6 Days in Taipei: First-Timer Plan
Six days lets you do the full city-core route, one mountain day trip, and a coastal one, and still leave a little breathing room. This is the itinerary to hand a friend who asked where to start. Only have 5 days? Drop the coastal day and use the 5 day plan . Have a full week? See the 7 day version .
Book these before you go
- Jiufen and Shifen day tour
- Yehliu Geopark day trip , tour buses arrive by midday
- Taipei 101 observatory ticket
- A Ximending or Zhongshan base on Agoda
The 6 day route at a glance
| Day | Focus | Base |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wanhua temples, Ximending, night market | Ximending |
| 2 | Taipei 101, Xinyi, Elephant Mountain | Ximending |
| 3 | National Palace Museum, Beitou | Ximending |
| 4 | Da’an, Yongkang Street, Maokong tea | Ximending |
| 5 | Jiufen and Shifen mountain day trip | Ximending |
| 6 | Yehliu Geopark and Tamsui coastal day | Ximending |
Day 1: Wanhua, Longshan Temple, Ximending
Get an EasyCard as soon as you land and load it up, it covers the MRT, buses, YouBike and most convenience stores, and it’s the only card you’ll need all week.
Start at Longshan Temple in Wanhua, the oldest working temple in the city, free, incense-heavy, wrapped in old-town alleys. Lunch at a family-run beef noodle shop nearby rather than a chain, NT$150-250 for a good bowl, up to NT$400 at the famous names. Afternoon in Ximending, the pedestrian youth-culture district, and at night get to Ningxia or Raohe night market instead of Shilin, smaller, more local, better food for the crowd. Stinky tofu, NT$50-70, non-negotiable.
Where to stay: Ximending for the first stretch, easy walking, strong MRT links.
Day 2: Taipei 101, Xinyi and Elephant Mountain
Morning at Taipei 101, observatory decks 88F/89F/91F, NT$600. Quick correction: it was the world’s tallest building 2004 to 2010, not since, Burj Khalifa passed it more than a decade back. Still a great view. Visiting after July 1, 2026, the ticket entrance has moved to the 1st floor of the office tower.
Explore Xinyi, then Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, free grounds, Liberty Square, changing-of-the-guard if the timing lines up. Late afternoon, climb Elephant Mountain, 20 to 40 steep minutes, free, for the sunset skyline shot. Skip the Skyline 460 add-on at the tower, this free hike beats it.
Day 3: National Palace Museum and Beitou
Morning at the National Palace Museum, NT$350, free on select holidays, one of the world’s great collections of Chinese imperial art, the jadeite cabbage and meat-shaped stone included.
Afternoon, the Xinbeitou branch line drops you into Beitou for hot springs, free public foot baths if you skip a paid spa hotel, Thermal Valley worth a walk-past even dry.
Dinner: Din Tai Fung. Worth knowing, it’s a homegrown Taiwanese chain, a Taipei oil shop from 1958 that only started making dumplings in 1972, not an import. NT$500-800 per person, queue included.
Day 4: Da’an, Yongkang Street and Maokong
Morning coffee and a walk through Da’an Forest Park, lunch on Yongkang Street’s cluster of proper local kitchens. Afternoon, the Maokong Gondola up into the hills for tea, glass-floor cabins if you want the view straight down, tea houses at the top happy to walk you through a real oolong pour. Evening, whichever night market you haven’t hit yet, or an early night before tomorrow’s big day.
Day 5: Jiufen and Shifen, the mountain day trip
Jiufen is a hillside mountain town, not a Taipei neighborhood, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours out by MRT plus the Kuo-Kuang 1062 bus, or train to Ruifang and a connecting bus. Go early on a weekday if you can, the lantern-lit alleys are lovely quiet and miserable crowded.
Should I do Jiufen or Yehliu if I only have one extra day?
Do both on separate days if the itinerary allows it, they’re different kinds of scenery, lantern-lit alleys versus wind-carved coastline, and cramming both into one day means rushing each. If forced to pick one, Jiufen has the higher payoff for first-timers; Yehliu rewards a slower, quieter wander.
Pair it with Shifen, sky-lantern releases and an old railway street running right alongside a waterfall, trains still rumbling past the stalls. Writing a wish on your own paper lantern gets you every time, tourist cliche or not. Lunch in Jiufen, local seafood and street snacks both deliver.
Day 6: Yehliu Geopark and Tamsui
Morning, bus 1815 out to Yehliu Geopark, about 75 minutes, for the coastal rock formations, the Queen’s Head is the famous one but the whole stretch of eroded coastline is worth wandering slowly, the rock textures alone make it feel like a different planet after five days of city streets and temple courtyards.
Is Tamsui worth visiting after Jiufen?
Yes, and it’s a completely different pace. Tamsui sits directly on the MRT, no bus transfer needed, and trades lantern-lit alleys for a riverside walk and a sunset over the water. After a week of temples and mountains, it’s the closest thing on this itinerary to an actual rest.
Afternoon, head to Tamsui, directly on the MRT and an easy add-on after a coastal morning. Riverside walk, sunset over the water, and a much calmer pace than the previous five days. The old street near the waterfront is worth a slow lap for snacks, iron eggs and a-gei are the local specialties if you want something you won’t find back in Ximending. Grab dinner along the waterfront before heading back into the city for your last night, this is a good evening to just sit somewhere with a view instead of rushing to one more market.
Things to know: cash still matters, EasyCard doesn’t cover night-market stalls that only take bills. The MRT bans eating or drinking, water included, in paid areas, fines up to NT$7,500. June through October is typhoon season, keep an eye on forecasts for both day-trip days since coastal and mountain routes get cancelled first.
Concrete tip: do Yehliu in the morning before the tour buses arrive. The rock formations get genuinely hard to photograph, let alone enjoy, once the midday coach groups pile in.
Official references: Travel Taipei , National Palace Museum , Taipei Metro .