Things to do
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Beitou Hot Springs
Sulphur springs rise in a wooded valley at the end of a metro branch line, developed under Japanese rule into a bathing district that still runs public baths, hotel tubs and open air pools. Thermal Valley steams at close to boiling and cannot be entered. The wooden Hot Spring Museum explains the rest; public baths require a swimsuit and cap.
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Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
White marble and a blue octagonal roof sit at the head of a vast plaza shared with the National Theater and Concert Hall. Eighty nine steps, one for each year of the president's life, climb to the bronze statue. The honour guard changing ceremony was moved out of the upper hall in twenty twenty four, and the plaza's naming remains politically contested.
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Dihua Street
Trade in dried goods has run along this Dadaocheng street since the eighteen fifties, and the shophouse fronts mix southern Fujian, baroque and modernist facades along one block. Shops sell mushrooms, dried seafood, tea and Chinese medicine, with young design studios and coffee bars filling upper floors. The lane is at its most frantic in the weeks before Lunar New Year.
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Elephant Mountain
A stepped path climbs from Xiangshan metro station to rock platforms that frame the Xinyi towers head on, the standard city skyline view. The steep section takes about twenty minutes and is unrelenting in humidity. Photographers claim the boulder platforms well before sunset, and a head torch helps on the way back down.
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Longshan Temple
Built by Fujianese settlers in seventeen thirty eight and rebuilt after wartime bombing, this Wanhua temple works as an active place of worship, with Buddhist and Taoist deities sharing the halls and a queue at the matchmaking god. Chanting fills the courtyard in the early evening. Incense is limited to one stick per worshipper, and the divination blocks are free to use.
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Maokong Gondola
Cable cars climb from Taipei Zoo over forested ridges to the tea terraces of Maokong, where hillside houses serve Tieguanyin grown on the slopes below. Crystal cabins with glass floors run in a separate, slower queue. Service stops in high wind and on maintenance Mondays, and evening rides look over the lit basin, though the last cars down fill quickly.
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National Palace Museum
Nearly seven hundred thousand imperial objects from Beijing's Forbidden City came here with the Nationalist retreat, and only a fraction hangs at any time on a rotating display. Bronzes, Song ceramics and carved jade are the draw. Tour groups arrive mid morning, so early or late afternoon is calmer, and the Zhishan Garden next door is included.
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Raohe Night Market
One straight lane runs from the Ciyou Temple gate to the far end, easier to navigate than the sprawling markets and known for black pepper buns baked in clay ovens at the entrance. Medicinal pork rib soup and stewed dishes fill the middle. Queues at the first stall form by seven, and the Rainbow Bridge over the Keelung River is a short walk on.
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Shilin Night Market
Taipei's largest night market runs through a basement food court and the lanes around Cixian Temple, selling oyster omelettes, pepper buns, fried chicken cutlets and stinky tofu. Games arcades and cheap clothing fill the rest. Trade peaks at weekends after eight and is aimed heavily at visitors, so Raohe or Ningxia suit anyone wanting a tighter market.
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Taipei 101
Once the tallest building in the world, the tower still anchors the Xinyi skyline, its eight stacked sections shaped after a length of bamboo. Pressure sealed lifts reach the observatory in under a minute, and a golden tuned mass damper hangs in view to steady the structure in typhoons and quakes. Clear evenings after rain are worth timing for, since haze settles over the basin on still days.
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Yangmingshan National Park
Volcanic terrain rises directly behind the city, with sulphur vents at Xiaoyoukeng, silver grass slopes, hot spring inns and the open summit of Qixing Mountain. Cherry blossom in February and March and calla lilies in spring bring heavy traffic and shuttle only access on some roads. Buses run from Jiantan station, and cloud closes the summit view often.