Taiwan is one of Asia's most rewarding destinations and one of its most overlooked by international visitors — a mountainous island of 23 million people where night market culture, high-speed rail, ancient temples and some of the world's finest tea coexist with democratic freedoms, technological excellence and a food scene that many argue surpasses even the mainland regions it draws from. It is compact, safe, affordable, and exceptionally welcoming.
Night markets are Taiwan's cultural institution of first contact. Shilin Night Market in Taipei — the largest in the city — sprawls through covered alleys offering stinky tofu (fermented, pungent, addictive when deep-fried), oyster vermicelli, scallion pancakes, grilled corn, shaved ice with fresh mango and condensed milk, pearl milk tea (Taiwan's invention, now global) and hundreds of other items from vendors who have been refining their recipes for decades. Eating through a night market is not dinner — it is a commitment to four or five hours of sampling small quantities of extraordinary things from vendors who take serious pride in their singular dish.
Taipei itself is a city of easy pleasures: the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and its hourly guard-changing ceremony, the Longshan Temple — always busy with incense smoke and the pragmatic prayers of people asking for help with health, love, money and exams — the Yongkang Street neighbourhood of independent cafes, the Xinyi District's rooftop bars looking over the city grid, and the National Palace Museum, which holds the largest collection of Chinese imperial artefacts in the world (including bronze vessels, jade carvings and porcelain that Chiang Kai-shek brought from the mainland in 1949).
Taroko Gorge National Park, accessible in two hours from Taipei, is the single most dramatic natural feature on the island. The Liwu River has cut a marble-walled gorge through the Central Mountain Range — in places the cliffs rise vertically hundreds of metres from a road blasted into the rock face. Hanging bridges, cliff-face walking trails, temple grottoes, turquoise water in the riverbed below and the constant sound of rushing water make it one of Asia's great short hikes. The nearby coastline at Hualien adds Pacific Ocean views to the already intense landscape.
The Central Mountain Range running the length of Taiwan from north to south contains Jade Mountain (Yushan) at 3,952 metres — Northeast Asia's highest peak. Hiking here and on the surrounding peaks traverses alpine meadows, ancient cypress forest and the cloud line in a landscape that Taiwanese people deeply cherish and protect. Alishan in the south is famous for its sunrise train ride above the clouds to watch the sun rise over a sea of white — one of the most celebrated views in Taiwan.
Taiwan's tea culture is one of the world's most developed. High mountain oolong teas — Alishan, Lishan, Dayuling — are grown at altitudes above 1,500 metres in conditions that produce a sweetness and complexity that Taiwanese tea masters have spent generations perfecting. Tea houses in Jiufen and throughout Taipei's old streets serve these teas in gongfu cha (precise brewing ritual) style with a seriousness that is simultaneously formal and deeply relaxed.
Jiufen, the old gold mining town in the hills northeast of Taipei, with its steep red lantern-lit alleys, teahouses overlooking the Pacific and atmospheric evenings in mountain mist, is the setting most associated internationally with Taiwan's visual character.
Taiwan moves fast, takes pride in precision, and offers its warmth immediately and without reservation to visitors who arrive with curiosity. It is easy to understand why those who visit once almost always return.
