7 Days in Taiwan: The First-Timer Plan
Seven days in Taiwan is enough to do the capital properly and still ride the high-speed rail the length of the west coast, ending your trip on a beach instead of back where you started. Budget in New Taiwan Dollars (TWD, NT$), never the Chinese yuan; Taiwan runs its own currency, its own visa-free entry (about 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 the day you land, eat your way through Taipei’s night markets, and let the HSR carry you south through Taichung, Sun Moon Lake, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, before a bus finishes the trip in Kenting.
This plan spends two days in Taipei, then rides the HSR south stop by stop before a bus reaches the beach at Kenting. Shorter trip? The 2-day and 3-day plans stay in Taipei; the 4-day adds Tainan and the 5-day adds Kaohsiung too. The 6-day plan covers the same first five days here, minus this version’s extra stop at Sun Moon Lake and the Kenting finish.
Book these before you go:
- The Jiufen, Shifen and Yehliu day trip, on GetYourGuide : this three-stop combo sells out on weekends, and a guide clears Jiufen’s worst crowds faster than the DIY bus route.
- A Sun Moon Lake day tour from Taichung, on Viator : it bundles the bus, boat ride and ropeway into one booking instead of three separate queues.
- A Kenting snorkeling or water-sports trip, on GetYourGuide : worth locking in ahead if your last day has to land on a weekend.
- A hotel near Kaohsiung’s Zuoying HSR station, rates on Booking.com : useful as a base the night before you head to Kenting, since it sits right on the bus route south.
- 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?
Yes to both. Passport holders from the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and Japan can enter visa-free for about 90 days, no advance application needed. But since 1 October 2025, every visitor, visa-free or not, must also file the free TWAC arrival card online, up to 7 days before landing, at the official twac.immigration.gov.tw; several fake look-alike sites charge a fee for the same free form, so bookmark the real domain before you travel, not whatever link comes up first in a search.
Day 1: Taipei 101, Elephant Mountain and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial
Start at Taipei 101, the skyscraper that held the world’s-tallest-building title for years and still anchors the skyline. The 89th-floor indoor deck is the classic photo, though its ticket counter moved to the tower’s ground floor during 2026 renovation work, so allow a few extra minutes to find it. Then do what locals actually rate higher: climb Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan), a steep 20-30 minute stepped hike a few MRT stops away, for a skyline shot with the tower in frame. It is free, and better at sunset than the paid deck at any hour.
In the afternoon, visit Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a marble complex with a still-running changing-of-the-guard ceremony and a major landmark whatever you make of Taiwan’s own domestic debate over how to frame that era. Close the night at Shilin Night Market, the biggest of the trio, or Raohe if you would rather eat than queue for the entrance photo. Graze five stalls instead of sitting down for one 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 will see it compared online to the setting of Spirited Away; Hayao Miyazaki has said that is not actually where the film’s inspiration came from, but the lantern glow at dusk earns Jiufen’s reputation on its own. Arrive early or stay past sunset, because midday is wall-to-wall tour groups.
From Jiufen, push on 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; getyourguide.com and viator.com both cover the combination well. Roll back into Taipei for a second, quieter night market at Ningxia before an early night, since tomorrow starts the HSR run south.
Day 3: high-speed rail to Taichung, bubble tea’s hometown
Book the Taiwan High Speed Rail (HSR) at thsrc.com.tw; Taipei to Taichung takes about 55 minutes, and trains run frequently enough that you do not need to lock in a departure days ahead. Taichung is Taiwan’s second city and, by most accounts, the birthplace of bubble tea in the 1980s, with Chun Shui Tang usually credited as the teahouse that started cold-shaken milk tea. Spend the afternoon at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts or wandering the Calligraphy Greenway, then eat through Taichung’s own night market scene, a genuine rival to Taipei’s, before an early night ahead of tomorrow’s day trip.
Day 4: Sun Moon Lake, boat rides and the ropeway
Sun Moon Lake is Taiwan’s largest lake, ringed by mountains, and the fastest way in is a connecting bus from Taichung’s HSR station, roughly 1h20 each way. Ride the lake’s boat service between its main piers, then take the Ropeway (cable car) up to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village for a view over the whole lake that the shoreline itself does not give you. If you have energy left, part of the lakeside cycling path is one of Taiwan’s most scenic short rides, flat enough for a rented bike with no real fitness required. Return to Taichung for the night; a direct bus also runs from Taipei but takes roughly 4 hours each way, which is why basing this leg out of Taichung, not Taipei, makes the numbers work.
Day 5: Tainan, Taiwan’s old capital
Ride the HSR on to Tainan, a shorter hop further down the same line. This is also the point where a lot of longer itineraries send you east to Taroko Gorge instead of continuing south. Skip that trade here: Taroko’s two most photographed trails, Swallow’s Grotto and Shakadang, are still closed years out from the 2024 Hualien earthquake, road access through what remains open runs on timed release windows, and reaching Hualien and back eats most of two days on the slower east-coast TRA line instead of HSR. If Taroko is genuinely the draw for you, it is a real, worthwhile trip on its own; just check taroko.gov.tw before building a whole itinerary around it, and know you are trading this plan’s beach finish for it.
In Tainan itself, visit the Confucius Temple, founded in 1665 and the oldest in Taiwan, then Chihkan Tower for the city’s Dutch and Qing-era layers. Tainan is widely rated Taiwan’s best food city, so eat around rather than committing to one restaurant, and expect prices below what you paid in Taipei.
Day 6: Kaohsiung’s harbour, temples and an island ferry
Ride the HSR from Tainan to Kaohsiung’s Zuoying station, a short hop further south, then head straight for Lotus Pond, a lake ringed with temples and pagodas that is Kaohsiung’s signature image. From there, the Pier-2 Art Center turns a former warehouse district into public art, galleries and pop-up shops, a good afternoon wander with plenty of shade. Finish with a short ferry ride out to Cijin Island for fresh seafood and a sunset over the harbour, and get an early night, since tomorrow’s bus south takes a few hours.
Day 7: Kenting’s beaches, the southern tip of Taiwan
Catch the Kenting Express Bus from Zuoying Station, roughly 2-3 hours to Kenting National Park, Taiwan’s beach destination at the island’s southern tip. Spend the afternoon in the water, snorkeling or, if the wind is up, trying kitesurfing, then walk the strip of beach bars in the evening. An Alishan detour for sunrise and tea country is the other common way to close a 7-day plan, but it sits north of Tainan on the HSR line, so tacking it on here after Kaohsiung means doubling back the way you came; Kenting continues south instead, which is the more honest use of a last day. Overnight in Kenting, and route your departure through Kaohsiung’s own international airport (KHH), a bus ride back rather than a flight home from Taipei.
| 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, art museum, night market | HSR Taipei to Taichung (~55 min) | NT$1,300-2,000 |
| Day 4 | Sun Moon Lake: boat ride, ropeway, lakeside cycling | Bus from Taichung (~1h20 each way) | NT$1,200-1,900 |
| 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, Lotus Pond, Pier-2 Art Center, Cijin Island ferry | HSR Tainan to Kaohsiung (short hop) | NT$1,700-2,500 |
| Day 7 | Bus to Kenting, beach and snorkeling, overnight on the coast | Bus from Kaohsiung (2-3h) | NT$1,500-2,500 |
Does Taiwan use the Chinese yuan?
No, and it is one of the easiest facts to get wrong before a trip. Taiwan’s currency is the New Taiwan Dollar (TWD, NT$), issued by its own central bank and 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 is in your wallet on this trip.
Is 7 days enough for Taiwan?
For the west coast plus a beach finish, yes, and it is one of the fuller versions of this itinerary you can run without backtracking. Seven days covers Taipei’s icons, a full day trip up the northeast coast, three HSR cities, a lake, and a bus ride out to Kenting, all in one direction down the island. It will not stretch to the east coast or Alishan on top of all that; save those for a repeat trip, or trade the Kenting finish in the 6-day plan if a beach day matters less to you than an extra day in the cities.
Load your EasyCard the day you land (MRT stations and every convenience store sell one) and tap it on the MRT, buses, and local TRA trains everywhere except the HSR itself, which needs its own ticket booked at thsrc.com.tw. Tipping is not expected in restaurants or taxis, so do not 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 here, not crime, and the country’s infrastructure handles both well. Autumn and spring are the easiest seasons to land in, with lower humidity and a smaller chance of a typhoon reshuffling your HSR bookings. 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.