TAIWAN · EAST ASIA
Sky lanterns, marble gorges, night markets.
Taipei night markets, the sky lanterns of Pingxi, Taroko's marble canyon, Sun Moon Lake and the high-mountain railways. The whole island, one day trip at a time.
Only in Taiwan
Three things that only happen here.
Mountains and night markets turn up all over Asia. A lantern release on the Pingxi line, a canyon cut clean through marble, sunrise from a logging railway above the clouds — those belong to Taiwan. Build the trip around them.
On the Pingxi line
Release a sky lantern at Shifen
Write a wish on a paper lantern, hold it over the old coal-railway tracks at Shifen and let it climb into the valley. The Pingxi line is the one place this is an everyday ritual, not a once-a-year festival, and the day usually folds in Jiufen and the Yehliu rock formations too.
- 1 From Taipei: Shifen, Jiufen, and Yehliu Guided Day Trip
- 2 From Taipei: Yehliu, Jiufen, and Pingxi Day Tour
- 3 Taipei: Jiufen Night View and Shifen Day Tour
Carved from marble
Walk into Taroko Gorge
A canyon cut clean through solid marble, swallows nesting in the cliffs and a jade-green river running below the footbridges. There are only a handful of marble gorges anywhere, and this is the one you can walk through in a morning out of Hualien.
- 1 Private Taroko Gorge Day Tour from Hualien with Local Expert
- 2 Private Taroko Gorge National Park Day Tour
- 3 Full-Day Private Taroko National Park Tour from Hualien City
Above the clouds
Sunrise on the Alishan railway
Board a narrow-gauge logging train before first light and climb through cypress forest to watch the sun come up over a sea of clouds. Pair it with Sun Moon Lake and the high tea farms of the central mountains.
- 1 From Taipei: Nantou and Sun Moon Lake View Day Tour
- 2 Private 3-Day Tour to Sun Moon Lake and Alishan
- 3 Private 4-Day Central & Southern Taiwan Tour (Sun Moon Lake, Kaohsiung, Kenting)
Plan the trip
How many days have you got?
Taipei is the base, and most of the island is a day trip or a short high-speed-rail hop away. Here's roughly how the trip grows with the time you have. Pick a length and start there.
Start here
The one most people book first.
If you've got a single free day, this is where to spend it. The most popular tour on the island right now, and an easy first taste of what Taiwan does well.
The classics
Taiwan's Most Popular Tours
Shifen and Jiufen, Taroko Gorge, Taipei 101 and the night-market food crawls. The tours most travellers come to Taiwan for.
By place
Work out from Taipei.
Most trips start in the capital and spread out from there. Jiufen and Shifen for the sky lanterns. Sun Moon Lake for the mountains. Taroko for the marble gorge. Kaohsiung and Tainan for the warm south.
Jiufen
The mountain town that glows at dusk.
Red lanterns strung over stone staircases, tea houses stacked up a hillside above the sea, alleys thick with the smell of taro and grilled squid. Come in late afternoon, stay for the lights, and let the day-trip crowds thin out around you. It's the easy half of any north-coast day to fall for.
See Jiufen day trips →By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
A night-market food crawl if you came to eat. A cooking class if you'd rather make it yourself. Walking tours, bike rides, hot springs, harbour cruises and the rest.
The capital
A first day in Taipei.
Temples, Taipei 101, Ximending neon and a bowl of beef noodle soup. The city tours and walks that cover the most ground on your first day.
Hands on
Learn to make it yourself.
Soup dumplings pleated by hand, bubble tea from scratch, a market basket turned into lunch. The classes worth giving a free morning to.
Steam and sulphur
Hot springs, half an hour out.
Beitou's milky thermal baths and the steaming craters of Yangmingshan, both a short hop from the city. Where Taipei goes to thaw out on a grey day.
Further out
The south and the wild east.
Tainan's old temples and street food, Kaohsiung's harbour, the high tea farms inland and the cliffs of the east coast. The trips worth leaving Taipei for.
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