Best Things to do in Taiwan: 7-Day Taiwan Itinerary
Taiwan is one of the most underrated countries visited and tourists usually only go to Taipei for a few days before heading to somewhere else nearby. Trust me, it’s a HUGE mistake not to explore the rest of Taiwan and all that it has to offer! This 7 day Taiwan itinerary has got you covered on the best things to do in Taiwan.
IS TAIWAN WORTH GOING TO?
YES, YES AND YES! And I would suggest going sooner rather than later given the building tension between China and Taiwan (we’ve all seen the recent neighbouring wars breaking out across the World out of nowhere!).
WHAT IS TAIWAN IS FAMOUS FOR?
Fun fact: Taiwan is actually famous for electronics where it produces a large percentage of the World’s computer components! Asides from this Taiwan is known to have some of the best food, including beef noodles, and being the inventor of bubble tea!
IS TAIWAN CHEAP FOR TOURISTS?
Absolutely, especially if you’re coming from one of the Western World countries. However, it is not as cheap as South-East Asia although you can still easily get meals under £10 at the night markets.
IS 1 WEEK IN TAIWAN ENOUGH?
We managed to do a whistlestop tour of the west side of Taiwan in 1 week bearing in mind we had a full 7 days because of how our flights worked, and whilst it was a jammed-packed trip it was doable. However, I would personally recommend staying longer if you can! Check out the below 7-day Taiwan itinerary!
7 DAY TAIWAN ITINERARY
Day 1: Taipei
Wherever you are flying in from, you will almost likely be landing into Taipei International Airport. If you’re looking for a great hotel, check out my hotel review of the W Taipei!
Taipei is a great starting point to get a flavour of all the delicious food you’ll taste in Taiwan, but also it has so much to see and do, with plenty of day trip options if you are staying for longer. I have a full guide for Taipei coming soon but for now you can plan your day like this:
Morning: Start your day at Longshan Temple which is Taipei’s most important temple. You can then head to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall on the MTR. The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall is located in Liberty Square, which itself is stunning as each of the 4 sides of the square has an impressive monument located there!
Lunch: There’s really only one place you should be heading to for lunch if you’re short on time in Taipei, and that is Din Tai Fung! If you haven’t heard of Din Tai Fung then be prepared to be blown away by their famous xianlongbaos (and all of their other dishes as well). There are several branches across Taipei and you can see the waiting time at each branch by downloading the app!
Afternoon: Once you’re fuelled up again, visit Taipei 101 tower to get a beautiful view of Tapei. You can either try time it for sunset or instead head to Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain) for sunset.
Dinner: Dinner in Taipei should only be at one of the many night markets! Full guide on Taipei’s night markets coming soon.
For a full list of the best things to do in Taipei check out this post!
Day 2: Jiufen and Shifen
This is an easy day trip from Taipei and can be missed if you rather spend more time exploring the city. However, it is a really beautiful day trip so I would highly recommend it! To get to Jiufen you can either get a public bus from Taipei (bus 965 or 1062), join a group tour (I personally don’t recommend this as I hate group tours and it’s so easy to get to Jiufen yourself), or get an uber (we opted for this as we woke up later than planned and an Uber only cost £25 for the 45 min journey).
Once in Jiufen work your way through the old street and the alleyways surrounding it, where you’ll find some hidden tea houses tucked away! I’d recommend eating lunch here before heading to Shifen as there are more limited options there.
From Jiufen you then get the bus to Ruifang station and jump on a train to Shifen. It’s a really old train which adds to the atmosphere, and once you arrive in Shifen you’ll see that the train runs right through the old street! There’s no surprise here that the main reason people visit Shifen is because of this working train line in the middle of the old street (similar to the one in Hanoi, Vietnam). You can also light one of the sky lanterns (if you do this, try time to get here for sunset/evening) and take a walk to Shifen waterfall. From Shifen you catch the train straight back to Taipei. Make sure to plan your time as the train in once every hour!
Day 3: Beitou
You can use the morning to finish off sight-seeing and if you have time head to the Addiction Aquatic Development for lunch (Taipei’s fish market). It is a bit far out but worth the visit.
After lunch, it’s the perfect time to take a train to Beitou (30 minutes away) to one of the many hot springs there. You can book a private hot spring or embrace the public hot springs (note they are separated by gender and you have to go in fully naked).
Taiwan is famous for its hot springs so a trip here is not complete without visiting at least one!
Day 4: Taichung
Today is the day to leave Taipei and visit the other parts of Taiwan! Hop on a train to Taichung which is 2 hours away on the TRA or you can get the 1 hour train on the HSR (more expensive). Once you arrive in Taichung, you can spend the rest of your day exploring its many sights.
Start on a spiritual journey by venturing to the Taichung Confucius Temple, followed by the Paochueh Temple to see the giant golden Buddha which is only a 10 minute walk away. From here hop on a bus (bus #201) to stop off for an ice-cream snack at Miyahara and bubble tea at the original bubble tea store and inventor, Chun Shui Tang, before resuming your journey around Taichung!
After you’ve eaten you will need to take a bus to Shen Ji New Village (bus #51, 71 or 75) where you can explore this cultural creative marketplace for young entrepreneurs (it was once a dormitory built by the Taiwan Provincial Government). There are many boutique stores and coffee shops to browse through so you can easily finish the day here or if you’re not too tired you can go to Rainbow Village (by bus #56 or 72) and see the colourful 11 painted houses that remain there.
Day 5: Sun Moon Lake
Taichung is the perfect base to go to Sun Moon Lake and it’s an easy day trip from here. You can get the sun moon lake shuttle bus #6670 from Taichung station (there are also other stops but by the time they get there the bus is full). It costs NTD 360pp return.
You definitely should rent a bicycle when you get to the lake. There are some easy and very scenic cycle paths, and there’s a slightly harder cycle path to the temple. Alternatively you can get a bus to the temple! If you want to, you can also get the ferry across to the other side of the lake where there is a cable ride to an amusement park. Personally it’s not worth the expensive ferry ride across the lake unless you’re going to go to the amusement park, which itself seems overrated. Rather, it’s better to enjoy the pier and walkways.
Once you’re done you can grab the bus #6670 back to Taichung, but make sure to time it right as it operates every 30 minutes, and towards late afternoon there will be a big queue.
Day 6: Tainan
Tainan is further south of Taiwan, you can get the 2hr TRA train from Taichung. It’s quite a small town and all the sights are centrally located, an easy walk from any of the hotels.
The main sites to visit are the Tainan old street, Anping Tree House, East Dacheng Gate, and Anping Old Fort. Tainan old street is also where you’ll find a lot of street food and bubble tea places!
In the evening, head over to the coastline to watch sunset, you can cycle here or take a cab.
Day 7: Kaohsiung
If you have time, and depending on your flight out, the train to Kaohsiung is only 35mins from Tainan. It’s worth going to Kaohsiung because they have this incredible buddha statute to see at the Fo Guang Sha Buddha Memorial Centre.
You can fly from Kaohsiung airport internationally to places like Hong Kong rather than going back to Taipei. Otherwise you can get the HSR train back to Taipei (2.5 hours) instead of the TRA train (nearly 5 hours) to save time.
6 responses to “Best Things to do in Taiwan: 7-Day Taiwan Itinerary”
Definitely have to agree with this itinerary cos it’s like 90% similar to what I did when I was in Taiwan!! 😂😂 I was SOOOO enamoured by Tainan… which of these places in Taiwan was your favourite?
Taiwan truly looks so intriguing! Definitely adding it to my bucket list. 🙂
I’ve always wanted to go to Taiwan!! Thank you for this post! I am going to refer back to it when I travel here! – I love the day-by-day breakdown!
I’ve only been in Taipei on a layover, so I have not had the chance to explore the exciting activities you mentioned in your blog post. Your itinerary is so well rounded with outdoor activities, cultural sites, and time to relax at a spa!
You made me want to go visit!
Wow, I’ve never considered a trip to Taiwan, but it looks so beautiful and such an interesting place to explore! I’d love to visit Jiufen and Taichung. What an action-packed trip! Thanks for sharing it!