36 Hours
36 Hours in Taipei, Taiwan
Taipei, Taiwan
Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, is a literal urban jungle — ferns and large elephant ear plants sprout through the crevices of roofs and sidewalks with wild abandon. Hiking trails abound on all sides of this glittering metropolis and tech hub. Taipei is experiencing a quiet renaissance even amid regional tensions. Young artists, chefs and curators are redefining and embracing Taiwanese identity as its own distinct category, with a conscientious pursuit of food and design endemic to the island’s history. With low crime and brightly lit convenience stores everywhere, the city is safe to meander at all hours. A word of advice: Sleep in. With the exception of breakfast shops and wet markets where locals go for their early grocery runs, many stores and coffee shops don’t open until well after 11 a.m.
Recommendations
Key stops
- Chifeng Street is a fashion-forward shopping street flush with vintage clothing stores and cute coffee shops.
- Dadaocheng is Taipei’s oldest neighborhood and a picturesque place to load up on textiles, dried goods and bamboo crafts.
- Yangmingshan National Park is a grassy mountain range, home to wild hot springs and volcanic peaks.
Restaurants and bars
- Nkụ is a fine-dining restaurant that serves locally sourced cuisine with a Scandinavian flair.
- Sinchao Rice Shoppe offers a rich and indulgent take on fried rice in an Art Deco-inspired space.
- Hermit’s Hut is a peaceful refuge where novices can master the art of meditative tea brewing and sample Taiwan’s wide range of oolong teas.
- Chao serves vegan stir-fries that pair well with ice-cold beer.
- Fridge Bar is a discreet bar behind a sandwich shop where the bartenders skillfully craft cocktails infused with local fruits and flowers.
- Placebo is a quirky cocktail bar with decor reminiscent of an old Chinese apothecary.
- Lao-A-Bei is renowned for its assortment of traditional seafood soups.
Shopping and markets
- Maji Treats is a store with a wide selection of household tools and artisanal food products.
- Travis Vintage and Used Clothing is a haven for vintage fashion enthusiasts. Among its notable finds: 1960s Taiwanese bomber jackets.
- Ningxia Night Market has a vibrant cluster of open-air food stalls.
- Lin Feng Yi has been selling beautifully woven bamboo baskets for over a century.
- InBlooom Together creates contemporary textiles inspired by a wide range of Taiwanese motifs.
Attractions and outdoor activities
- Qixing Mountain is a dormant volcano and the tallest mountain in Taipei.
- Songshan Cultural and Creative Park is a tobacco-factory-turned-creative hub, with rotating art exhibitions focused on local design.
- Xia Hai City God Temple has statues of more than 600 deities and draws young singles seeking blessings from the god of love.
- National Center of Photography and Images showcases the talents of contemporary photographers in an old Japanese colonial-era building.
Getting around
Where to stay
- Villa 32, perched on Taipei’s far northern outskirts, is a luxurious resort with therapeutic geothermal baths and lush greenery. It’s a 30-minute drive from the city center. Five suites have hot spring waters piped directly into the rooms. Double rooms start from about 19,400 New Taiwan dollars, or $633.
- Kimpton Da’an is a stylish and centrally located boutique hotel on a hushed residential street right next to a metro stop. It has one of the best Western-style breakfast options in town, and is within easy walking distance to many major attractions. Doubles start from about 8,500 Taiwan dollars.
- For something a bit more quirky, Originn Space in Dadaocheng is a very small inn in a century-old faux baroque-style mansion with vintage furniture. There are only four rooms, starting from 2,880 Taiwan dollars.
- Star Hostel Taipei Main Station is a comfy, central hostel that suits both families and solo travelers. There’s a well-equipped shared kitchen and ample amounts of lounge space. Shared rooms start from 680 Taiwan dollars per person and private rooms start from 2,150 Taiwan dollars.
Itinerary
Friday
5 p.m.
Dig for vintage gems
Once a hub for scrap metal parts and auto repair shops, Chifeng Street is now one of the city’s edgiest shopping streets. Maji Treats, on the fourth floor of the Eslite Spectrum building, has artisanal food products, including jams, sauces, noodles and vinegars, as well as items unique to the island, like baskets woven from shell ginger leaves. Back on street level, decompress at the retro and intimate Coffee Dumbo, which specializes in pour-over coffee and cinnamon buns, and is consistently packed with stylish patrons. (Coffee culture is taken extremely seriously in Taipei.) Finally, weave through the many second-hand clothing shops, like Travis Vintage and Used Clothing, which has a rare collection of 1960s Taiwanese bomber jackets (it usually opens at 6 p.m. on Fridays, but hours can be erratic; message their Facebook page ahead of time to check).
6:30 p.m.
Have a quick bite at the night market
A short stroll away is the buzzing Ningxia Night Market, a collection of tightly packed open-air food stalls. Because of gentrification and noise complaints, most night markets nowadays aren’t nearly as robust as they used to be decades ago. Ningxia is a distinguished exception; many of the businesses are owned by second-generation proprietors and unlike most other Taiwanese night markets, which also have clothing shops and arcade games like claw machines, Ningxia only does food, and does it very well. Snack lightly, since dinner is the next activity: Try a deep-fried taro ball stuffed with salted duck egg yolk (30 Taiwan dollars) and freshly squeezed sugarcane juice (30 Taiwan dollars).
7:30 p.m.
Indulge in upscale Taiwanese cuisine
The pace of Taiwanese fine dining is being set by classically trained chefs embracing the subtropical abundance of the island. An example of this is at nkụ, a hushed, intimate restaurant with an open kitchen helmed by the German-born Taiwanese chef Li-Han Lin, whose cooking style is influenced by his time working in Copenhagen kitchens. The tasting menu (2,900 Taiwan dollars) is heavily seasonal: On a given day, you might encounter a potato-based cream flavored with blended milkfish (a popular fish in Taiwan that’s usually pan-fried), piped onto a thin, sourdough cracker; or a creamy “risotto” made with lotus seeds instead of rice. For dessert: a tart guava ice cream accented with an indigenous Taiwanese lemon-tasting pepper called maqaw.
Because of gentrification and noise complaints, many of Taipei’s night markets aren’t as robust as they were decades ago. Ningxia Night Market is a distinguished exception, and many of the food stalls here are owned by second-generation proprietors.
Saturday
Qixing Mountain trail
9 a.m.
Traverse volcanic hills
Because the city is in a basin surrounded by hills on all sides, there is an abundance of hiking trails just a short train ride away. Plan a trip to Qixing Mountain to scale Taipei’s highest peak. Located on the northern rim of the city in Yangmingshan National Park, the mountain is flush with geothermal activity and offers an easy-to-moderate hike. From Jiantan station, the No. 1717 bus will take you to the Xiaoyoukeng trailhead, where sulfuric vents spew out constant bursts of steam. The well-paved trail is just over 2.5 miles and should take less than two hours at a leisurely pace before you reach the peak to enjoy the view of the city below. Descend toward the visitor center at Lengshuikeng for a free hot spring foot bath before hopping on the S15 bus back towards the city.
Qixing Mountain trail
1:30 pm
Eat a plate of not-so-humble fried rice
For a restaurant to stand out in Xinyi District — Taipei’s affluent financial neighborhood — a touch of luxury really helps. Sinchao Rice Shoppe is a master of this; it has taken a humble plate of fried rice and packed it with decadence. On the menu, for instance: a pink rice mixed with mullet roe and topped with a medium-rare scallop (520 Taiwan dollars). There is also a buttery ribeye steak, cut and fanned over a humble plate of egg fried rice (1,200 Taiwan dollars). The restaurant’s Art Deco-inspired interior, with earth-toned banquettes and velvety blue-green seat cushions, invites you to linger, as does its fantastic cocktail program (try the Scotch whisky with papaya, cinnamon, lime and soy milk).
3 p.m.
Unwind with a slow tea session
Taiwan has been commercially growing and producing tea since the 19th century. Recently, a surge of new-wave teahouses have opened, where single-origin, loose-leaf teas are doled out “gongfu-style,” referring to a traditional style of brewing tea with small brewing vessels and with petite tea cups. Specializing in Taiwanese oolongs (a semi-oxidized tea), Hermit’s Hut is a meditative experience and one of the more accessible places to partake in this elegant tea ceremony. Each tea here is carefully labeled with its tasting notes (buttery, fruity, orchid-like, milky). It arrives with detailed directions — in Chinese or English — on how to achieve the perfect brew, and with a teapot or a brewing cup (depending on what tea you choose), hot water, a timer and serving cups. The staff is on hand to guide newcomers through each step. Teas range from 450 to 850 Taiwan dollars.
4 p.m.
Find local design and indie cinema in a converted factory
Right next door is Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, an old tobacco factory turned exhibition and retail space right next to a vast courtyard, offering a serene space in a city where quiet pedestrian areas are hard to come by. Inside the old factory are cute souvenir shops selling postcards and Taiwan-themed bucket hats. There are also pop-up exhibitions celebrating local design, like fashion or typography. Within the cultural park is the Eslite Art House, a cinema with a rotating roster of both old and new independent movies (310 Taiwan dollars) — a handful of which are subtitled in both English and Chinese. While Taiwan’s contemporary indie movie scene isn’t as strong as it used to be in the ’80s, you might get lucky and stumble across a sleeper hit.
7 p.m.
Relax with vegan stir-fries and cold beer (in tiny glasses)
To decompress after work, many people go to rechao restaurants — hot, noisy and affordable dinner-only eateries with large, flaming woks frying typically greasy food. Here, cold beer is doled out in shot glasses. For a particularly special take, try Chao, a vegan rechao spot. It does a version of sweet and sour fish with multi-colored bell peppers (290 Taiwan dollars), and a sliced pork dressed with garlic sauce (330 Taiwan dollars) — but instead of actual fish and pork, protein is made with either soy or mushroom products. Because of its strong Buddhist and Taoist influences, Taiwan has long had a robust vegetarian scene and faux meat is a recurring staple. At Chao, it’s not uncommon to see a table of nuns dining alongside a large group of businessmen letting off steam with a round of chilled lagers.
9 p.m.
Go through the sandwich shop for creative cocktails
It is said that Taiwan’s cocktail culture goes back to the 1950s, when a string of Western-style bars were erected near ship ports to serve U.S. sailors and marines visiting the island for supply stops during the Vietnam and Korean Wars. A lot has changed since then, and today, the best cocktail bars are instead concentrated in Taipei’s financial district. These bars embrace the flavors of locally abundant flowers and fruits like roselle, guava and white ginger lily, which they infuse in syrups and liquors. For a sleek lounge experience, try Fridge Bar (cocktails from 380 Taiwan dollars), a cocktail lounge hidden behind a steel door in a sandwich shop. For a bit more novelty, consider Placebo, whose decor is reminiscent of an old Chinese medicine shop and where drinks (around 400 Taiwan dollars) may be served out of antique-looking teapots. Both bars encourage going off-menu; feel free to request a flavor profile (sour, sweet, herbaceous, spicy) or a quirky ingredient (basil, sesame oil, chile pepper) and let the bartender surprise you.
Trees form a thick canopy above a street in the Minsheng Community. Nearby is the Songshan Cultural Park, an old tobacco factory turned exhibition and retail space.
Sunday
Lao-A-Bei
10 a.m.
Savor seafood soup in an old trading port
While modern Taiwanese breakfast is synonymous with rolled-up egg pancakes and sesame-dotted flatbreads, seafood soup is the more traditional start to the day. At Lao-A-Bei in Dadaocheng, bite-size squid pieces are coated in fish paste and then poached; they’re then plopped in a savory broth with thin rice noodles (90 Taiwan dollars). Add sides like smoked pig’s ears and boiled seasonal vegetables. After breakfast, explore the neighborhood, which used to be a significant trading port in the 19th century, and was long a hub for textiles, dried goods and tea. Dihua Street — Taipei’s oldest street — has vendors in faux baroque-style buildings (a popular style during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan) selling all of the above. Lin Feng Yi, open since 1906, sells woven bamboo and rattan baskets. For something a bit more modern, InBlooom Together makes dazzling fabric prints with motifs inspired by the nature, architecture and the food of Taiwan.
Lao-A-Bei
12 p.m.
Pray to the god of love
The island’s ornate temples (which fuse traditions from Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism) are home to a hodgepodge of eclectic folk deities, each one with a unique history and function. Xia Hai City God Temple has a remarkably high density of gods in one building, managing to cram more than 600 statues of deities in just over 1,600 square feet. One in particular stands out: the Love God — in the form of a 17-inch-tall statue — who is known for his matchmaking skills. It’s not uncommon to see throngs of young people (or overly concerned parents) lighting incense (you can buy some from 50 Taiwan dollars) in a bid for true and everlasting love. There are multilingual volunteers who can guide visitors through the temple for a small donation.
1 p.m.
See Taiwanese life through an artistic lens
Tucked away inside an embellished building from 1937 with a curved Japanese-style roof, the National Center of Photography and Images is a quaint and free museum that manages to pack a lot in a small space (it only takes about an hour to roam through). Exhibits are refreshed every three months and often feature the work of local photographers who are particularly skilled at recasting the mundanity of daily life. Photo series range from portraits of families posing with antique water pumps, to depictions of elaborate city temples, and previously unseen black-and-white photographs of couples from the time when Taiwan was a Japanese colony. A bonus: There’s a lovely gift and coffee shop on the first floor.