7 Days: Taipei and Beyond

Taroko Gorge is still not the place it was before the April 2024 earthquake, and it’s worth saying plainly before you build a day around it: the Shakadang Trail and the Zhuilu Old Road, the two hikes everyone puts on their list, remain closed, and nobody’s promising them back soon. What is open, the Taroko Terrace Trail, the Tianxiang area, the Lushui Recreation Area’s first stretch, is still genuinely worth the trip. Seven days gives you enough time to see that for yourself, plus the rest of the island Taipei sits at the gateway of. Want the full week without leaving Taipei? See the 7 day Taipei itinerary instead.

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The 7 day route at a glance

Day Focus Transit time
1 Arrival, Longshan Temple, Bopiliao in-city, MRT only
2 Taipei 101, National Palace Museum in-city, MRT only
3 Jiufen, Shifen, Yehliu Geopark 1-1.5 hours each way
4 Hualien and Taroko Gorge Taroko Express, about 2 hours each way
5 HSR to Taichung, Sun Moon Lake HSR 1 hour, bus 1.5-2 hours
6 Tainan’s old town HSR under 1 hour from Taichung
7 Return north, Elephant Mountain HSR 1.5-2 hours

Day 1: Arrival and Old Taipei

Land at Taoyuan, get an EasyCard at the airport MRT counter, and ride the Airport MRT Express into the city, about 35 to 38 minutes for a flat 160 NT. Spend the afternoon in Wanhua: Longshan Temple first, incense thick and worshippers shaking fortune sticks for a reading, then the Bopiliao Historic Block next door, the oldest surviving streetscape in the city. Dinner at a proper beef noodle soup shop, 150 to 400 NT depending on the shop’s reputation, then an evening wander through Ximending.

Day 2: Icons and Artifacts

Morning. Taipei 101’s observatory opens at 9am, roughly 600 NT for the standard 88th-floor ticket. It hasn’t been the world’s tallest building since 2010, when the Burj Khalifa passed it after a six-year run at the top, but the 660-tonne damper visible through the glass still makes the ride worthwhile.

Afternoon. The National Palace Museum needs the rest of your day, not a rushed hour. It holds one of the largest collections of Chinese imperial art anywhere, jadeite cabbage and meat-shaped stone included.

Evening. Dinner at Din Tai Fung. It’s a homegrown Taiwanese chain, not an import, founded as a Taipei cooking-oil shop in 1958 before dumplings entered the menu in 1972. Queue and all, it earns the reputation.

Day 3: North Coast Day Trip

Train to Ruifang, bus up to Jiufen for the morning, before 9am if you can manage it, since the lantern-lit alleys turn into a slow shuffle by midday on weekends. Move on to Shifen for the old railway street and sky lanterns, then Yehliu Geopark for the wind-carved rock formations, the Queen’s Head chief among them. A guided combo tour handles all three stops in around nine hours if you’d rather watch the coastline than the bus schedule.

Day 4: Hualien and Taroko, With Eyes Open

Is Taroko Gorge still worth visiting after the 2024 earthquake?

Yes, but go in with realistic expectations rather than the pre-2024 photos you’ve probably seen. The Shakadang Trail and Zhuilu Old Road remain closed. What’s open, the Taroko Terrace Trail, Tianxiang, and the reopened first stretch of the Lushui Trail, still delivers the marble canyon walls and river views that made the gorge famous.

This is a long day, and worth going into with that in mind. The Taroko Express gets you from Taipei to Hualien in about two hours each way, so an early departure matters. Road access into the gorge runs on convoy-controlled release windows because of ongoing construction, so a local shuttle or guided tour is a much easier way to manage the timing than renting a car yourself. It’s a genuinely different day trip than it was a few years ago, and it’s still worth the train ride for the marble canyon walls and the river far below, even scaled back.

Day 5: HSR to Taichung and Sun Moon Lake

Morning. High Speed Rail from Taipei to Taichung, about an hour. The old Japanese-era Miyahara building, now an ice cream parlor, is worth the stop for the architecture alone.

Afternoon. Bus from Taichung HSR station to Sun Moon Lake, roughly 1.5 to 2 hours. Ride the cable car up to Wenwu Temple for the lake view, or rent a bike for the lakeside path. Overnight near the lake or back in Taichung.

Day 6: Tainan’s Old Town

Back to Taichung HSR station, then south to Tainan, under an hour by rail. Tainan was Taiwan’s capital for more than two centuries before Taipei took over, and the old town proves it: Chihkan Tower, the restored Dutch-era fort, the Confucius Temple nearby, the oldest in Taiwan, and Anping Old Fort rounding out the historic core. Shennong Street, Tainan’s own restored old street, is a good, low-key place to end the evening, craft studios and small shops rather than chain stores.

Day 7: Back North

A final morning in Tainan, or an early HSR back to Taipei if you’d rather have the extra hours in the capital. The ride north takes ninety minutes to two hours depending on the service. Close the trip with Elephant Mountain at sunset if the weather holds, a free 20 to 40 minute climb for the classic Taipei 101 skyline shot, before your flight out of Taoyuan.

Things to Know

The New Taiwan Dollar is the currency throughout, and tipping isn’t expected anywhere on this route. Typhoon season runs June through October and can disrupt trains and the Hualien line especially, so build a flex day around Day 4 if you’re traveling in that window.

Transportation

EasyCard covers Taipei’s MRT, buses, and YouBike, but not the HSR or the Taroko Express; book those separately and reserve seats ahead during holiday periods, since the Hualien line sells out fast around weekends.

Tips

Don’t force Taroko onto a shorter trip just because it’s on every Taiwan list. It only makes sense here because a full week gives you the transit time to actually get there and back without gutting the rest of the itinerary, and even then, go in knowing the gorge’s greatest hits are still closed for now.

Official references: Travel Taipei , Taiwan High Speed Rail , National Palace Museum .