Never thought Taiwan would easily be part of my favorite out of the country destinations. Our January trip was quick (only 4 days) but we were able to visit a lot of places. Here's our itinerary (and yes, we include restaurants in them):
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
| Taoyuan St. Beef Noodle Soup Ximending LongShan Temple Huashan Creative Park |
Yehliu Golden Waterfall Gold Ecological Park Shifen Yin Yang Sea Jiufen A Mei Teahouse Ximending |
Chang Kai Shek Jin Feng Braised Pork Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Din Tai Fung Taipei 101 Raohe Night Market |
Lan Gia Gua Bao Chen San Ding National Taiwan University Departure |
Getting Around:
We mostly got around by walking or subway through using Easy Card. You can buy the card from subway stations or convenience stores. Reload machines are also available in the subway stations, just make sure to find one that's in English :p We only took the taxi twice: one for our Northern Taiwan tour; and two for our travel from hotel to the airport. We also rode the bus once, which is from the airport to Ximending. We got lost and walked, lol.
Where to stay?
A lot of people book near the Taipei Main Station but we opted for one that's just across Ximending because street food and shopping (haha). It's like Myeongdong of Seoul and we stayed near that so we decided to do the same in Taipei. We think we had a good deal with Green World Hotel given that the rooms are nice and we have buffet breakfast every morning.
Where to book flights?
We booked our flights with Philippine Airlines. We got the tickets for approximately P4,800. The flight includes snacks and baggage allowance of 20kg). Not bad for an economy flight. Found almost the same rates with Cebu Pacific as wells so you'll just have to wait for seat sales. We booked our trip I think 6 months back.
Travel Cost:
- Accommodation: P 6,900 each
- Flight: P 4,800 each
- Pocket Money: P 15,000 each (includes shopping budget)
- Total: P 27,000
Our trip was definitely not a budget one but I think it's already reasonable if you want a comfortable and DIY travel. I loved Taiwan because the travel budget is fairly cheap (almost the same as Seoul). But a full discovery should not be limited to Taipei only. I think if we had more time to stay, we could've gone South as well.
We noticed that Taiwan's slowly getting mainstream and lot of people are up for exploring the country. I would love to go back, for sure there will be a next time. :)
We noticed that Taiwan's slowly getting mainstream and lot of people are up for exploring the country. I would love to go back, for sure there will be a next time. :)
