Longshan Temple
Wanhua · 60 min
Open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and free; the 8 a.m. chanting fills the courtyard with worshippers rather than tour groups, which arrive after lunch. MRT Longshan Temple exit 1, two minutes.
Taipei · Taiwan · 3 days
3 days in Taipei
Three days by MRT line: the old west end and the tower, the museum, the hot springs and the river mouth on the red line, then a dawn climb, two converted factories and the bus to Jiufen for the lanterns. One EasyCard, no tipping, a 7-Eleven on every corner.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
- 3 days
- 21 stops
- 4 with a ticket
- from NT$1,500 a day
When to go
October to December is the best of it: 59 to 81°F (15 to 27°C), dry, clear enough for the view from Taipei 101. March and April are mild and green. May and June are the plum rains, gray and wet for days at a time. July to September is 86°F (30°C) plus with heavy humidity and typhoon season; a typhoon day shuts the museums, the observatory and the Jiufen buses. January and February are 55 to 68°F (13 to 20°C) and often drizzly, with the Dihua Street New Year market the compensation.
Where to base yourself
Zhongshan or Taipei Main Station for the airport MRT and every line; Dongmen and Yongkang Street for the food; Ximending for late nights and the cheapest rooms; Xinyi for Taipei 101 and the malls. Everything in this plan is within 30 minutes of any of them.
Getting around
Buy an EasyCard (NT$100 for the card) at any MRT station or 7-Eleven and top it up in cash; it works on the MRT (NT$20 to NT$65 a ride), buses (NT$15, tap on and off), YouBike, the Jiufen buses, convenience stores and the Tamsui ferry. Switching between MRT and bus within an hour takes NT$8 off. YouBike 2.0 is free for the first 30 minutes inside Taipei City with a registered card and NT$10 a half hour after; since January 2026 every rider registers for the free insurance before the first ride. Google Maps routes transit well here. Taxis are metered and cheap for three or four people.
Day 1
The old west end, the memorial and the tower
- FromYour hotel in Dongmen and Yongkang Street
- 1
- 4 min · walk
- 2
Bopiliao Historic Block
Wanhua · 45 min
Five hundred meters north on Kangding Road: a row of Qing and Japanese-era shophouses with small free exhibitions. Open Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- 2.5 km · transit or taxi
- 3
Dihua Street
Dadaocheng · 90 min
Ten minutes north by YouBike, or MRT via Ximen to Beimen. Dried goods, tea and Chinese medicine shops in restored merchant houses, the Xiahai City God Temple for the matchmaking god, and Yongle Market upstairs for fabric.
- 3.5 km · transit or taxi
- 4
Yongkang Street: Din Tai Fung Xinsheng
Dongmen · 90 min
MRT Dongmen exit 5: the original at 277 Xinyi Road is takeout only, so sit at the four-floor Xinsheng branch across the street, where waits pass an hour from 11:30 a.m. Put your name down, walk Yongkang Street, and order the pork xiaolongbao and the fried rice.
NT$700
- 20 min · walk
- 5
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Zhongzheng · 75 min
A 15-minute walk or one red-line stop. The hall is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and free; the honor guard changes outdoors on the hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., so be at the rope by 2:50 p.m. for the 3 p.m., unless heavy rain cancels it.
- 4.5 km · transit or taxi
- 6
Taipei 101 at dusk
Xinyi · 150 min
Four red-line stops to Taipei 101/World Trade Center. The observatory is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., so buy a timed ticket online for an hour before sunset (5:05 p.m. in November, 6:45 p.m. in July) and get daylight, dusk and the lights; skip the NT$380 outdoor deck in cloud.
NT$600
- 2.3 km · transit or taxi
- 7
Raohe Street Night Market
Songshan · 90 min
MRT Songshan exit 5, about 30 minutes via Daan and Nanjing Fuxing. Start at the Ciyou Temple end with a Fuzhou pepper bun (NT$60), then pork rib herb soup, stinky tofu and oyster vermicelli; open 5 p.m. to about 11 p.m. and quietest before 7.
Day 2
The red line north: museum, hot springs, the river mouth
- FromYour hotel in Dongmen and Yongkang Street
- 1
National Palace Museum
Shilin · 150 min
Take MRT Shilin exit 1, then bus R30, 255, 304 or 815 for 15 minutes. Open Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; start on the third floor for the bronzes and jades, and the Jadeite Cabbage has its own room (the museum posts the dates it is away).
NT$350
- 6.0 km · transit or taxi
- 2
Man Lai Hot Spring Ramen, Beitou
Beitou · 60 min
Take the bus back to Shilin, then the red line to Beitou and the two-stop branch to Xinbeitou, about 40 minutes. The ramen shop by the park is the local lunch: pork bone broth with the extra egg, and a noon line that moves.
- 7 min · walk
- 3
Thermal Valley and the Hot Spring Museum
Beitou · 75 min
Walk up the park past the library. The valley steams at around 194°F (90°C) and is free, Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (6 p.m. from mid-May to mid-September); the Japanese-era bathhouse museum below is free, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Next door
- 4
A soak: Millennium Hot Spring or a private room
Beitou · 75 min
The public outdoor bath costs around NT$60 a session, needs a swimsuit and a cap, and runs in two-and-a-half-hour sessions; it was closed for renovation into summer 2026, so check it has reopened. Otherwise the hotels on Guangming Road rent private rooms by the hour with no swimwear rules.
- 7.4 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Tamsui at sunset
Tamsui · 120 min
Take the red line to the end, 25 minutes. Walk the riverside Old Street with an a-gei (tofu stuffed with noodles) and a bag of iron eggs, then the ferry (NT$60, EasyCard) or bus R26 to Fisherman's Wharf for the sunset behind Lover's Bridge; Fort San Domingo (NT$80) closes at 5 p.m. on weekdays.
- 12 km · transit or taxi
- 6
Shilin Night Market
Shilin · 90 min
Take the red line back to Jiantan, exit 1, not Shilin station. Order the oyster omelet the market is known for, the pan-fried pork buns and a fried chicken cutlet the size of your face; stalls run from about 5 p.m. to midnight.
Day 3
A dawn climb, two factories, a beef noodle, then Jiufen
- FromYour hotel in Dongmen and Yongkang Street
- 1
Elephant Mountain at dawn
Xinyi · 90 min
The MRT starts at 6 a.m., so take a taxi to the trailhead behind Xiangshan station exit 2 and start 30 minutes before sunrise (about 5:30 a.m. in June, 6:20 a.m. in December). Twenty minutes of steps lead to the Six Giant Rocks platform and Taipei 101; it is free, lit and empty at this hour.
- 5.0 km · transit or taxi
- 2
Fu Hang Soy Milk
Zhongzheng · 60 min
Take the red line to Dongmen and one orange stop to Zhongxiao Xinsheng; the shop is on the second floor of Huashan Market. Expect a line for hot sweet soy milk and a thick shaobing wrapped around a youtiao; it sells out around midday and closes Mondays.
- 7 min · walk
- 3
Huashan 1914 Creative Park
Zhongzheng · 60 min
A former winery two minutes from the market. The grounds are open around the clock, but the galleries, design shops and cafes open from about 11 a.m., so this early it is a walk through the buildings and lawns.
- 3.2 km · transit or taxi
- 4
Songshan Cultural and Creative Park
Xinyi · 90 min
Three blue-line stops to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall exit 5 and a short walk. The 1937 tobacco factory holds the Taiwan Design Museum (10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Mondays) and the Not Just Library in the old bathhouse (NT$100); Eslite Spectrum next door opens at 11 a.m.
- 1.8 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Lin Dong Fang Beef Noodle
Da'an · 60 min
Two stops back to Zhongxiao Fuxing, on Bade Road. Braised beef noodles in a clear, peppery broth: ask for the half-tendon bowl and add a spoon of the spicy beef fat from the pot on the table; the line at 12:30 p.m. is about 15 minutes.
- 3.7 km · transit or taxi
- 6
Ximending
Ximending · 75 min
Blue line to Ximen. The pedestrian grid of movie theaters, sneaker shops and street performers, Ay-Chung's standing-only flour-rice noodles, and the 1908 Red House market (Tuesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.) with bars behind it.
- 35 km · transit or taxi
- 7
Bus 965 to Jiufen
Beimen · 105 min
Board at Beimen station exit 2, ten minutes' walk from Ximen; NT$90 with EasyCard, 60 to 90 minutes, every 30 to 60 minutes. The 1062 from Zhongxiao Fuxing exit 2 (NT$105) runs more often; get off at Jiufen Old Street and walk up.
NT$90
- Next door
- 8
Jiufen
Jiufen · 165 min
The hill town of stepped lanes and red lanterns. Arriving late trades the tour-bus crowds for lanterns that light at dusk; eat taro balls at Grandma Lai's and fish ball soup on Jishan Street, and catch the last bus (around 9 p.m. for the 965, 9:35 p.m. for the 1062).
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The practical bits
From the airport
From Taoyuan (TPE), the Airport MRT express reaches Taipei Main Station in 35 minutes from Terminal 1 and 39 from Terminal 2 for NT$160, every 15 minutes from about 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.; pay with an EasyCard bought at the station. Taipei Main Station offers in-town check-in for some airlines on the way back. From Songshan (TSA), the brown line is 15 minutes to the center.
What a day costs
About NT$1,500 to NT$2,500 a day per person. Night market dinners are NT$200 to NT$400, a beef noodle a few hundred, Din Tai Fung around NT$700 a head; the museum is NT$350, Taipei 101 NT$600, and a day of MRT and buses rarely passes NT$150.
Where to stay
Got a day to spare?
Worth knowing
- Buy the EasyCard at the airport MRT station before the train, and top it up at any 7-Eleven. Eating or drinking on MRT platforms and trains is fined.
- Mondays close the National Palace Museum, Bopiliao, Thermal Valley, the Hot Spring Museum, the Red House and the Songshan factory. Run days 1 and 2 Tuesday to Sunday; if one of your days is a Monday, give it to Jiufen, which is quietest then.
- 7-Elevens do a lot here: ATMs that take foreign cards, EasyCard top-ups, ibon kiosks for high-speed rail and concert tickets, parcel pickup and hot food at 3 a.m. FamilyMart does the same.
- No tipping anywhere: not taxis, not night markets, not restaurants. Sit-down restaurants add a 10 percent service charge to the bill and that is the end of it.
- Typhoon season is July to September. On a typhoon day the museums, the Taipei 101 observatory and the Jiufen buses stop and the MRT may run a reduced schedule, so keep a spare indoor plan; Waystop's rain plan gives you one to switch to.
Things you can ask once it’s in the app
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Move Jiufen to the morning on day 3 and tell me which busIs the National Palace Museum open on the Monday we're there?Find a hot spring in Beitou with private rooms for twoHow do we get from Tamsui to Shilin Night Market?Swap the Elephant Mountain dawn for a sunset and shift the rest
Questions
Is three days enough for Taipei?
Yes, with Jiufen folded in. A fourth day adds Shifen and its waterfall, with Jiufen done properly in the morning; a fifth, Yangmingshan or Taichung on the high-speed rail.
Which day works in the rain?
Day 2: the National Palace Museum takes a wet morning and a hot spring room in Beitou is better in the rain. Skip the Tamsui sunset and eat at Shilin's underground food court; Waystop can keep day 2 as it is and add a rain version beside it.
Do I need cash?
Some. Night markets, small noodle shops and the Jiufen stalls are cash; the EasyCard pays at convenience stores and on every bus and train. 7-Eleven ATMs take foreign cards; draw NT$3,000 at a time.
Is the original Din Tai Fung worth the line?
The original on Xinyi Road is takeout only now; the Xinsheng branch across the street is the one with the four floors and the hour-long wait. The mall branches (Taipei 101, Breeze) serve the same dumplings with shorter lines. Check the live waits before you choose.
Before you go
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Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.