Taiwan itinerary advice - 12 full days

Hi everyone,

My partner and I will be going to Taiwan for the first time this November 2019.

Although we will be in Taiwan for 14 days, we will be landing in Taipei late and leaving from Taipei early, so we therefore have 12 full days of time to travel around.

I have created the itinerary below and would appreciate some guidance on feasibility and time allocated to visiting places as we will be moving around a lot. We enjoy visiting historical sites, temples and museums as well as eating good food! We’d like to move around so we’re able to see as much as possible during our stay by using the fastest transport links.

We want to start and end with some time in Taipei, so (ideally) a loop around Taiwan starting and ending back in Taipei.

Any help with transport would also be great and how long the journeys are to reach the below either by HSR (when possible) or by normal train.

Day 1: Arrive in Taipei (late) (4 nights)

Day 2 - 5: Days 2 and 3 in Taipei and Day 4 as a day out to Jioufen. Is Keeling city night market feasible to do on the way back from Jioufen?

Day 5 – 6 (2 nights): Leave Taipei in the morning for Taichung. The rest of Day 5 spent in Taichung and Day 6 as a day out to Sun Moon Lake.

Day 7 - 8 (1 night): Leave Taichung in the morning for Tainan. The rest of Day 7 spent in Tainan.

Day 8- 9 (1 night): Leave Tainan in the morning for Koahsiung. The rest of Day 8 spent in Koahsiung.

Day 9 - 10 (1 night): Leave Koahsiung in the morning for Taitung. The rest of Day 9 spent in Taitung.

Day 10- 12 (2 nights): Leave Taitung for Hualien. The rest of Day 10 spent in Hualien and Day 11 spent at Taroko Gorge.

Day 12 – 14 (2 nights): Arrive in Taipei late on Day 12. Day 13 in Taipei.

Day 14: Depart from Taipei (early)

Many thanks in advance! :slight_smile:

Hello, may I know where are you from and what special things you will like to see in Taiwan?

  1. If you come to Taiwan for the first time, National palace museum is always recommend, Chiang Kai-shek bring all the treasures from China and now they are all stored in Taiwan Nation Palace Museum, you will not be able to see these treasures even in Forbidden City.

  2. I don’t recommend Keelong night market much, because all the night markets are similar, you can visit similar night market in Taipei, also night market opens until very late, visit night market which near your accommodation is better choice, unless you stay in Keelong that night.

  3. Other then Jiofeng, the other old town Shefen is worth visit. But that will take another full day.

  4. If you are going to Jiofeng, there are direct buses from city center to Jiofeng, form station “ChongShiao Fusing.”

  5. Tainan is old capital in Taiwan, historical city, there are so many places you can visit in Tainan, but KaoShong is a industrial city, stay more time in Tainan, less time in KaoShong, you will have better experience.

  6. Between west Taiwan, I would suggest use High speed train, which will save you a lot of time.

  7. For the east side of Taiwan, the challenge is transportation, a better way is to rent a car at train statin, then drive from Taitong all the way up to Taipei, many beautiful places you need to drive to reach there, public transportation is not convenient enough at east Taiwan.

  8. From Yi Lang back to Taipei there is a long tunnel called snow mountain, (actually there is no snow there), that tunnel gets very very clouded every Sunday, make sure don’t go through that tunnel on Sunday.