Taipei Sightseeing Beyond the Postcards
A 660-tonne steel ball hangs suspended between the 87th and 92nd floors of Taipei 101, swinging just enough to cancel out the sway from typhoon winds and earthquakes, and you can stand a few feet from it on the observation deck.
Taipei 101 Observatory. Xinyi District, Taipei 101/World Trade Center Station Exit 4. Standard admission is NT$600 for the 88th and 89th floor indoor decks plus the 91st floor outdoor deck, open 10:00 to 21:00 daily with ticket sales closing at 20:15. Note that as of July 1, 2026 the ticket counter and entrance relocated from the 5th floor of the attached mall to the 1st floor of the Office Tower, so don’t go looking for the old entrance. The premium Skyline 460 experience, a harnessed open-air walk on the 101st floor roof at 460 meters, runs NT$3,000 and requires advance booking. And despite the name recognition, it hasn’t been the world’s tallest building since Dubai’s Burj Khalifa overtook it in 2010.
National Palace Museum. Shilin District, Shilin Station Exit 1, then bus R30, 815, 255, 304, or mini-bus 18/19 for about 15 minutes. NT$350 adult admission, closed Mondays. Nearly 700,000 imperial Chinese artifacts live here, with the Jadeite Cabbage with Insects and the Meat-Shaped Stone as the signature pieces, though both rotate off display periodically, so check current status online before you go.
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Liberty Square. Free entry, grounds open 05:00 to 24:00, main hall 09:00 to 18:00. The honor guard changing ceremony moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard back in July 2024, when indoor sentry duty beside the bronze statue was permanently abolished; it now runs hourly from 09:00 to 17:00 and cancels outright in the rain.
Longshan Temple and Dalongdong Baoan Temple. Longshan Temple, built in 1738 in Wanhua District, runs 06:00 to 21:45 daily, free, with incense burning now limited to one eco-friendly stick per visitor to protect the carvings. Dalongdong Baoan Temple in Datong District, a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award winner, runs 06:30 to 21:30, also free.
Taipei Performing Arts Center. Shilin District, next to Jiantan Station and Shilin Night Market. Even without a ticket to a show, the free self-guided Public Loop routes you through backstage corridors and technical spaces of Rem Koolhaas’s silver-globe building.
Miramar Entertainment Park Ferris Wheel, Dazhi. A 70-meter rooftop wheel with views across the Keelung River basin toward Taipei 101, NT$150 on weekdays and NT$200 on weekends.
Two things to leave off your list: touring the interior of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, closed for renovation through the fourth quarter of 2026 with only the outdoor park grounds open, and hop-on-hop-off bus tours, which cost more and move slower than the Metro on nearly every route.
Verdict: Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum both reward a half day each; don’t try to stack them into one afternoon, the museum alone needs two to three hours to see properly.
Buy Taipei 101 tickets online ahead of a weekend visit; the line at the new 1st floor entrance builds fast once the mall crowds arrive.
For the city’s after-dark performance calendar around these same landmarks, see our shows and events guide .