What to think about when making a Taiwan travel itinerary: 

My husband and I have just returned from another bucket list trip – a round trip in Taiwan! You never know how long this is going to be possible – for a very specific reason. But this is not about politics. Rather, it is about seeing the sights. And this was in our case exploring the country in style. This meant for Taiwan that we went for the best luxury hotels and fine (Michelin) dining, yet always with a look at the price tag. It is our premise not to pay excessive prices, wherever we go. When it comes to the question whether Taiwan is worth traveling to, I can say yes without reservation. Not for nothing it was called Ilha Formosa (beautiful island) by its first discoverers, the Portuguese. Yet there are some considerations make when planning a (luxury) Taiwan trip.

The end result of all this pondering is supposed to be the perfect itinerary (one-week/two-week itinerary) for your personal needs. We come to mine at the end of this post. Yet it is just a quick look at it, details about the different stops follow soon on my blog. First, I go into some general facts about Taiwan that may be of interest for travelers. In further posts to follow, you will find out about my personal Taiwan lodging and dining highlights.

About Taiwan

The bits of information on Taiwan I am going to write about are far from being exhaustive. If you should be interested in more and detailed travel advice about this travel destination, I found Nick Kembel’s websites especially helpful. This Canadian – married to a Taiwanese woman and having two kids with her – lived 15 years in Taiwan (meanwhile he has moved with his family to his home town). Nick Kembel is really very thorough in his reporting about his adopted country. I can assure you that hardly a question about Taiwan in the context of travel will be unanswered. His two sites are called Spiritual Travels and Taiwan Obsessed. Whenever I had a question while preparing our Taiwan trip, I Googled “Nick Kembel” together with the issue I was wondering about. And no, I do not know why he has two websites and not one.

1. Geography of Taiwan

Location/Population

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island nation in East Asia. There are conflicting views about whether it is a Southeast or Northeast country. It lies in the Pacific Ocean off the southeastern coast of China, from which it is separated by the Taiwan Strait. Other neighbors are Japan in the north and the Philippines in the south. Taiwan is 35,980 km²/13,892 mile² in size, which makes it a bit smaller than Switzerland (41.290 km²/15,942 mile²). It has around 23.9 million inhabitants, which is a lot more than Switzerland has (8.8 million). Therefore, it is one of the more densely populated nations. And most of the Taiwanese live in the island’s west, where one big city follows another.

Climate/Travel time

Taiwan has a subtropical climate and is very mountainous. It boasts almost 300 mountain peaks over 3,000 m (9.800 ft). There is the Central Mountain Range that runs down the middle of the island like a spine. The best times to come here are either in fall (October and November) or in spring (April). This both due to the weather situation as well as the crowds.

Tectonic situation/Earthquakes

The island is geologically active, sitting on the Ring of Fire. Because of the complex tectonic situation, there are lots of hot springs in Taiwan, but also earthquakes. The most recent one with a high death toll was in 1999 (island-wide, 2,415 deaths, 7.7 M_w). And the most recent major earthquake was the one on the 3rd of April 2024 (Hualien, 18 deaths, 7.4 M_w ). And this was precisely, when my husband and I visited Taiwan! It was at 8 a.m. and lasted for more than a minute. At the time, we happened to be on the 25th story of a hotel high-rise in Kaohsiung, where we felt it moderately strong (the building swayed back and forth). Yet one week before, we were at the very spot where most of the deaths happened (Taroko Gorge). And we had stayed at exact the hotel where hundreds of guests were trapped for several days!

2. Political situation in Taiwan

History in brief

Taiwan is considered as the freest and most democratic country in Asia. While The People’s Republic of China (PRC, short China) claims that Taiwan is Chinese territory, The Republic of China (ROC, a.k.a. Taiwan) thinks otherwise. It sees itself as independent. After the ROC lost in the Civil War (1945-49) to the Chinese Communist Party, its leaders and millions of people fled to Taiwan. From there they planned to take back China, what evidently never happened. Notwithstanding that, Taiwan is still officially called the Republic of China.

Before the ROC arrived in Taiwan, the Japanese occupied it (from 1895 to 1945). After Japan surrendered in World War II, Taiwan was restored to the Republic of China. Japan influenced Taiwan significantly. It built a railway around the country, developed the hot springs and constructed lots of buildings. Also the Japanese cuisine left their traces. The UN stopped recognizing the ROC as the legitimate rulers of Taiwan in 1971, the US followed in 1979. Currently, Taiwan is only officially recognized by 11 countries, most of them smaller ones.

Language/Communication

Taiwan has four official languages, Taiwanese, Mandarin, Hakka (Han Chinese) and the Formosan aboriginal languages (collectively). Although English is not an official language, there is a discussion about Taiwan becoming a “Chinese-English bilingual country” by 2030. Yet, many Taiwanese doubt that this will become true. Most Taiwanese in the major cities know at least some English. The further you go from the metropolitan areas, the less it is spoken. Yet, Taiwanese are open and friendly, and there is always the option to use Google Translate in order to communicate with them.

3. How to get around in Taiwan

Taipei: MRT/Uber

Getting around in Taipei is a breeze thanks to the MRT system. For doing so, you buy and load an EasyCard in any station or convenience store. You can also catch an Uber driver for short distances, as there are many available in Taipei and other big cities. Yet, you also find them in other touristy places in the countryside. We used this service for example in the Sun Moon Lake area when dining out.

Train/Buses

Taiwan’s train system is generally considered modern and convenient enough, although not comparable to the one in Japan. There are far more options to go up and down the island than across. This is because of the Central Mountain Range that divides the island into a western and eastern part. If you plan to travel all over the country, you have to use a mix of train, high-speed rail and bus.

As already mentioned, the Japanese built a railway around the country, which is still running today. It is administered by the TRA (Taiwan Railway Administration). From Taipei to Kaohsiung and all the cities between, you have the additional choice of the High Speed Rail (HSR). It is much faster (and more expensive) than the TRA. However, besides Taipei, their stations are inconveniently located outside of the city center. And it only exists on the island’s west side. For destinations in the Central Mountain Range, i.e. Alishan or Sun Moon Lake, you need to take buses to reach them.

Rental car

As my husband and I traveled all over Taiwan, we had opted for renting a car and driving ourselves. While driving in Taipei is no walk in the park, it is doable in other places. Generally in big cities, you have to be careful because of the many scooters (they have sometimes their own lanes and their own way to turning left at major intersections). If you are driving in the mountains, there are many winding and narrow roads. However, they are well secured with mirrors that show oncoming traffic.

After these more basic facts about Taiwan, now to possible itineraries in Taiwan.

Taiwan 1- to 2-week itineraries

General itinerary considerations when planning a Taiwan trip

As it is a 15-hour flight from Western Europe to Taiwan, it makes sense to spend 14 days here. This if you have a single destination trip in mind. And no worries, Taiwan has so much to do that you can easily spend two weeks here. Alternatively, you can combine a one-week stay on this island with a stopover, depending on your flight arrangements. In our case, we flew via Bangkok/Thailand on the flight to Taiwan and via Hong Kong on our return, although we did not do any layovers. Another option would be adding a short flight from Taiwan to your itinerary. Obvious choices would be Japan, especially Okinawa, or the Philippines. This might be a good idea in particular if you are keen on beach vacations. Taiwan is not really famous for being a destination geared to sun, sand and sea.

Having said that, I would like to emphasize again that there is plenty to see in Taiwan. So, there is absolutely no need to limit your time on this island to only one week! Taiwan is an extremely pleasant travel destination. While it is not exactly inexpensive, it is affordable enough. Public transport is good, and people are amicable. There is a stable political situation (apart from the danger coming from the powerful neighbor across the Taiwan Strait). And you find here a generally high level of safety. Plus, you will not run into Western tourists all the time. Last but not least, it offers the perfect mix of vibrant urban life and lots of natural beauty. The latter you even encounter very close to Taipei.

A 2-week itinerary in general

Two weeks is considered a reasonable amount of time to do a full circle around Taiwan. And this is – I mentioned it before – possible by train. When having this round trip in mind, you have two options: doing it nature-focused or city/culture-focused. As to the former, you spend more time on the island’s east and south. Concerning the latter, you stay longer on Taiwan’s west side. In case you decide on a nature focus you also should head to the mountains, which are in the center stretching from north to south. As there are only some regional trail lines in this area, you also must use buses to get there.

This reveals that opting for the train as your means of transport is ideal for a city/culture focus. It is less so if you want to concentrate on nature. Here it makes sense to consider traveling by rental car. If you do not trust yourself to do this, then there is the possibility to hire a private driver and maybe also a private tour guide (check out Nick Kembel’s advice on this).

If you want to do a luxury trip – meaning staying in luxury hotels and dining in gourmet (Michelin) restaurants – , this complicates the affair even more. While there is usually no problem finding correspondent establishments on Taiwan’s west side, this is not so on the east side. One exception here is the Taroko Gorge. But if you travel from here toward the south in the direction of Taitung, you will encounter difficulties finding suitable lodging and dining. As far as the island’s center is concerned, places to stay and dine in style apart from the Sun Moon Lake area are rare.

Our 17-day itinerary in style

After all these general considerations when making a travel plan for a Taiwan trip, now to our actual itinerary. While we were on route during 17 days, you can shorten the trip to two weeks without any problems. We wanted our journey to be predominantly nature-focused yet with the one or other urban stay. As we like to travel in style, our aim was staying in luxury hotels (my 3 hotel highlights) and dining in gourmet (Michelin) restaurants. And this is not always possible in Taiwan, as outlined. In terms of means of transport, we had opted for a rental car. This because it seemed more convenient to reach all the places we wanted to go.

So, we began in Taipei before heading to the Taroko Gorge in the northeast close to Hualien. We also made a day trip along the east coast going a bit further south from this seaside town. Then we went to the country’s center, to Sun Moon Lake. From here, we explored the wider Alishan region in another day trip too. After that, we drove in the south, the Kenting National Park, before heading back north. This time we traveled along the west coast. Our only stop here was in Kaohsiung, from where we also visited the old city of Tainan. Our last stop was Taipei again, where we had chosen its northernmost district of Beitou as our base. We used it to discover Taiwan’s north as well.

Find here my Google Map of our 17-day road trip journey in Taiwan:

A proposition for a 1-week Taiwan itinerary

There is also the option to make this trip shorter, from two weeks to one. And you can do this by traveling only the northern part of Taiwan. In such a way, you can experience the country’s three major highlights. These are Taipei, Taroko Gorge and Sun Moon Lake. My next post will be about this abbreviated Taiwan itinerary. In addition, you will learn more about the three individual stops. This includes what to see and do, a top hotel on site and some of the best (Michelin) fine dining available.

In another post to follow, I will go into the two-week itinerary. There will be information about the other three stops that are not part of the abbreviated Taiwan travel plan. These especially concern Taiwan’s south, but also a second Taipei stay. This is not the end about my Taiwan reporting yet. Two more blogposts will offer more details about my personal highlights with respect to accommodation and eating out.

Date of stay: April 2024

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