Planning a trip to Taipei and wondering how much you can realistically squeeze into three days? We’ve got you covered!

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Three days is a great amount of time to experience Taipei’s highlights and take a day trip to see some of Taiwan’s most impressive natural attractions. We recently spent three days exploring Taipei ourselves, so we’ve put together the exact itinerary we recommend! It balances sightseeing with plenty of amazing food and gives you a taste of both the city and the beautiful landscapes surrounding it.

We’ve included timings and all of the need-to-know logistical details, so all that you need to do is follow along and enjoy yourself. Let’s get into it!

Itinerary Overview

Taipei is really easy to get around, especially once you’ve picked up an (aptly named) EasyCard for the MRT and buses. There’s also plenty of English on public transport and around the main tourist areas, so we found navigating the city pretty straightforward.

If you’re flying into Taoyuan International Airport, the Airport MRT is one of the easiest ways to reach central Taipei. Once you’re settled in, here’s how we recommend spending three days!

Day 1: Explore Taipei With A Guide & Enjoy Ximending
Discover Taipei’s historic highlights on a private city tour, visit Huashan 1914 Creative Park, and spend the evening shopping and eating around Ximending.

Day 2: Food Tour, Taipei 101 & Xinyi District
Trade the concrete jungle for greenery and ride the Maokong Gondola, taste your way around Taipei on a food tour, watch the sunset from Taipei 101, and end the night in the upscale Xinyi District.

Day 3: Discover Northern Taiwan
Escape the city on a full-day private tour of Northern Taiwan, visiting Yehliu, Jiufen, Shifen Waterfall, and Shifen Old Street before finishing your trip with one last night market.

Day 1

Breakfast – Fu Hang Soy Milk

We started our first morning in Taipei with a traditional Taiwanese breakfast at Fu Hang Soy Milk, which is one of the city’s best-loved spots! If you stay near Taipei Main Station as we did, it’s only around a 10-minute walk away, which makes it really convenient before your morning tour. From here, you can head back toward the station and take the red line to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Station, which is just one stop away.

Just don’t come expecting a slow, sit-down breakfast! Fu Hang Soy Milk is very much a busy local spot, located upstairs on the second floor. There’s often a long line, especially first thing in the morning, but it usually moves pretty quickly.

Ordering is easier than it looks, too. The menu has numbers, and there’s English available, so you won’t need to worry too much about figuring everything out. We decided to keep it local and went for luobo gao (turnip cakes) and soy milk soup, both of which were really good! It’s definitely worth ordering a few different dishes to share, as this way you get to try lots of different things at once – not a bad way to start the day if you ask us! 

Morning – See Taipei’s top sights and local hidden gems

After breakfast, head over to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Station to meet your guide for this private half-day Taipei tour. The start time is flexible, but we recommend booking around 9:30 or 10 am, which should have you finishing around 1:30 pm.

We really enjoyed this tour because it gave us a well-rounded introduction to Taipei in just 3.5 hours. We started at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, which is obviously pretty famous, but then we headed beyond the obvious tourist stops to explore local markets and temples that we would definitely have missed otherwise! 

We were happy to stick with the suggested route, which includes Nanmen Market and Bao’an Temple, as well as Lin An Tai Historical House, which offers a glimpse into traditional Taiwanese architecture. There was also a stop for bubble tea at a long-running local shop before we finished up at MAJI Square, which was a nice treat.

However, because this is a private tour, there’s plenty of flexibility built in. If there’s somewhere you’re particularly interested in seeing, you can tailor the itinerary either before the tour or with your guide on the day!

We think this is such a good way to spend your first morning in Taipei. You’ll cover a lot in just a few hours, learn more about the city from a local, and still have the whole afternoon and evening ahead of you!

Lunch – Din Tai Fung

This morning’s tour finishes at MAJI Square, where there are tons of food trucks and casual eateries. However, we had actually heard so many good things about Din Tai Fung that we asked our guide to point us toward the nearest one instead!

Din Tai Fung is a chain, but we still think it’s one of those places you have to try while you’re in Taipei! The star of the menu is the Xiao Long Bao, soup dumplings filled with hot broth. They’re packed with flavor and definitely one of the best things we ate in the city, so we’re glad we opted to eat here. We’d definitely order those, then add a couple of other dishes to share, like the garlic green beans or the black pepper beef tenderloin.

Plus, getting there was really easy. It was just a short walk followed by a few stops on the red line, so it didn’t feel like a hassle at all. That said, if you’re tired or simply don’t fancy navigating the MRT again, you can absolutely stay at MAJI Square for lunch instead.

Afternoon – Creative Park or Museum

After lunch, you have two options for the afternoon. One is more of an artistic, outdoor space, and the other is an opulent museum! By now it’ll probably be around 3 pm, and we would suggest allowing roughly 1 to 2 hours at either option. There’s no need to rush, because the rest of the evening is all about exploring Ximending at your own pace!

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

If you’re interested in art and local culture, make your way over to Huashan 1914 Creative Park. It’s around 17 minutes by train or about a 25-minute walk from Din Tai Fung. We chose to walk, which was a nice way to see a little more of the city between stops.

If you haven’t come across one before, Taipei’s creative parks are basically old industrial spaces that have been transformed into cultural hubs. Huashan 1914 started life as a winery, and today the old buildings are home to exhibitions, design stores, cafes, pop-ups, and events. Sounds pretty cool, right?

There’s always something fun going on around here, so half the fun is just wandering around and seeing what catches your eye. Even if you don’t go into a specific exhibition, we think the old industrial buildings and creative atmosphere make it worth a visit.

National Palace Museum

This one is a bit out of the way, but a great option if you love history, artifacts, and really diving into the country’s background. The National Palace Museum is in the Shilin District, about a 40-minute train ride from the lunch spot.

This museum is massive and holds over 700,000 artifacts and pieces. It largely focuses on Chinese history, as the museum was founded in Beijing and later moved to Taipei. It’s pretty wild to see more than 8,000 years’ worth of history on display, from ancient tools and pottery to art, clothes, and more. It’s also a great way to learn more about Taiwan’s history and how it became what it is today!

Admission is NT $350 (about $11 USD), and while you could easily spend all day here, just a few hours will give you a great understanding of the museum.

Evening – Wander through the Ximending pedestrian district

From Huashan 1914 Creative Park, it’s about a 15-minute train ride to Ximending, one of Taipei’s liveliest areas and a fun place to spend the evening. It will take a bit longer to get here from the museum (about 1 hour), so factor that travel time into your plans!

Ximending was Taipei’s first pedestrian zone, and today it’s packed with shops, restaurants, street food stalls, and bars. And when we say shopping, we definitely don’t just mean clothes! Here, you can stumble across almost anything, from souvenirs and beauty stores to retro arcades and quirky little specialty shops.

We think Ximending is best experienced without much of a plan. Just take a wander and see what catches your eye, stopping to grab some drinks and snacks along the way, of course! This area gets especially lively after dark, when the streets are full of people, and everything feels much more energetic.

With that said, one spot you definitely shouldn’t miss is Rainbow Six, often referred to as Rainbow Road, right outside Exit 6 of Ximen MRT Station. The huge rainbow was painted here in 2019, the same year Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. It was created as a symbol of Taipei’s support for the LGBTQ+ community and gender equality, and it quickly became one of Ximending’s most recognizable photo spots.

Then head over toward Graffiti Alley, around the American Street and Taipei Cinema Park area. Ximending has a strong youth and street-culture scene, and this pocket of the neighborhood is covered in colorful murals and graffiti. 

And definitely bring some cash with you. Plenty of the smaller food stalls and local vendors still prefer cash, and you don’t want to miss out on something delicious because you’ve only got a card!

Dinner – Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles 

If you’d prefer to have a sit-down dinner tonight rather than some street food, head to Lao Shan Dong Noodles. It’s a 3-minute walk from Rainbow Six and 5 minutes from Graffiti Alley, so it’s easy to get to. 

And this isn’t just any old noodle spot – it’s actually recognized by the Michelin Guide, so you know it’s good! It’s best known for its beef noodles, which are incredibly tender and delicious, although we also really enjoyed the pork and chive dumplings as well!

Day 2

Morning – Ride the Maokong Gondola 

For your second morning in Taipei, grab a quick local breakfast from 7-Eleven or FamilyMart and head out to the Maokong Gondola. Taiwanese convenience stores have way better food than you might expect, and eating at them is practically a rite of passage while you’re here. Plus, it’s a handy way to eat on the go without losing too much sightseeing time!

From Taipei Main Station, it takes around 30 minutes on the MRT to reach the gondola. We recommend getting there when it opens at 9 am, because you’ll want plenty of time to enjoy Maokong before heading back into the city for your afternoon food tour. The gondola currently runs from 9 am, although it’s generally closed on Mondays for maintenance, so double-check the schedule before you go.

The ride itself stretches for around 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) and takes roughly 30 minutes depending on operating speed. You can choose a regular cabin for NT$180 (about $6 USD) each way, or pay an extra NT$50 for one of the glass-bottom Crystal Cabins.

Once you reach Maokong Station, give yourself about 1.5 hours to explore. There are walking trails winding through the hills and viewpoints to stop at, not to mention tons of teahouses scattered around the area.

And tasting tea up here is a must! Maokong is famous for its tea-growing heritage, so find a teahouse that takes your fancy and enjoy a tasting with amazing views over the surrounding hills.

Afterward, hop back on the gondola for the ride down. Allow another 30 minutes for the journey plus some extra time for queues, and then you should be ready to head back into Taipei for lunch, in the form of a food tour!

Afternoon – Taste your way around Taipei

After coming back down from Maokong, make your way across the city for this private Taipei food tour. We recommend booking it for around 1 pm. It’s roughly a 45-minute journey from the gondola, which sounds like a bit of a trek, but to be honest, we quite like having that downtime between activities!

Taipei is famous for its food, and we’re not kidding when we say you could build an entire trip around eating here. Over three hours, you’ll work your way through 10 different food and drink tastings, with a local guide taking you to some of their favorite spots around the Zhongzheng District.

One of the main stops is Dongmen Market, where you’ll get to try classic Taiwanese dishes like scallion pancakes and braised pork. But this isn’t just a case of bouncing between food stalls. Your guide will also point out interesting city sights along the way, including the remains of Taipei’s old prison wall, so you’ll get a little history mixed in with all of the eating.

Since it’s a private tour, you can ask tons of questions and get lots of local insight into what you’re trying. We always think it’s super helpful to have someone explain the dishes and point you toward things you might never have ordered on your own.

We found that the timing worked really well for the rest of the day too. The tour finishes around 10 minutes from Taipei 101, so once we said goodbye to our guide, we headed straight over to the observatory, ready to watch the sunset!

Sunset – Go to the top of Taipei 101 Observatory

After your food tour, make your way over to Taipei 101 Observatory. It’s only a 10-minute walk away, and no trip to Taipei would be complete without seeing the city from the top!

This 101-story skyscraper stands 508 meters (1,667 feet) tall and was actually the tallest building in the world when it opened back in 2004. It retained that title until 2009, which should give you some idea of just how impressive it is.

You can head up to the observatory on the upper floors, where there are indoor and outdoor viewing areas with incredible panoramas across Taipei. We were fortunate enough to visit on a clear day, and we could see the city stretching out in every direction with mountains rising in the distance.

There are also cafes and restaurants up here, plus displays explaining the building’s history and engineering. One of the coolest things to look out for is the huge tuned mass damper, which helps keep Taipei 101 stable during strong winds and earthquakes.

We definitely recommend timing your visit for sunset. Check the sunset time for your travel dates and aim to arrive a little beforehand. That way, you’ll get to see Taipei in daylight, enjoy a glorious sunset, and then watch the city lights switch on. Sounds pretty magical, right?

Admission costs around NT$600 (about $19 USD), and the observatory is open daily until 9 pm, so there’s no need to rush around. Grab a drink or coffee while you’re up here and enjoy the views before heading back down to explore Xinyi.

Evening – Explore the Xinyi District 

Once you come back down from Taipei 101, spend some time exploring Xinyi, one of Taipei’s most polished and modern districts. This is where you’ll find luxury shopping malls and some of the city’s fanciest restaurants, so it feels completely different from the markets and older neighborhoods you’ve explored so far.

If you fancy a bit of shopping, there are plenty of designer stores and malls clustered around Taipei 101, including shopping right underneath the tower itself. Even if you’re not planning to buy anything, it’s a fun area to wander around after dark when everything is lit up.

You can also head over to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, another of Taipei’s creative spaces, which occupies a former tobacco factory and regularly hosts exhibitions and events.

Or, if you’re ready for something a little quieter, Zhongshan Park is a lovely green space nearby. 

Keep this part of the evening pretty flexible. After such a busy day, you can just see how you feel on the night and see what you fancy doing! 

Dinner – Sushi or night markets 

We’re keeping dinner flexible tonight. It’s been a long day, so if you feel like sitting down somewhere comfortable and enjoying a relaxed meal in a calmer setting, head to this sushi spot. The sushi here is so fresh and delicious – the sashimi really does melt in your mouth! 

But if you’ve still got some energy left and are craving something livelier, head to one of Taipei’s night markets instead. Raohe Night Market and Linjiang Night Market are both around 15 to 20 minutes from Taipei 101, so they’re still easy to reach from Xinyi.

Raohe is one of Taipei’s best-known night markets and a great pick if street food is your priority. Linjiang is smaller and feels a little more local, but there are still loads of stalls to browse and plenty of things to try. So really, you can choose between a chilled-out evening or a healthy dose of Taipei nightlife – the choice is yours!

Day 3

Full-Day – Discover Northern Taiwan’s top sights: Jiufen, Yehliu, and Pingxi

For your final day in Taipei, it’s time to get out of the city! We took this private Northern Taiwan day tour, and it was probably our favorite day of the entire trip – and that’s saying something.

Hotel pickup is available, and you can choose between a 7 am, 8 am, or 9 am start time. We went for 9 am so that we didn’t have to start out too early. It’s an 8-hour tour, so we were finished by about 5 pm, ready to enjoy our last evening in Taipei. 

Before you leave, grab breakfast at or near your hotel and pick up a few snacks for the road. It’s a full day out, and it pays to be prepared! 

There are three different routes to choose from, but we picked the option that visits Yehliu, Jiufen, and Pingxi, and we recommend you do the same! It packed in all of the places we most wanted to see, and having a private driver made the whole day feel so much easier than trying to organize the transport ourselves.

Yehliu Geopark is unlike anywhere else, with bizarre rock formations carved out by years of wind and sea erosion. Then there’s Jiufen, an old gold-mining town built into the mountainside, where we loved wandering the steep streets lined with teahouses and snack stalls.

The final stops were in Pingxi. Shifen Waterfall is one of Taiwan’s most famous waterfalls, but Shifen Old Street was a real highlight for us. The railway runs straight through the middle of town, and watching trains pass right beside the market was such a fun experience.

Best of all, because this is a private tour, the day feels flexible rather than rushed. We loved getting to see so many incredible places in one day, and it really helped us make the most of our limited time in Taipei.

Evening – Shilin Night Market or dinner near your hotel 

After a full day exploring Northern Taiwan, we’d keep your final evening pretty relaxed. If you still have some energy left, head to Shilin Night Market if you haven’t made it there yet.

It’s one of Taipei’s most famous night markets, with loads of food stalls and shops to explore. We loved getting lost down the little side streets, and the people-watching here is excellent. It’s a very fitting place to spend your last night in the city before your trip wraps up!

That said, after a full-day tour, we get it if you’re exhausted! If the idea of crossing the city for another night market sounds like too much, just keep tonight low-key and find somewhere good to eat near your hotel instead. You’ve packed a lot into three days, so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with grabbing a bite to eat and calling it a night.

Related Read: If you find yourself with extra time, check out our list of the best things to do in Taipei for more can’t-miss sights and activities!

Where to Stay in Taipei, Taiwan

This itinerary was based on staying near Taipei Main Station. You’ll have easy access to the MRT for sightseeing, plus Taiwan Railways and high-speed trains if you’re heading elsewhere in the country. The Airport MRT also connects this area directly with Taoyuan International Airport, so arriving and leaving is nice and straightforward.

You’ll also be within walking distance of plenty of restaurants and shops, with Ximending around 10-15 minutes away from the hotels below. Here are our top picks for every budget!

Luxury – $$$

Hotel Relax III is our favorite luxury hotel in Taipei, and it’s just a 5-minute walk from Taipei Main Station. The location is absolutely fantastic, and you can even walk to Ximending from here, too! 

The hotel is modern and classy, with big beds and a chic, black-and-gold lobby. But one thing that makes this hotel a little different is its focus on technology. It was Taiwan’s first intelligent voice IoT boutique hotel, and there’s even a Google speaker with translation capabilities at reception to make communicating with international guests easier during check-in and check-out – how cool is that?

Rooms start around $240 USD per night. Check prices and availability for Hotel Relax III here!

Mid-range – $$

Via Hotel Taipei Station strikes a great balance between comfort and affordability, and it’s just a 10-minute walk from Taipei Main Station. You can also walk to Ximending in roughly the same amount of time, so we think this is an unbeatable location for the price.

Rooms here are fairly simple, but they’re modern and well-maintained, with homely pops of color and comfy beds. One of our favorite perks is the 24-hour Via Cafe, where guests can grab complimentary drinks and light snacks. There’s also free self-service laundry, which is always a win in our books!

Prices average around $120 USD per night. Read the great reviews and book your stay at Via Hotel Taipei Station here!

Budget – $

If you’d rather keep accommodation costs down, T.O. Hotel – Taipei Station is a great budget option. The location is excellent, with Taipei Main Station just a few minutes away on foot and tons of places to eat right on your doorstep.

The rooms are fairly compact, and some don’t have windows, so this isn’t somewhere we’d book for a luxurious hotel experience. But if you mainly want a clean, comfortable base for sleeping between busy days of exploring Taipei, it does the job nicely. 

Rooms start as low as $100 USD per night. Check prices and availability for T.O. Hotel – Taipei Station here!

Thanks for reading!

Three days is the perfect amount of time to explore Taipei’s unique sights and take a memorable day trip! We fell in love with the city; it’s vibrant and energetic, full of hidden gems and unique cultural experiences. This itinerary does a good job of highlighting the best of Taipei, so stick to it, and we know you’ll have a great trip.

Before you go, check out the rest of our Asia blogs! We know how stressful it can be to plan a trip, so let us help and browse some of our other articles. Here are a few that might be helpful – cheers!

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