6 Days in Taiwan: The First-Timer Plan
Six days in Taiwan is enough to run the whole west coast: two days in Taipei, then a high-speed rail push through Taichung and Sun Moon Lake, then Tainan and Kaohsiung to close it out. Budget in New Taiwan Dollars (TWD, NT$), never the Chinese yuan; Taiwan runs its own currency, its own visa-free entry (around 90 days for most Western passports), and since 1 October 2025 a mandatory TWAC online arrival card filed within 7 days of landing. Load an EasyCard on day one and the HSR does the rest of the heavy lifting.
Shorter on time? The 2-day , 3-day and 4-day plans stay closer to Taipei and its day trips. Got a full week instead? The 5-day plan sits between this route and a shorter one, and the 7-day plan stretches this same spine one stop further.
Book these before you go:
- The Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu day trip, on GetYourGuide : the exact three-stop combo, and it sells out on weekends.
- A Sun Moon Lake day tour, on Viator : it bundles the connecting bus, boat ride and Ropeway so you’re not stitching together three separate tickets.
- A hotel in Kaohsiung, rates on Booking.com : book early if your last night lands on a weekend, since it’s also a domestic flight hub.
- Your TWAC arrival card, filed at the official twac.immigration.gov.tw : free, mandatory since October 2025, and the one item here you genuinely cannot skip.
Do you need a visa or arrival card for Taiwan?
Most Western passport holders, including the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and Japan, get roughly 90 days visa-free in Taiwan, no advance application required. Since 1 October 2025, though, every visitor also has to file the free TWAC online arrival card, up to 7 days before landing, at the official twac.immigration.gov.tw. Skip any site charging a fee for it; that’s not the real one.
Day 1: Taipei 101, Elephant Mountain and your first night market
Start at Taipei 101, the skyscraper that held the world’s-tallest-building title for years. The 89th-floor indoor deck is still the classic photo, though its ticket counter shifted to the tower’s ground floor during 2026 renovation work, so allow extra time to find it. Then climb Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan), a 20-30 minute stepped hike a few MRT stops away, for the skyline shot locals actually rate higher, free, and better at sunset than the paid deck at any hour.
Spend the afternoon at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a marble complex with a still-running changing-of-the-guard ceremony, a major landmark regardless of where you land on Taiwan’s own domestic debate over how to frame that era. Close day one at Shilin Night Market if you want the biggest version, or Raohe if you’d rather eat than queue for the entrance photo. Graze five stalls instead of one sit-down meal: oyster omelette, stinky tofu, and a cup of the bubble tea Taiwan actually invented in the 1980s.
Day 2: Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu on the northeast coast
Jiufen Old Street is a former gold-mining town stacked up a hillside, all narrow lantern-lit alleys and teahouses. You’ll see it compared online to the setting of Spirited Away; Hayao Miyazaki has said that’s not actually where the inspiration came from, but the lantern glow at dusk earns the reputation on its own. Arrive early or stay past sunset; midday is wall-to-wall tour groups.
From Jiufen, head to Shifen to watch (or launch) a painted sky lantern from the old railway tracks, then finish at Yehliu Geopark for the wind-and-sea-carved rock formations, the “Queen’s Head” among them. All three fit into one long day by guided tour or independently by bus with more patience. Roll back into Taipei for a second, quieter night market, Ningxia is a good pick if you already hit Shilin, then get an early night; tomorrow starts with a train.
Day 3: high-speed rail to Taichung, the birthplace of bubble tea
Book the Taiwan High Speed Rail (HSR) at thsrc.com.tw; Taipei to Taichung runs about 55 minutes, and trains run frequently enough that you don’t need to lock in a departure days ahead. Taichung is Taiwan’s second city and a genuine bubble tea pilgrimage stop: Chun Shui Tang, one of two teahouses credibly credited with inventing the cold-shaken drink in the 1980s, still operates here.
Spend the afternoon at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts or wandering Taichung’s own art-district laneways, then eat at Fengjia Night Market, one of the country’s biggest and a genuine step up in scale from anything you saw in Taipei. Sleep in Taichung; Sun Moon Lake is a day trip from here, not from the capital.
Day 4: Sun Moon Lake, boat rides and the Ropeway
Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan’s largest, is reached by a connecting bus from Taichung’s HSR station, roughly 1h20 each way; a direct bus also runs from Taipei but takes about 4 hours, which is why this route routes through Taichung instead. Once there, ride the passenger boat across the water, cycle a stretch of the lakeside path, and take the Ropeway cable car up to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village for the best overview of the lake and the mountains ringing it.
This is the one full day on the route without a night market or a temple, and that’s deliberate; six days covering this much ground needs at least one slower day, and the lake is the natural place for it. Head back to Taichung by early evening to be ready for the next HSR leg.
Day 5: high-speed rail to Tainan, Taiwan’s old capital
Continue south by HSR from Taichung to Tainan, a shorter hop than the ride down from Taipei. Tainan is Taiwan’s oldest city and former capital, and widely rated its best food city; visit the Confucius Temple, founded in 1665 and the oldest in Taiwan, then Chihkan Tower for the city’s Dutch- and Qing-era layers. Eat around rather than committing to one restaurant, and expect prices below what you paid in Taipei or Taichung.
Tainan rewards an evening wander more than a checklist: its old-city grid is dense with small temples and food stalls that don’t show up on a map, so leave the second half of the day loose rather than scheduling it tight.
Day 6: high-speed rail to Kaohsiung, then fly out
Kaohsiung is a short HSR hop further south, well under an hour from Tainan. Spend the morning at Pier-2 Art Center, a converted warehouse district of galleries and public art, then head to Lotus Pond (Zuoying), a lake ringed with temples and pagodas that’s Kaohsiung’s signature image. If you have a few hours left, Cijin Island is a short ferry ride away for beaches and fresh seafood.
Kaohsiung has its own international airport (KHH), which makes a good case for flying out from here rather than backtracking to Taipei, if your flights allow it. If not, budget roughly 1.5 to 2 hours on the HSR back up to Taoyuan (TPE).
Taroko Gorge: the trade-off if you swap it in for Kaohsiung
This route stays on the west coast on purpose. Taroko Gorge, reached from Hualien via a roughly 2-hour TRA train (there’s no HSR to the east coast), is only partially reopened since the April 2024 earthquake: the visitor center, Tianxiang and several trails are open, but Swallow’s Grotto and the Shakadang Trail aren’t expected back until 2031, and road access through the gorge runs on timed release windows rather than free flow.
If you’d rather see Taroko than Kaohsiung, swap Day 6 for a TRA trip to Hualien instead; you’ll need to give up the Kaohsiung leg to make the transit times work in six days, and you should check taroko.gov.tw before you commit, since the reopening timeline shifts month to month. For a first six-day trip, the west-coast HSR run stays faster and simpler.
| Day | Focus | Region / train | Rough daily spend (TWD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Taipei 101, Elephant Mountain, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, night market | Taipei | NT$1,200-2,200 |
| Day 2 | Jiufen old street, Shifen sky lanterns, Yehliu Geopark | Taipei day trip | NT$1,300-2,000 |
| Day 3 | HSR to Taichung, bubble tea roots, Fengjia Night Market | HSR Taipei to Taichung (~55 min) | NT$1,600-2,400 |
| Day 4 | Sun Moon Lake: boat ride, cycling, the Ropeway | Bus from Taichung (~1h20 each way) | NT$1,500-2,300 |
| Day 5 | HSR to Tainan, Confucius Temple, Chihkan Tower, street food | HSR Taichung to Tainan | NT$1,700-2,500 |
| Day 6 | HSR to Kaohsiung, Pier-2 Art Center, Lotus Pond, Cijin Island | HSR Tainan to Kaohsiung | NT$1,700-2,500 |
Does Taiwan use the Chinese yuan?
No, and this trips up more first-timers than it should. Taiwan’s currency is the New Taiwan Dollar (TWD, NT$), issued by its own central bank, entirely separate from the mainland’s yuan. Taiwan operates as a self-governing democracy with its own government, currency and entry rules; its political status is disputed with mainland China, but that dispute changes nothing about what’s in your wallet on this route.
Is 6 days enough for Taiwan?
For the full west coast, yes; for the whole island, no, and this plan doesn’t try to force it. Six days covers Taipei’s icons, a full northeast-coast day trip, and three more cities strung along the HSR, without the two-region backtracking that a rushed east-and-west attempt would need. Save Taroko, Alishan and the east coast for a return trip rather than bolting them onto this one.
Load your EasyCard the day you land and tap it on the MRT, buses and convenience-store runs everywhere except the HSR itself, which you book separately at thsrc.com.tw. Tipping isn’t expected in restaurants or taxis, so don’t tack it on out of habit. Taiwan sits at the US State Department’s lowest, safest advisory tier; typhoons (roughly May through November) and the occasional earthquake are the real planning factors, not crime, and Taiwan’s infrastructure handles both well. Check eng.taiwan.net.tw for official trip-planning guidance and boca.gov.tw if your passport needs a closer look at the visa-free list before you book flights.