe on the banks of Sun Moon Lake isn’t the cheapest place you’ll eat, but you can get a huge amount of food for a good price. The food is tasty, the staff are friendly, and the value for money makes it the perfect spot to recover from a long cycle ride around the lake.
Honourable mention: Vegetarian Boy 2, Chishang
In a very similar vein, Vegetarian Boy 2 (or Shū Shí NánHái 2) in Chishang is ideal for those who eschewed the e-bikes in favour of an old-fashioned pedal bike for their cycle ride around town and along Brown Boulevard. The food wasn’t quite as delicious as at the two places above, but there’s loads of choice and the cost can’t be argued with. The original Vegetarian Boy next door also serves good food, with more creative dishes on offer.
Best place to be a vegetarian
Josh's favourite: Chishang
Chishang has to be the best place to be a vegetarian in Taiwan. A high proportion of restaurants serve either exclusively vegetarian food or offer a large range of vegetarian and vegan choices, made with locally grown vegetables and the rice which Chishang is famous for. There are highly rated, higher-end restaurants, places that serve authentic local cuisine like Qiaobenwei Vegetarian Cuisine, and cheaper options such as Vegetarian Boy 2 where you can feast for a tiny amount of your holiday budget.
Honourable mention: Taipei, if money is no object
Taipei has an excellent food scene, and it’s easy to find good restaurants serving local and international dishes. If you had an unlimited budget, you could have a great foodie trip sampling the vegetarian options on offer at some of the capital’s higher-end restaurants. Our final meal of our stay in Taiwan was at Serenity, the first exclusively vegetarian Sichuan restaurant in Taipei, and it served the best of any of the dishes we tried.
You can eat well on a smaller budget in Taipei as a vegetarian, but you'll just need to be a bit more careful. Some street foods that seem like they would be vegetarian might contain meat. As just a few examples, the sauce on your grilled corn may not be as vegetarian as you'd assume, bowls of rice may arrive with small chunks of meat if you don't ask otherwise, and fried dishes might be cooked in the same oil as meat or fish. In Chishang, the high proportion of vegetarian and vegan restaurants means you're less likely to wind up ordering meat by accident.
Places to drink
Best café
Liz & Josh's favourite: Sidoli Radio, Taipei
Taipei is absolutely packed with cute independent coffee shops - we found five or six great ones just in the area immediately around our hotel - but our favourite was Sidoli Radio. It could be written off as a bit too hipster, but we found the theme and design unique and charming. More importantly, the coffee was consistently great on all our visits, and the pastries were good too.
Honourable mention: Seedson Café, Hualien
Seedson Café in Hualien is an extremely comfortable, welcoming café which serves decent food and a good drink. It’s a lovely spot to stop and chill, even if you’ll find slightly ever-so-slightly better coffee in Taipei. A special mention goes to the resident cat, who was the perfect host - keeping a respectful distance from customers who didn't want to meet him, but making a big fuss of those (me and Liz) who did.
Honourable mention: CoffeeInn, Kenting
Coffee Inn in Kenting is a dreamy place to relax after some time spent sunbathing and swimming in the sea at Nanwan (South Bay) beach. Quiet, decorated in a mellow bohemian style, and serving great coffee, it would be easy to lose track of time unwinding over a few drinks and snacks.
Best bubble tea
Liz & Josh's favourite: Ding Go
We have extensively documented our obsession with this Hualien-based bubble tea chain, which has franchise locations at locations along the East Coast and even on the island of Ludao (or Green Island). We particularly loved their take on brown sugar latte, but you could and should sample many of their fruit teas if you have the opportunity.
Honourable mention: Chun Shui Tang, Taichung
While Ding-Go is unquestionably the best bubble tea chain in Taiwan, a detour to Chun Shui Tang in Taichung is an important part of an extended stay in Taiwan. After all, Ding-Go may not exist today had Chun Shui Tang not first invented bubble tea. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
Best bar
Liz & Josh's favourite: Shan'ao, Chishang
You might have gathered by now that Liz and I have similar tastes in food and drink. But we're certain that Shan'ao would be high up anyone’s list of the best places to stop for a drink in Taiwan.
It serves beautiful cocktails, local spirits and wines, and an exquisite black coffee. Sit on the floor in peace and almost total silence (at least, when there’s no live music), admire the artwork created by the owner, and explore the gallery a little before reluctantly leaving. Of all the places that we've mentioned in these food and drink sections, this was, by some distance, our favourite of them all.
Please, don’t tell Ding Go that we said that.
Outdoor activities
Best view in Taiwan
Liz & Josh's favourite: The Flower Garden, Sun Link Sea
This was one of the hardest choices for both of us, yet we settled on the same answer. If you’re as lucky as we were to be in the Flower Garden in Sun-Link-Sea, in Autumn, when the clouds start to quickly descend on the mountain, you’ll be greeted with this view.
On our way back down the hill from the flower garden, the mists swirling through the ancient forests reminded me of traditional Chinese ink wash art and made me (Liz) feel as if I’d been dropped into a Confucian painting.
Honourable mention: Brown Boulevard, Chishang
There are almost too many to mention, but Chishang’s rice fields in Autumn are stunning to behold as they turn into an almost endless sea of gold. Stop at the top of Brown Boulevard and take all the time you need to watch the rice stalks rippling in the breeze.
Honourable mention: Kenting National Forest Recreation Area Sea View Tower
Kenting National Forest Recreation Area has any number of great views, but those from the top of the Sea View Tower - with the forest canopy stretching out almost all the way towards Taiwan’s southernmost point, with the ocean beyond disappearing over the horizon, are probably the best of the lot.
Honourable mention: Amei Tea House, Jioufen
Jioufen might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the views from Amei Tea House certainly are. Even on a damp and cloudy day, and even though my (Josh) experience of the town hadn't been what I'd hoped for, I have to admit that the views from the balconies of this famous tourist spot are worthy of the hype. If we'd visited on a sunnier afternoon, this could have been my very favourite sight to see.
We should also mention that some guides will tell you that Yushan mountain has the best views in the country. Sadly, we weren’t able to hike Yushan on our trip, as we'd forgotten to apply for a permit, so you’ll have to try to find out for yourself if they're worthy of the title.
Kenting National Forest Recreation Area is a stunning place to visit, with views all the way to the southernmost tip of Taiwan
Best hiking area
Liz & Josh's favourite: Kenting National Forest Recreation Area
Kenting National Forest Recreation Area has well-marked paths, beautiful views, and countless tropical plants to look at. We particularly loved seeing the long trails of purple and green tradescantias carpeting parts of the forest floor and cascading over the edges of steps and rock formations.
You’ll see loads of wildlife, mainly Rock Macaques and countless species of butterflies, but you also may get a glimpse of deer and various colourful birds on your hike too. Kenting is one of the few places where you can see forests, mountains, caves and ocean all in one day, and the ancient fossilized coral reef rock formations that we walked between made for an experience unlike any we've had before.
Best place for a gentle walk
Liz's favourite: Liyu Lake, near Hualien
A walk around Liyu Lake, a bus ride away from Hualien, was just long enough to get the feeling of being in nature, but not so long that we were exhausted. The views across the lake were lovely, we were able to take in some competitive dragon boat racing, plus we even spotted a monkey!
Josh's favourite: Taipei in the rain
While I enjoyed our walk by Liyu Lake more at the time, the stroll that most stands out after some time away from Taiwan is our first-night walk through the streets of an extremely wet, but equally atmospheric, Taipei. While I didn’t love Taipei quite as much as many of our later stops, I really enjoyed experiencing the character of some of its backstreets and off-the-tourist-path areas as we strolled with no particular destination in mind.
Honourable mention: Taipei Botanical Garden
Taipei Botanical Garden is an oasis of green inside Taiwan’s most populous and built-up city. It’s a haven for birdwatchers too; when we visited, a crowd of people were gathered to catch sight of a Collared Scops-Owl.
You don't have to love birdwatching to love a walk here though. For those visiting in summer, make sure to take in the lotus pond in full bloom.
Honourable mention: Green River Waterfront Trail, Taichung
Strolling along the Green River Waterfront Trail and the Liuchuan Riverside Walk in Taichung was a lovely experience, as was meandering around Taichung Park and stopping for a while to admire a kingfisher catching small fish from the pond there. If for any reason you can only go to one of the three, go to the Green River Trail - if only so you can take the shortest of detours and treat yourself to something sweet from Miyahara, the famous dessert store.
Best place to go cycling
Liz & Josh's favourite: Chishang
You don’t have to be an expert cyclist to enjoy taking a bike ride through Chishang and its surrounding fields. The roads are flat and relatively easy, and Brown Boulevard – a long road through the middle of the rice fields, which feels lifted straight out of a Hollywood location scout’s wildest dream – is entirely closed off to traffic.
Our cycle around Chishang, followed by our visit to Shan’ao bar, made for possibly the best day of our Taiwan holiday. And that’s without even mentioning our chance encounter with 'Crab' (Pángxiè, in Chinese), the bearded dragon who’d been taken out for a walk and a sunbathe at Dapo Pond. If you’re reading this, Crab, we miss you.
Honourable mention: Sun Moon Lake
Cycling around Sun Moon Lake is a great way to see the sights, but you’ll have to go on busy main roads if you want to cycle the full circumference. There are some moderately steep hills on the route too, so you might want to consider renting an e-bike rather than a regular old pedal bike.
Honourable mention: Green Island (Ludao)
Green Island is less famous for its cycling than its scuba diving and snorkelling, but we loved taking a bike ride around the island. The roads are usually quite quiet once you're away from town, and there are some beautiful views to be found away from all the diving centres.
Animals, birds and fish
Best place to see monkeys
Liz & Josh's favourite: Kenting National Forest Recreation Area
You can read more about why Kenting is the best place to see monkeys in Taiwan on our page dedicated to spotting monkeys on your Taiwan travels, along with some detail on other parts of the country where you’re likely to encounter them. The shorter version is that Kenting National Forest Recreation Area is a beautiful national park where you’ll be able to spot more Formosan Rock Macaques than you can count, at a safe distance, with the monkeys not having been allowed to become overly close and comfortable around tourists. It's an amazing experience.
Best place to see sea life
Liz & Josh's favourite: Green Island (Ludao)
We didn’t visit all of Taiwan’s islands on our visit, but Ludao is reputed to be the best place for diving in the country. Based on our experience scuba diving off its coast, we can see why. There are some downsides to visiting Ludao, which you’ll find out more about in our guide to the island, but it’s a great place to see some sea life.
Best place to meet some cats
Liz & Josh's favourite: Houtong Cat Village
The least surprising winner of all. If you want to see cats, go to the Cat Village. We loved that spaces had been created for the cats to get a break from visitors when they needed them, and we appreciated the story of how this pretty former mining town had come to be known for its famous felines. Find out more in our guide to Houtong Cat Village.
Best place to meet a corgi
Liz & Josh's favourite: Coffee and Scone, Hualien
For those who prefer their dogs to their cats, and their having coffee and scones to their not having coffee and scones, make sure to visit Coffee and Scone in Hualien. The scones are tasty, the coffee is almost as good as you can find in the city, and you might get to meet Dumbo – the owner’s sociable canine companion and coworker – if you happen to stop by at the right time.
Best weird little guys
Liz & Josh's favourite: Taiwan blue magpies
If this seems like a rude way to talk about one of Taiwan’s most beloved birds, just look at this face.
Endemic to Taiwan, meaning you cannot see them anywhere else in the world, Taiwan’s Blue Magpies are colourful, chatty, and almost impossible to photograph because they just will not sit still for any length of time.
They can be found in low mountainous areas across Taiwan. On our trip, we saw more of them in Houtong – a village famous for its huge number of feline residents – than anywhere else. This is not a serious bird.
And finally...
We will take any nominations for your favourite things to do, places to eat, new categories that should be on this list... whatever you think should be on here. Leave a comment below or message us using our contact form if you'd prefer to get in touch with us privately.
This has been one of the more fun posts to write so far. Travelling around Taiwan gave us the motivation to start this website, and it's been interesting to look back on our time there and pick out the places and things that have stuck with us as our very favourite memories of our holiday.
I hope it's been helpful to you too, whether you're in Taiwan already and looking for more things to do or whether you're trying to decide if it's the best place for you to visit next.
An anxiety-affected first week of travelling for me (Josh) aside, we had a wonderful time exploring the country. You can find out much more about all of the places above in our detailed Taiwan travel guides.
If you'd like to ask any more questions, particularly if you have any anxieties that we might be able to offer some perspective on, we'd love to hear from you.
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