Taipei

Taipei: The Friendliest Major City in Asia

Taiwan legalised same-sex marriage in 2019, the first country in Asia to do so. The 2018 referendum on the question actually failed – Taiwanese voters rejected marriage equality – and the Constitutional Court ruled the existing law unconstitutional anyway. The resulting legislation was more complex than a simple marriage bill but has functioned, and Pride events in Taipei are now among the largest in Asia. This story reveals something important about the city: it combines democratic process with judicial independence in a way that produces real outcomes, and the result is a civic culture that feels open in ways most Asian cities don’t.

Taipei is a metropolis of 2.6 million people wedged into a basin between green mountains, threaded by hot-spring valleys, crowned by the bamboo-shaped Taipei 101 skyscraper. It has an MRT system of Tokyo efficiency, street food as concentrated as Bangkok’s, a tea culture as serious as Kyoto’s, and everyday warmth that belongs to somewhere smaller and slower.

The Essential Sights

Taipei 101: 508 metres, designed as a stylised bamboo stalk, completed in 2004. The observation decks on floors 88 to 91 show the city basin ringed by mountains. The 730-tonne tuned mass damper sphere visible in the lobby is one of the largest in the world – it counters wind oscillations in the upper floors and has reduced building sway during typhoons by up to 40 percent. Book the sunset slot.

National Palace Museum: 700,000 Chinese imperial artefacts, relocated to Taiwan when the Nationalist government retreated in 1949. The Jadeite Cabbage – a piece of jade carved to precisely resemble a leafy vegetable, including the texture of each leaf and the insects resting on it – and the Meat-Shaped Stone (a piece of jasper so realistic it’s described as a trompe-l’oeil in stone) are the two most visited objects. Allow half a day.

Longshan Temple: The 1738 Buddhist-Taoist temple in Wanhua. Come at dusk with the faithful – the incense, chanting, and the practice of getting fortunes read with numbered sticks make this a genuinely active religious site rather than a tourist attraction with a temple in it.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall: A 76-metre white marble structure in a vast formal complex. The hourly changing of the guard is a practised and very precise spectacle.

Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan): A 20-minute stone-staircase hike to a rock platform with the postcard view of Taipei 101 framed by jungle. Sunset and after dark are the best times.

Eating Taipei

Beef noodle soup (niurou mian) is Taiwan’s national bowl: slow-cooked beef, hand-pulled noodles, rich braising liquid, pickled mustard greens, chilli oil. A good bowl is found by asking a local where they eat it.

Xiao long bao (soup dumplings) were popularised internationally by Din Tai Fung, founded in Taipei. The original flagship on Xinyi Road is the reference point. Smaller local restaurants in Da’an often make equally good versions with shorter queues.

The night market circuit is mandatory. Shilin is the most famous and most touristy. Raohe Street, in Songshan, is often preferred for a more local atmosphere. The pepper bun bakery at the Ciyou Temple entrance on Raohe Street – charcoal-baked buns stuffed with pork and spring onion – is a specific pilgrimage that a lot of visitors report as the best thing they ate.

Bubble tea (boba) was invented in Taipei in the 1980s, by competing accounts involving either Chun Shui Tang or Hanlin Tea Room. The fact that it’s now a global export doesn’t mean you should skip it at the source.

Beitou Hot Springs

A short MRT ride north of central Taipei, Beitou is the traditional hot-spring district, developed by the Japanese colonial administration in the early 20th century. The Beitou Hot Spring Museum, in a beautifully preserved 1913 bathhouse, explains the geothermal geology. Public baths offer outdoor soaking for a few hundred TWD.

Practical Notes

October through April is cooler and drier. May through September is hot, humid, and typhoon season. Get an EasyCard at any MRT station for trains, buses, YouBikes, and many shop payments. The MRT is one of the world’s best urban rail systems. Tipping is not customary. Don’t eat or drink on the MRT – it’s taken seriously.