Before getting to Taiwan:
- Buy the express train ticket online (KKday or Klook). You may choose single trip ticket or multiple days pass, it depends on your itinerary.
- Reserve your Wi-Fi egg. I suggest you all to get SIM card instead if you are going Taichung and Tainan. Phone number is kinda important as the commute system there is not as good as Taipei and Kaohsiung, you might need it to call taxi or drivers (carpool service,etc).
- Install 台湾公车通 and Taiwan Weather on your phone, this two apps are very helpful !
Day 1 to day 5 : Taipei 台北
Day 5 to day 6.5 : Cingjing Farm 清境农场 + Sun Moon Lake 日月潭
Day 6.5 to day 8 : Taichung 台中
Day 8 to day 9.5 : Tainan 台南
Day 9.5 to day 11.5 : Kaohsiung 高雄
Day 11.5 to day 13.5 : Kenting 垦丁
Day 13.5 to day 14 : Taipei 台北
Here is a video I made for this trip ! Hope you like it :)
Day 1 : Shifen 十份 + Jiufen 九份 = 十九份
To get to Shifen, take MRT to Ruifang, then change to Pingxi train 平溪火车.
Shifen is famous for their sky lanterns 天灯, so yeap we did that and contributed to the pollution, sorry :( The price is around 200 TWD (~10sgd) for the 4-colors lattern. We had our lunch there before heading to the Shifen waterfall, which is around 20 minutes walk from the market area.
After visiting the waterfall, we took cab to Jiufen instead of taking the train back to Ruifang. The cab fare is fix around this area, which is 800 TWD (~40 sgd) from Shifen to Jiufen (vice versa). You may try to bargain, we did that and managed to save 100 TWD (~5 sgd).
40 sgd is quite expensive TBH, so please do your homework, the train only come every hour and we just missed one. Hence, we chose to take cab.
Besides that, do not get the whole day pass for Pingxi train if you are only going to Shifen, it is not worth it. You may find the train schedule here.
Jiufen used to be a gold mining mountain town, originally built by the Japanese and now a maze of lanes and alleyways with rich history and culture. You can find a lot of nice food here ! Personally I feel the 赖阿婆芋圆 is a must try, it is very different from what we have here. There are real yam hidden in the 芋圆, just like 福州 fishballs !
We took bus to the Golden waterfall 黄金瀑布 after finish touring around Jiufen. We didn’t get to see the Yin yang sea 阴阳海 due to the foggy weather. We stayed at the waterfall area for around 10 minutes and took bus back to Ruifang (please use Google to check which bus to take and 台湾公车通 for the arrival timing).
We spent our night at Raohe night market 饶河夜市. The street food here is SO DELICIOUS and gave us MOUTHGASM. The night market is quite big and offers both food and shopping stalls. We didn’t shop much as we were busy eating ;)
Day 2 : National Palace Museum 故宫博物院 + Ximenting 西门町+ Xiang Shan 象山 + Shida night market 师大夜市
We found a very nice breakfast shop near our Airbnb, which is called Otaru Breakfast 小樽早餐店. Their sandwiches and burgers are so delicious!
Our first stop of the day is National Palace Museum. You need to take MRT to Shilin station, then from exit 1 take bus R30, mini 18 or 19 to the museum. The exterior of the museum looks like the Beijing 故宫. The exhibitions include paintings, calligraphy, weapons, tools and potteries from different Chinese Dynasty. If you are interested in Chinese culture and history, you MUST visit the National Palace Museum. We spent around 3 hours here, then we took bus back to the Shilin MRT.
We had our lunch at Sushi Express which is so much cheaper than Singapore, and it offers more variety of sushi. Oishi ~~
We headed to Ximending next. The red house was under renovation, SADED, so we went shopping straight HAHAHA. Girlfriend bought a lot of facial products and I bought a NBA shirt here as well.
After hours of shopping, we went to climb Xiang shan. Please do not underestimate this 25 mins-climb mountain, the staircase is damn fxxking steep. But the view of Taipei 101 is very rewarding , remember to wait until sunset, so you could see the Taipei city night lights !
Bring a small towel and insect repellent if you are visiting this place during summer (apparently we didn’t bring any of these LOL). The mozzies there are much bigger and they come in groups !
After the tiring hike, we went to Shida night market to have our dinner. We tried their 卤味 and it is really nice, but I think the aunty might hear wrongly when we say 小辣, because it was DAMN EFFING SPICY. Personally I feel 师大夜市 offers more shopping stalls and have lesser makan stalls, it is less crowded here as well !
Day 3 : XinBeitou 新北投 + Tamsui 淡水 + Shilin night market 士林夜市
We headed straight to Beitou after we had our breakfast. Beitou is famous for their natural hot springs. We went to the Thermal Valley 地热谷, where its water temperature can go up to 100 degree celcius ! The whole place is filled with the smell of sulfur (in fact you can smell it when you alight from the MRT), and it gets really warm there. We stayed there for 15 minutes and made our way to the hot spring museum. This museum’s exhibitions include the discovery of hokutolite, a rare mineral found only in Beitou and Akita County, Japan. Besides that, it exhibits the geological landscape and development of the Beitou Hot Springs. The entrance fee to the museum is FREE !
We went to Tamsui Old Street 淡水老街 next. We had our lunch there and strolled along the street to our next destination, Fort San Domingo 红毛城. It was built by the Spanish during their occupation of the North Coast of Taiwan. The whole place has been renovated and reopen to exhibit the former British consular residence. The Aletheia University 真理大学 is located right beside the castle, it was originally known as Oxford College. Their campus is damn pretty, I am pretty sure some of the Taiwan dramas and movies are filmed here.
We continued our journey to the Little White House 小白宫. It is located slightly further from the university. This place used to be the staying place for the taxation officers. You can enjoy the beautiful Danshui River sceneries here !
Next, we took bus to the Fishermen’s wharf 渔人码头, which is famous for their magnificent sunset and the Lover’s bridge. There are plenty of restaurants and bars over here as well.
There are quite a lot of mosquitoes here as well ! Bring your insect repellent
We left Tamsui after viewing the beautiful sunset and headed to Shilin night market. Shilin night market has a larger scale as compared to Raohe and Shida. It is like a maze, so we just roamed around randomly.
It is easier to get to Shilin night market from Jiantan station (exit 1).
Day 4 : Yang Ming Mountain 阳明山 + RAW
Qingtiangang Grassland Trails 擎天崗
Menghuan Pond 夢幻湖
Zhuzihu 竹子湖
We went back to Otaru to have our breakfast. After that, we headed off to Yangmingshan. To get there, you have to take bus R5 from Jiantan MRT station to YMS, then take bus 108 there to tour around.
Zhuzihu is a local farming village hidden away in the mountains, where you can find a lot of Calla Lillies 海宇花 there.
We only visited Zhuzihu and did not go to the rest of the scenic places. All the bus 108 were too full to board, we spent hours waiting for bus to get to the next place. The weather was very hot as well, so we decided to head back instead. We took a cab back to the Jiantan station, it cost us 400 TWD (~20 SGD).
Every bus 108 interval is around 40 mins on weekdays and 20 mins during weekends/PH. Please plan properly which place to go first and stay there for how long etc.
So it was our 28th monthsary and I decided to bring my girlfriend to some atas restaurant. I asked for locals’ opinion on reddit and quite a few of them suggested RAW. RAW is opened by Taiwanese-born Chef Andre Chiang, who helms “Singapore’s Best Restaurant”, Restaurant Andre (which has 2 Michelin stars), Chef Zor Tan and Chef Alain Huang, and this restaurant is constantly described as the “hardest reservation to get in Taipei”.
The cuisine are really brilliant combination of Taiwanese street food, local food ingredients and flavors with French cooking spirit. Each course is well presented and delivered in a creative way. The service staffs are really friendly and professional. The whole ambiance is very relax and casual. It is a fantastic and special dining experience for both of us. MONEY WELL SPENT !
They serve just two sets of menu here, the “Best of the Year” pre-fixed menu for 2,680 TWD (~130 sgd) per pax and the seasonal pre-fixed menu for 1850 TWD (~90 sgd) per pax. We chose the latter, and ours is the spring season menu. You may reserve your table here.
P.S make sure you order their bread, DAMN SICK !
Day 5 : Cingjing Farm 清境农场
We woke up early to catch our 7am bus to Cingjing Farm from Taipei Station. I bought our ticket here before the trip !
After 4 hours of bus ride, we finally reached our destination. We went straight to our airbnb to drop our backpack and luggage, they upgraded our room for free, yayy !!
Cingjing farm is full of sheep, with all the “meh-meh-meh” sound and their chocolate-like poops. The weather here is fantastic, sunny day with chilly wind. We stayed at the farm until late afternoon and it started to rain.
There is nothing much you can do at night. There are restaurants which provide short distance pick-up at 100 TWD per pax (~5 SGD), we chose to eat at our airbnb instead (they provide home cook meal). Btw, it was damn freaking cold at night, temperature dropped to 13 degree celcius HOLY !!
Day 6 : Sun Moon Lake 日月潭
Woke up at 4:30 in the morning to catch the sunrise (slept at 8pm previous night LOL). It was really peaceful, watching the sunrise and listening to birds chirping.
We left our airbnb around 9 and headed to Sun Moon lake. Our host help us to book the direct bus from Cingjing to SML, the whole journey took around 40 minutes.
We stored our luggage at the place we bought our ferry ticket. There are a few ferry companies here, the price are more or less the same, just choose the one with shorter waiting interval (I forget which company LOL).
The ferry will stop at three different pier, ShuiShe 水社 (where we board), XuanGuang 玄光 and Ita Thao 伊達邵. There is a temple at the XuanGuang Pier and a famous herbal tea eggs (茶叶蛋) stall. At the Ita Thao pier, you can find a lot of local food there. If you are keen to head to Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village (九族文化村) theme park, you can take the ropeway gondola from there as well.
Personally, I feel that we should have stayed here for a night instead of Cingjing Farm. Will definitely come back here again !
Day 6.5 : Taichung 台中
The bus ride took around 1 hour 40 minutes to reach Taichung. After checking in our airbnb and had some rest, we set off for Feng Chia night market 逢甲夜市.
This night market is damn huge, around 1km wide, known as the epitome of Taiwanese night market. We spent the whole evening exploring the night market, eat non-stop and shop non-stop.
Day 7 : Taichung 台中
Tung Hai University 东海大学
Miyahara 宫原眼科
Gao Mei Wetland 高美湿地
We had our breakfast at the stall which our airbnb host recommended. After the delicious meal, we headed to Tunghai University.
Tung Hai university has one of the most beautiful college campuses in Taiwan. You can find plenty of the traditional Chinese courtyard houses 四合院 here, which are used as offices and classrooms. The famous Luce Memorial Chapel is located within the campus as well. It has a very unique triangular design, is located in the campus as well.
After that, we headed back to 一中街 for lunch and tried the famous Miyahara’s ice cream.
Miyahara used to be an optical clinic, after that it is restored by a pastry business in Taichung. The interior of the building has a very vintage feeling. Besides their brand ice-cream, they sell pineapple pastries, chocolates, tea, cookies and tea snacks as well !
We shopped around this area and tried Chun Shui Tang 春水堂, founder of bubble milk tea. Personally, I feel Taiwan bubble milk tea has a different taste as compared to what we have here, like it is less sweet and has a more “milky” taste.
We headed towards Gao mei wetland before sunset. Unfortunately, it was raining and we did not get to see the sunset :(
In order to get to Gaomei wetland, you need to take bus 178 from 清水火车站. We took cab back and forth at 300 TWD (~15 sgd) per trip because we missed both of our bus LOL ! You may find the bus schedule here.
Day 8 : Tainan 台南
Chihkan Tower 赤坎楼
Chimei Museum 奇美博物馆
Hua Yuan Night Market 花园夜市
After having breakfast, we took the High Speed Railway 高铁 to Tainan. The whole journey was about 40 mins.
We checked into our airbnb place and rested for awhile. We walked to the Chihkan tower which is very near to our staying place. Chihkan tower, also known as Fort Provintia, was a Dutch outpost on Formosa, built in 1653 during the Dutch colonization of Taiwan.
We strolled around the area for 40 minutes and went to have our lunch nearby. After that, we went to the Chimei Museum. It is a private museum established by the Chi Mei Corporation in Rende District The museum’s collection includes western art, musical instruments, natural history, arms and armor, antiquities and artifacts.
The infrastructure of the museum make you feel like you are in Europe but not Taiwan. I would suggest you to spend at least half a day here, to admire this beautiful museum and the garden besides it ! If you are going to Tainan, this museum is a MUST visit.
We met up with my cousins who are studying in Tainan, at the Huayuan night market. This night market is relatively small and more organized, feels more like pasar malam in SG or MY.
DAY 9 : Tainan 台南
Sicao Green Tunnel 四草隧道
Anping Fort 安平古堡
We wanted to take bus 99 to Sicao tunnel, however the waiting interval is too long, hence we cab there instead.
Sicao green tunnel was once a salt canal, used to transport salt products from the drying field to the storage back in the days. The tunnel is formed by the mangrove tree naturally ! The boat ride last around 20 mins, remember to take the straw-hat provided by them.
We took cab to Anping fort, because we missed the bus again HAHAHA ! The cab driver became our part-time tour guide, he even told us to alight at Anping treehouse 安平树屋 first then walk to the fort afterwards.
Anping treehouse used to be a warehouse and was abandoned, after that it slowly swallowed by a large banyan tree. There are “skywalk” built around the treehouse, where you can have the bird-eye view of this place.
After spending 40 minutes there, we headed to Anping fort next. This fort was built by Dutch in 1624, functioned as the administrative center and the hub of trading. There is an observation tower, exhibition hall and a 70-meter long stretches of walls of the original fort.
We spent around 1 hour there, and then we went on to the old street to have our lunch. Make sure you try the soya beancurd 豆花 here, it is very delicious !! We took cab back to our airbnb, and headed to Kaohsiung via HSR 高铁.
For Taichung and Tainan, some of the bus intervals might take around 30 mins to 1 hour. Hence, we took cab quite often and the price is very reasonable (it will be better if you have 4 pax to share the cost).
The cab drivers here are very kind and hospitable :)
DAY 9.5 : Kaohsiung 高雄
Our airbnb place is literally a stone’s throw away from the famous Liuhe night market. We spent our night eating street food and drinking bubble tea !! This night market is more spacious and easier to walk around, we finished walking the whole area in less than 2 hours.
The night is still young, so we decided to head to Love river 爱河. However, I actually bookmarked the wrong place. We went to 爱河之心 instead and it started to rain. So, we headed back earlier HAHAHA.
If you want to go to 爱河 to take the boat, it should be here (quite near to Liuhe night market).
DAY 10 : 高雄
Fo Guang Shan 佛光山
E-da Outlet Mall 义大世界购物广场
We went off to Foguang shan after having our breakfast at the 美而美 (our airbnb provides BF for FREE). To get there, you need to take bus (哈佛快线) from bus platform 2 of Zuoying HSR station.
美而美 is Taiwanese local food chain, which is famous for their breakfast !
the bus platform is located at exit 2 from HSR station, not from the MRT station. There will be taxi uncles over there telling you to take their cab instead, claiming the bus will take much longer, DO NOT TRUST THEM. The whole ride is about ~30 mins only.
The whole Buddha museum covers more than 100 hectares. There are a few exhibitions in the museum and you can watch a short 4D movie here as well. There is an huge, 108 meters high seated Buddha behind the memorial hall !
We had our lunch there and it started to rain quite heavily. Luckily they provide umbrella here for the tourists. Due to the rain, we decided to skip the Lotus Lake (Dragon Tiger Pagoda) and headed to E-da outlet mall instead.
You can take bus to E-da from Fo guang shan, it is around 20 minutes ride.
E-da outlet mall is pretty huge, packed with a lot of brands that we never heard of. There is a themepark and hotel here as well ! We shopped for around 2 hours and took bus back to Kaohsiung. Personally, I think you can give this mall a miss, the stuff here are not really cheaper as compared to other shopping malls/places in Taiwan.
Day 11 : Pier 2 Art District 驳二艺术区
The pier 2 art district is a hub of outdoor and indoor art warehouses and museums. This place is full of modern art sculptures, statues and decorated buildings. We spent half a day exploring this area. I suggest you to rent a bicycle because this whole place is actually quite big, it will be better to cycle around !
After having lunch, we headed back to our airbnb, to pack up and ready to head to Kenting ! Our driver came on-time and we had the whole van to ourselves. HOWEVER, this driver drove like he was in a race or something, I dare not to take a nap through out the whole ride. We reached Kenting 30 minutes faster (I AM GLAD THAT WE ARE STILL IN ONE PIECE!).
From Kaohsiung to Kenting, the price is fix at 350 TWD/pax (~17 SGD)
Day 11.5 : Kenting 垦丁
We didn’t waste much time and headed to the beach straight !! (which is 5 minutes walk from where we stay). Unfortunately it started to rain after awhile and we had to run back to our hotel.
We went to the night market after it stopped raining. This night market is literally just beside the main road, with cars and buses zooming pass. Please be careful while walking around.
Day 12 : Kenting 垦丁
We decided to join the tour instead of renting motorbike due to the weather forecast.
Renting motorbike : 600~700 TWD per day (~30–35 SGD)
1 day tour: 650 TWD/pax (~32 SGD)
Sail Rock 船帆石
Eluanbi Park 鹅銮鼻
Taiwan Southernmost Point 最南点
Lungpan Park 龙磐
Houbihu Fishing Port 后壁湖
Hengchuen 恒春老街
White Sand Beach白砂湾
Maubitou 猫鼻头
Mt.Guan 关山
This tour basically covers all the “must-go” spots in Kenting and the time allocated for each spot is just nice (in my opinion). The beaches here are really beautiful, clean and has the turquoise blue sea water. Some of the beaches offers water activities, scuba diving and snorkeling.
Highlight of the day was our lunch at Houbihu, we went to 阿兴生鱼片. 15 slices of salmon sashimi only cost 150 TWD (~7 sgd) !!
Make sure you try the 绿豆饌 when you are at Hengchun, it tastes like chendol with a lot of other ingredients inside, very delicious !!
Unfortunately, the weather had been gloomy that day and we didn’t get to see the sunset at Mt. Guan 关山.
We went to the night market again to settle our dinner, because the restaurants here are slightly overpriced and are mainly selling other countries’ cuisines.
The wind here can get quite strong, be careful if you are wearing cap/hat.
Day 13 : Taipei 台北
We decided to head back to Taipei early in the morning for last round of shopping ! The whole journey from Kenting to Taipei was around 4 hours, 2 hours car ride and 2 hours high speed rail.
We went shopping at the Xinyi district, 信义商圈, a shopping area around Taipei 101. We were on a mission to spend all our remaining TWD !
Last day : Taipei 台北
So our last day agenda was shopping ! We store our luggage at the Taipei Main Station, follow this guide (it is cheaper than putting in the lockers).
We went to Dongqu shopping district 东区商圈 and Ximending 西门町. So, we did spent almost all of our remaining TWD. 出国观光，把钱花光，为国争光.
We collected our bag and took MRT from Taipei main station to Taoyuan Airport.
We will definitely come back to Taiwan in the future, maybe during autumn or spring period (it was too hot during summer time). 再会啦，台湾 !
Getting around in Taiwan:
For Taipei and Kaohsiung, they have MRT service and it is very easy to navigate around. For Tainan and Taichung, you must do your homework and really know which bus you are taking and how long is the waiting interval. Most of the buses will display or announce the next stop in Chinese, English and some of their dialects. Taxi are pretty common there and they all charge by meter (except for Jiufen area). Buses and MRT fares are relatively cheap as compared to SG.
Get your 悠游卡 (aka ezlink) from any convenience store and/or MRT station.
For mobile application, we only used 台湾公车通 and Google Maps to get around. We bookmarked all the food places that we might want to try on Google Maps, it made things easier when you need to decide on what to eat.
Food and beverage:
Eating in Taiwan’s restaurants is pretty affordable, most of them cost around 200 TWD (~10 SGD) range. In fact, it is more expensive to settle your meal at night market than at the restaurant. The beers’ price here is very cheap, mostly are around 2 SGD only ! All in all, Taiwan’s food is delicious and affordable !
Language:
If your Chinese is good, then you will have no problem travel in Taiwan. They use 繁体 instead of 简体 though, so some of the words might seem foreign to us.
Money:
Most of the stores accept master/visa card, please remember to activate your card’s magnetic stripe before hand. Alternatively, you can also withdraw money from ATM at all the 7–11 and family mart stores across Taiwan (with ATM surcharges and bank currency change charges). For POSB/DBS users, you can head to any DBS ATM in Taiwan to withdraw money with no extra surcharge at all !
It is hard to find money changer there due to the Taiwanese Law. You may change it at the bank, airport or certain departmental stores.
Breakdown of cost:
AirAsia both way tickets = 276.5 sgd / paxWifi egg = 22.5 sgd / paxAccommodation for 13 nights = 300 sgd / paxBus from Taipei to Cingjing farm = 37 sgd / paxHigh speed rail total = 86 sgd / paxRAW fine dining = 254 sgd
Total 722 sgd for accommodation + HSR + wifi egg + bus, I spent 1300 sgd in total for food (including RAW) and shopping (bought two pairs of shoes and a few nba/jordan t-shirts). 2000 sgd for 14 days, totally worth it😉
End
Thanks for spending your time reading this long post ! Feel free to bookmark/share/like it ! You could follow me here and instagram as well, @zoro_lee
** photos are all taken by my girlfriend and I **
