How many days in Taipei? Plans for 1–4 days

Taipei is easy to love: safe, efficient, full of temples, tea houses and night markets, with green mountains at the edge of the city and hot springs a metro ride away. Most sights are linked by the MRT, the city's clean and punctual metro, so you see a lot in a short time. The short answer: 2 days for the essentials, 3 days are ideal, and from 4 days a day trip to the old mining town of Jiufen and the sky lanterns of Shifen fits in.

How many days in Taipei? The overview

One thing is worth knowing: from May to September, Taipei is hot, humid and often rainy, and in summer and early autumn typhoons can disrupt plans for a day or two. Leave some flexibility in your plan if you travel then.

One day in Taipei: temples, old streets, a night market

One day is enough for the old west of the city. Start at Longshan Temple in Wanhua, where people come to pray from early morning, and walk through the restored brick lanes of Bopiliao. Ximending, Taipei's young, bustling shopping district, is a few minutes away. In the afternoon, the vast square of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall with its white hall and blue roof; the changing of the guard draws crowds. Then head north to Dihua Street, the old trading street with dried goods, tea and fabric shops, and end the day at the Ningxia night market, known for its food stalls.

This is the first day of our three-day plan, and it works on its own. What does not fit into one day: Taipei 101, the museums and Beitou.

Two days in Taipei: Taipei 101 and Elephant Mountain

The second day goes east. Start at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, a former tobacco factory with design shops and exhibitions, then the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. In the afternoon, Taipei 101, for years the tallest building in the world, with an observatory high above the city. Before sunset, climb the steps of Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan): the classic view of Taipei 101 is from here, at the end of a short but steep climb. In the evening, the Raohe night market, at the gate of the colourful Ciyou Temple.

Tickets for the Taipei 101 observatory and tours around Taipei^* can be booked on Klook.

Three days in Taipei: the ideal length

Three days are right for a first visit. Our ready-made plan divides the city like this:

• Day 1 – the old west: Longshan Temple, Bopiliao, Ximending, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Dihua Street, Ningxia night market.
• Day 2 – the modern east: Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei 101, Elephant Mountain, Raohe night market.
• Day 3 – museum and hot springs: the National Palace Museum, one of the great collections of Chinese art, in the morning; then by MRT to Beitou, with the Hot Spring Museum, the wooden Beitou Library and the steaming Thermal Valley – and a public or hotel hot spring bath; in the evening, the large Shilin night market.

Four days or more: Jiufen, Shifen, Tamsui

From the fourth day, Taipei becomes a base for day trips. The most popular combines Jiufen, an old gold-mining town of lanterns and tea houses on a steep hillside above the sea, with Shifen on the little Pingxi railway, where visitors release sky lanterns over the tracks and a waterfall lies nearby. Both are crowded at weekends; on a weekday, they are far more pleasant. Guided day trips save the changes between train and bus, for example the guided day trips from Taipei^* on KKday.

Closer to the city, Tamsui at the mouth of the river is reached by MRT and known for its riverside promenade and sunsets. Yangmingshan National Park, the volcanic mountains north of the city, has hiking trails, fumaroles and, in spring, flower fields.

Where to stay in Taipei

For a short stay, two areas work best:

• Zhongzheng and Ximending: near Taipei Main Station, the hub for the airport MRT and the high-speed rail, and close to the sights of the west. The most practical area for a first visit.
• Da'an and Xinyi: cafés, restaurants and Taipei 101, a little more modern and upmarket, with several MRT lines.

With an EasyCard, the reloadable transport card, you ride the MRT, buses and many trains, and pay in convenience stores. A travel eSIM for Taiwan^* (Airalo) lets you use maps and the MRT app from the airport; our eSIM price index compares the prices per gigabyte.

Best time to visit Taipei

Averages 2015–2024 from the ERA5 reanalysis (via Open-Meteo), rounded. The values describe a grid cell of about 25 km around the city.

Taipei is at its most pleasant from October to December and in March and April, with 20 to 27 °C by day. From May to September it is hot and humid, up to 33 °C in July, with heavy rain: the plum rains in May and June, afternoon thunderstorms in summer, and typhoons in summer and early autumn, which the Central Weather Administration warns about in advance. January and February are mild by day at around 19 to 20 °C, but often grey and damp.

Taipei compared: how many days for other cities?

In this series we recommend three days for a first visit to Taipei and four to five each for Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo – more in how many days in Hong Kong, how many days in Seoul, how many days in Tokyo, and all cities of the series in the overview how many days in each city.

How YesTrip helps you plan

YesTrip has a ready-made three-day plan for Taipei with times, short walks and a map for each day. With one tap you copy it into the app, then move stops, drop what does not interest you and add your hotel or a day trip to Jiufen. The app shows the weather for your travel days, the packing list suggests rain gear in the wet season, and with the offline package you have the map without a connection. YesTrip is free.

Taipei trip planDay by day, with map and tips

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