3 Days: Taipei and Beyond
Liberty Square in front of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is bigger than it looks in photos, and that scale sets the tone for this whole trip: three days in Taipei and beyond really means two days in the city and one full day earning the trip out to the coast, and that split works better than trying to squeeze everything into a rushed 72 hours. Want the city without the coast day? Try the 3 day Taipei itinerary instead. Have a bit more time? See 4 days .
Book these before you go
- Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu combo tour , around nine hours and it removes three separate bus connections
- Taipei 101 observatory ticket
- A Ximending base on Agoda
The 3 day route at a glance
| Day | Focus | Transit time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Ximending | in-city, MRT only |
| 2 | Taipei 101, Longshan Temple, Din Tai Fung | in-city, MRT only |
| 3 | Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu Geopark loop | 1-1.5 hours each way |
Day 1: Old Taipei
Morning. Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall opens the day well: the grounds are free, the changing of the guard is genuinely impressive choreography, and Liberty Square in front of it gives you a sense of scale for the place. Walk over to the National Theater and Concert Hall next door while you’re there.
Afternoon. Head into Ximending and just wander. It’s Taipei’s youth-culture district, cinemas and street food and secondhand fashion stacked into a few walkable blocks, and it earns its Harajuku-of-Taipei nickname honestly.
Evening. Eat at a proper beef noodle soup shop before you do anything touristy with food. This is the actual national dish, not a side note, and a good bowl runs 150 to 400 NT depending on how famous the shop is. The family-run places around Wanhua tend to beat the ones with the longest queues.
Day 2: Icons and Incense
Morning. Taipei 101’s observatory opens at 9am. Get the standard 88th-floor ticket, about 600 NT, and know going in that this hasn’t been the world’s tallest building since 2010, when the Burj Khalifa passed it after a six-year run at the top. It’s still worth the ride for the view and for the 660-tonne damper you can see suspended through the glass, keeping the tower steady in typhoon winds.
Afternoon. Longshan Temple in Wanhua is the counterweight to the glass and steel: incense smoke, worshippers shaking fortune sticks for a reading, centuries of continuous use. Give it real time rather than a five-minute photo stop.
Evening. Dinner at Din Tai Fung is worth the wait despite what the queue outside suggests about tourist-trap status. It isn’t one. This is a homegrown Taiwanese chain, started as a Taipei cooking-oil shop in 1958 before it sold its first dumpling in 1972, and the original Xinyi Road location is still open. Expect 500 to 800 NT a person.
Day 3: North Coast, All In
This is the day you leave the city, and it’s worth doing as one committed loop rather than a half measure. Take an early train to Ruifang, then bus up to Jiufen for the morning. It’s a mountain town, not a Taipei neighborhood, lantern-lit alleys and tea houses stacked up a hillside with ocean views between the rooftops, and it gets uncomfortably crowded by midday on weekends, so arriving early pays off.
Is one day enough for Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu?
Tight, but doable if you commit to a full day and don’t linger. Each stop gets a couple of hours rather than a leisurely afternoon, and an early start matters more here than on any other day of this trip. A guided combo tour covers all three in around nine hours and removes the transit math entirely, which is worth it if you’d rather look at the scenery than a bus schedule.
From Jiufen, move on to Shifen for the old railway street and the sky lanterns, and if you have the stamina, add Yehliu Geopark for the wind-carved rock formations, including the famous Queen’s Head, before heading back into the city.
Evening. Back in Taipei, wind down with something simple. Nanjichang Night Market is a genuine neighborhood market with almost no tourists, and it’s a good antidote to a long day outdoors after fighting the Jiufen crowds.
Things to Know
Mandarin is the official language, and while plenty of people in the tourist areas speak some English, learning a few basic phrases goes further than you’d expect. The currency is the New Taiwan Dollar. Taipei is a humid subtropical city with real heat in summer, so pack for both rain and sun regardless of season.
Transportation
The metro is the backbone of getting around, clean and reliably on time with English signage throughout. Buses fill in the gaps, particularly for the Jiufen and Yehliu run, and taxis are easy to flag but don’t assume the driver speaks English.
Tips
Skip Lunar New Year if you can help it; crowds and prices both spike. Ningxia and Tonghua night markets are worth a stop if Shilin feels too packed on your city days, they tend to have a better ratio of good food to elbow room.
Other Things of Interest
Beitou Hot Springs sits directly on an MRT branch line, no bus transfer required, which makes it a genuinely easy half-day add-on if you have any flex time. Hsinchu is another option if you want a second day trip beyond Jiufen and Yehliu, though most first-time visitors get more out of a slower pace in the city than a third coastal excursion.
Official references: Travel Taipei , Taipei Metro , Taiwan Railway .