Taipei Taiwan Travel Guide for First Timers

If you plan a ride to Taiwan for the first time, several regions are really worth visiting to maximize your journey. While there is more than one lovely, historical region, the subsequent are my personal favorites for the Taipei journey. Please feel unfastened to apply this as a private Taipei tour manual whilst making plans for your Taipei vacation.

Taiwan Travel Guide

We begin our Taipei tour at Taipei one hundred and one. This is a skyscraper positioned in the Xinyi District. In 2004, it changed into listed as the sector’s tallest construction at 1,671 feet. It held that name for 6 years till the Burj Khalifa in Dubai eclipsed Taipei one hundred and one in 2010. The tower boasts 101 stories and functions an out-of-door statement deck at the 91st ground like the Empire State Building in New York City, where you can see lovely views of the surrounding regions.

The backside of five floors of Taipei a hundred and one feature a luxurious shopping center with upscale shops such as Burberry and Louis Vuitton. On the 88th ground indoor observatory, you may see the 730-ton mass damper, basically a massive ball that acts like a pendulum to counteract the home’s sway for the duration of excessive winds. Without this damper, human beings on excessive floors can suffer from movement illness from the steady swaying of the construction! Taipei 101 is a metropolis icon that is visible for miles across the metropolis. Every New Year’s, Taipei one zero one attracts many site visitors to look at its impressive fireworks display.

If you’re into buying, you can’t cross wrong with Ximending. This is the buying region inside the Wanhua district of Taipei and is considered the fashion capital of Taiwan. On weekends, Ximending streets are closed to visitors and turn into a pedestrian shopping mall. The place is famous with road performers of all kinds and, because it is a hotspot, you may trap celebrities hosting small outdoor concerts, album launches, and different events.

Ximending is also well-known for its “Theater Street,” where several films are concentrated and Street. For history buffs, the most heated within the district is the Red House Theater, which become0, which becomes8 at some stage in Japanese career and remains an operational theater with ordinary performances.

If lovely attractions are what you look ahead to whilst touring, I can’t advise Yangmingshan enough. It is the biggest natural park in Taipei. Yangmingshan is terrific for trekking and has numerous trails that could ultimate an entire day or just more than one hour. Popular trails encompass Seven Stars Peak, so one can take you to the best height in Taipei at 1120 meters (3600 ft) or see the beautiful waterfall of the Juansi Waterfall Trail.

Each February thru March, Yangmingshan is the Yangmingshan Flower Festival web page when several kinds of flowers, including azaleas, camellias, and especially cherry blossoms, reach their peak bloom. Every nighttime of the festival, cherry blossom timber is illuminated for a particularly romantic sight. Visitors can also have lunch and dinner at one of many restaurants along with The Top or Grass Mountain Chateau for amazing vistas of Taipei underneath.

Between the splendor of the cherry blossoms and the views of the town, Yangmingshan is a famous romantic spot for lovers throughout Taipei. From April to May, whilst calla lilies reach complete bloom, you could pick your very own lily plants for just a few bucks at one of the numerous flower farms.

Lastly, don’t pass over out on Yangming Shuwu, also called Yangming Villa, the stunning summer season retreat of the late president Chiang Kai-shek. Yangming Villa house and gardens are maintained as they had been when occupied with the aid of Mr. And Mrs. Chiang. The house is a two-tale traditional Chinese home, with reception rooms and offices on the primary floor and Chiang’s non-public residence on the second floor, wherein their artwork and private pics are still displayed. The gardens are mainly beautiful within the Spring when the flowers are in bloom. As a piece of minutiae, it has been cited that several bushes are planted in bunches of five – to symbolize the “five-big name” rank of General Chiang.

Next, we find ourselves at the National Palace Museum, which opened in 1965. If you love history, this is the location to be! National Palace Museum has a humongous collection of seven hundred,000 everlasting famous Chinese Imperial records and artwork that spans over 2000 years plus prehistoric Chinese artifacts and artwork that dates to the Neolithic technology, or higher referred to as the “Stone Age.”

The maximum popular object in its series is the Jadeite Cabbage. Carved for the duration of the nineteenth century, it is a piece of jadeite that has been formed to resemble a head of Chinese cabbage and has a locust and a grasshopper camouflaged in its leaves. Legend says the sculpture is a metaphor for woman fertility, with the white cabbage stalk representing purity, the green leaves of the cabbage representing fertility, and the bugs representing youngsters.

Another historically extensive landmark on our trek to study the records of Taiwan is the Chiang Kia-Shek Memorial Hall. This is a countrywide monument that was built in honor of former Republic of China President Chiang Kia-Shek. The memorial marks Taipei’s geographic and cultural center, and it is the most visited attraction by foreign vacationers. The pagoda-style memorial hall has a presidential library and museum at the floor level.

The major corridor capabilities a big, seated statue of Chiang Kai-shek, similar to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The memorial hall and Liberty Square plaza encompass 60 acres and include many ponds and lawn areas. The plaza additionally houses Taipei’s overall performance artwork homes, the National Theater, and the National Concert Hall.

My favorite location to visit whilst in Taiwan is an area called Beitou. Beitou is a mountainous district north of Taipei City and is maximumly regarded for its hot springs and its amazing public library. The mineral waters from the numerous herbal geothermal vents in Beitou are well-known for their recovery and healing homes. A complete industry of warm springs bathhouses and hotels have sprung up in Beitou, supplying aroma remedy, massages, and hydrotherapy. There are several locations wherein tourists can soak their feet within the hot springs flow. Be certain to visit the Hot Springs Museum. When it was constructed in 1913, it turned into the most important public bathhouse in Asia. Today, the museum gives a glimpse at its bathhouse centers and Beitou’s records.

Our very last stopping point is Tamsui. Tamsui is placed on the western tip of Taipei, and our favorite vicinity changed into the Fisherman’s Wharf. We discovered that the restaurants that dot the Fisherman’s Wharf boardwalk provide the hottest seafood to be had; it additionally offers breathtaking sunset perspectives. Fisherman’s Wharf nevertheless features a harbor for nearby fishers, and they proudly provide harbor for 150 vessels! Our favorite stroll is throughout the “Lover’s Bridge” pedestrian bridge, named as such as it opened on Valentine’s Day 2003.

Taiwan Travel Guide

Its structure resembles a sailing delivery’s masts. It became approximately a 3-minute walk throughout the bridge, which at sundown is outstanding. Lover’s Bridge is likewise a tremendous region to catch the yearly fireworks show and live performance that the city hosts every 12 months to have fun on Chinese Valentine’s Day (in August and not February 14th). Another way to enjoy Tamsui is to take a ferry from the Tamsui Ferry Pier and disembark on the Fisherman’s Wharf. The ferry is a cheap way to look for excellent views of the Tamsui waterfront. A one-way fare charges the simplest USD 2 and takes most effective approximately 15 minutes.

Amanda R. Dubose

Spent high school summers getting to know dogmas in Minneapolis, MN. Spent several years merchandising walnuts worldwide. My current pet project is researching Slinkies in Jacksonville, FL. Spoke at an international conference about testing the market for action figures in Hanford, CA. Spent the better part of the 90's lecturing about cellos in Orlando, FL. Spent 2001-2007 building sausage in Naples, FL. Tv fanatic. Internetaholic. Travel expert. Incurable zombie nerd. Coffee advocate. Hardcore web trailblazer. Gamer.