The Ultimate Taipei Bucket List

On our girls’ trip to Taiwan in spring, we made our way all around the country, starting at Sun Moon Lake, and then heading to Alishan National Park. From there we took the high speed train to the country’s capital, Taipei. Taipei offers lively nightlife, rich culture, and is a must for foodies. We stayed pretty busy and experienced a lot of the city’s top activities in just two days!

What to Include on Your Taipei Bucket List

Night Markets

Night markets are an absolute must for your Taipei bucket list! There are many to choose from and from what we’ve read each has their own character. Some of the choices include Shilin, Raohe, Ningxia, Tonghua, Gongguan, Huaxi, and Liaoning.

We chose Raohe Night Market and booked a food tour through Viator. A tour is a great way to experience a night market if you really want to get a feel for the local foods. Plus, your guide will assist with the ordering which is helpful for the language barrier. Our tour started at 6:00 pm and the market was already getting crowded. If crowds aren’t your thing, I definitely recommend earlier the better at whatever night market you choose. By the time we left a few hours later it was absolutely packed!

The Raohe Night Market offers a combination of food stalls, shops, games, massages, really a little bit of everything! We tried a wide variety of Taiwanese street food (more on that below), but I also enjoyed checking out the shops and games.

Maokong Gondola

Riding the Maokong gondola is on the majority of Taipei bucket lists. It is certainly an experience worth taking a half day for, but I’ll be honest: we found Maokong a bit confusing! More on that in a minute, but first logistics on getting there: board the gondola from Taipei Zoo Station (we purchased our tickets in advance through Klook).

The ride to the top (town of Maokong) takes about 25-30 minutes. You get nice views on the way up including a look at Taipei 101, a famous Taipei skyscraper that was once the tallest building in the world. I think the cable car views we had on Lantau Island in Hong Kong a few days earlier were incomparable though!

Maokong Teahouses, Tea Ice Cream, & Trails

Once you disembark the gondola in Maokong, you can head a few different directions. To the right, there are some walking paths but there wasn’t that much to see and very little shade. To the left, you’ll find the majority of the tea houses, restaurants, and gift shops. If you arrive as early as we did, some of them might not be open yet.

We had read there were some good hiking trails in Maokong, but this is where we had some difficulty figuring out where to go. We eventually continued past the main tourist area and came to the Tea Promotion Center which has exhibits on the tea production process. Just beyond that we found a trail but walking along it didn’t really get us anywhere! Our online maps weren’t much help. We had read a variety of blogs beforehand and thought we would be able to figure it out, but obviously we were still unprepared! I wish I could give more details to help you plan your hike, but eventually we turned around and headed back to the main strip to visit a tea house.

Whatever you decide to do while in Maokong, don’t skip the famous tea ice cream! Not only are the cones super cute with the cat shaped cookie (Maokong does mean cat hole after all), but the ice cream was very tasty and perfect for cooling off. Green is baozhong oolong tea flavor and brown is tieguanyin flavor.

Taipei Zoo

If you’re heading to Taipei Zoo after visiting Maokong, board the return gondola and exit at Taipei Zoo South station. From there, you’ll take a short tram ride into the zoo. Once you get off the tram, turn right to access Birdland, or head lto visit the African animals area and the rest of the zoo.

My favorite part of the Taipei Zoo was probably the Pangolin Dome, a large indoor exhibit that takes you along a path spiraling through the forest. Sloths hang in trees above your head and several of the animals including birds and the tamarins roam freely. One of the tamarins jumped right up on the rail beside us! Of course, be sure not to touch them: just watch and let them do their thing.

Seeing the pandas is also a Taipei bucket list item. Pandas are always a crowd pleaser but the exhibit area was a tad crowded for my liking with people all around you trying to get a look inside.

Taipei 101

You’ll find the Taipei 101 observatory on most Taipei bucket lists. The indoor observatory is located on the 88th and 89th floors, and you can also visit outdoor observation decks on the 91st and 101st floors. The 91st floor is included with the regular ticket but we happened to be visiting on the same day as the Taipei 101 Run Up so it was closed. To visit the 101st floor, you’ll need to purchase the additional Skyline460 experience.

Visit a Themed 7-11

7-11s are everywhere in Taiwan, but the themed ones in Taipei are especially cool! The first store we visited was the Hello Kitty in Wanhua District. It was just a few minutes’ walk from where we were staying at the Comma Boutique Hotel.

Kristy standing with Hello Kitty at the themed 7-11 in Taipei, Taiwan

We also got the chance to visit the Peanuts 7-11 which was my favorite since I love Snoopy (my dog Bentley is Snoopy’s dachshund doppelgänger).

Outside of the Peanuts themed 7-11 in Taipei, Taiwan

Other themed 7-11s in Taipei include Mickey Mouse, Pokemon, Coca-Cola, Lay’s, and many more!

Explore Ximending

Taiwan was the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, and the Rainbow Six street art was painted in celebration. Seeing this artwork was on my Taipei bucket list, but I honestly didn’t know much about the Ximending neighborhood where it’s located. If you want to get a photo of the artwork without a crowd, definitely visit early morning. This neighborhood is buzzing!

Ximending is home to theaters, street performers, pop culture shops, restaurants, and bars. There’s definitely something for everyone.

Temples

I’ve seen ranging numbers of anywhere between 12,000 and 15,000 temples across Taiwan. In Taipei itself, we only got a chance to visit the Songshan Ciyou Temple near Raohe Night Market (though we saw many others during our time in Sun Moon Lake and Alishan National Park). Other popular temples are Bao’an and Longshan, but there are plenty of others depending on the neighborhood you’re visiting.

Eat All the Taiwanese Street Food

Eating Taiwanese food goes right along with the night markets suggestion above; however, you don’t have to be at a market to find delicious street food. We saw many vendors walking the Taipei streets with carts. Many of our favorite bites, though, did come from the market and there are so many options so make sure you arrive hungry.

The sweet potato balls seem simple, but they’re so delicious. Order them sprinkled with plum powder; you will not regret it! We liked the plum powder so much, we later went in search of some to take home (see the next item on our Taipei bucket list below).

Another popular Taiwenese item is the black pepper buns. Not only are they yummy, but they’re fun to watch being made.

One street food item we just couldn’t get behind is the stinky tofu. It’s a Taiwanese classic, but none of us could get over the smell. The name sure doesn’t lie!

Wander Dihua Street & Dadaocheng Wharf

You know that plum powder we mentioned? Dihua Street is the place to find it! As Taipei’s oldest street, this strip is known for traditional Taiwanese spices, souvenirs, and tea. The day we wandered Dihua, there was also a craft market with vendors selling a variety of jewelry, clothing, and bags.

After shopping, we wandered down to the waterfront (about a five minutes’ walk) and stumbled upon the Dadaocheng Wharf Container Market. There are a variety of restaurants and bars that operate out of shipping containers with seating available along the river. Since it was earlier in the day, not all of the vendors were open but it seems like this would be a fun place to hang out in the evening.

Drink Taiwanese Craft Beer

Speaking of brews, at the Wharf Container Market we each tried a different beer from the Sunmai Brewing booth. The honey lager really hit the spot.

During our visit to Taipei I was pleasantly surprised at their craft brewing scene. There are a handful of breweries (though not all are specifically brewed in the city): Taihu, Crafted Beer & Co, 23 Brewing, Floating Taipei, Jim & Dad’s, Zhang Men, Far Yeast Taiwan to name a few. I tried several and especially enjoyed the tea infused beers; Taiwan is known for its tea after all. Also, looking back through my photos, it turns out every photo I took of beer looks the same with a different backdrop!

Enjoy the Nightlife

The streets of Taipei are busy and vibrant at night and there are some great cocktail bars to check out! One of our favorites was Nonsense Cafe & Bar with creative (and delicious) drinks.

Try Your Hand at a Street Game

You can’t walk through Taipei without passing by arcade game shops. I loved a claw machine as a kid so I had to stop and play a few times. No luck for me though (and to be honest I didn’t see anyone else win either).

At the Raohe Night Market, I also saw a booth with Mahjong bingo and had to give it a try! Basically you choose 15 tiles and then flip them over to see if they match the Mahjong markings on your board. I, of course, had to choose the Snoopy tiles and it brought me luck; I won on my first try!

I named my stuffed prize Happybara the Capybara and he got to travel across the world with me on my way back to the U.S.!

Additional Items for Your Taipei Bucket List:

We stayed very busy during our two days in Taipei, but there is a lot we didn’t get to do! Here are a few additional ideas to add to your Taipei bucket list:

Hike Elephant Mountain
Day Trips to Juifen Old Street, Yehliu Geopark, Yangmingshan National Park, or Shifen
National Palace Museum
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (this one you’ll find on many lists but is controversial as Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese dictator known for human rights abuses)

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