The route that gives Taiwan in its full argument: three days in Taipei for the National Palace Museum at 9am and the Jiufen hillside village at 4pm when the paper lanterns are lit and the tea house fog is in the valley below, one day in the Taroko Gorge for the marble canyon that the Central Cross-Island Highway carved through and that gives the most dramatic gorge landscape in East Asia accessible by road, and three days on the East Coast — the Hualien surf beach, the Dulan indigenous culture, the Green Island where the water is clear enough to see the coral from the ferry — and why Taiwan, the island that the political geography makes complicated and the actual geography makes extraordinary, rewards the visitor who arrives with no expectation and leaves planning the return.
Reading time: 11 minutes | Last updated: 2026
Taiwan is the 23 million-person island that is simultaneously: one of the world’s largest economies (the TSMC semiconductor manufacturer whose chips are in every device you own was founded here), the world’s first Asian democracy with a female president, the country that has preserved the cultural heritage of dynastic China that the Cultural Revolution erased from the mainland, and the island with the Pacific mountain range (the Central Mountain Range, 5 peaks above 3,500 metres), the marble gorge, the subtropical forest, and the night market that feeds the entire city from 6pm onwards.
Before You Leave
The visa: UK citizens enter Taiwan visa-free for 90 days.
The EasyCard: The Taipei EasyCard (the transit card for the MRT, the bus, the YouBike cycle hire — available at any MRT station, TWD 100 / £2.39 deposit): the essential Taiwan city transit tool.
The HSR: The Taiwan High Speed Rail (the bullet train from Taipei to Tainan or Kaohsiung — 2 hours, covering the western corridor): for the east coast access, the TRA (Taiwan Railways Administration) conventional rail from Taipei to Hualien (2.5 hours, the most scenic coastal rail journey in Taiwan).
The Route
Taipei (3 nights) → Taroko Gorge day trip → TRA train to Hualien (1 night) → East Coast circuit — Dulan, Green Island (3 nights) → return Taipei, fly home
The 7 Days
DAYS 1-3 — Taipei
Day 1: The National Palace Museum and the Night Market
9:00am — The National Palace Museum:
The Guoli Gugong Bowuyuan (the National Palace Museum — the collection of 700,000 Chinese cultural artefacts that the Nationalist government brought from the Beijing Palace Museum in 1948 during the civil war: the jade cabbage (Jadeite Cabbage, the 18th-century Qing carving in the imperial-green jadeite, the specific Chinese craft that the Museum queues for), the meat-shaped stone (Dongpo Pork Stone, the Qing Dynasty rock carved to resemble a slice of braised pork — the texture of the fat and the meat visible in the stone, the specific art object that every Taiwan visitor photographs), and the bronze ritual vessels from the Shang Dynasty (the 3,000-year-old bronzes)):
Entry: TWD 350 / £8.37. The museum at 9am (opening) gives the jade cabbage room with 20 visitors rather than the 200 who arrive by 11am.
The Jiufen village:
The Jiufen (the hillside former gold-mining village 50km northeast of Taipei — the staircase streets, the traditional teahouses, the red lanterns that Miyazaki’s animators have cited as partial inspiration for Spirited Away): the 1pm bus from the Taipei Bus Station (the #1062 direct, TWD 120 / £2.87, 1.5 hours):
The Jiufen at 4pm (the afternoon before the evening crowd): the A-Mei Teahouse (the hillside terrace, the teahouse at the staircase turn, the view over the hillside to the Pacific Ocean, the bao zhong oolong tea in the clay pot): TWD 200-400 / £4.78-9.56 per person minimum spend.
The Shilin Night Market:
The Shilin Night Market (the largest night market in Taipei — the covered indoor section, the outdoor street section, the specific Taiwan night market that the travel press sends every arriving visitor to): the oyster omelette (e a jian — the thick sweet potato starch batter with the oysters, the beaten egg, the scallion, the basil, the red sauce), the stinky tofu (the fermented tofu, the smell disproportionate to the flavour, the most specifically Taiwanese street food), and the bubble tea (the zhenzhu nai cha — the pearl milk tea, the tapioca balls, the drink that Taiwan invented and that the global market has been approximating since the 1990s): TWD 30-80 / £0.72-1.91 per item.
Day 2: The Longshan Temple and Dadaocheng
The Longshan Temple (the 1738 Buddhist and Taoist temple in the Wanhua district — the daily devotions visible from the courtyard, the specific Taiwan temple activity (the prayer, the bao bao fortune telling, the incense thick in the courtyard) that the tourist temple visit and the working temple give differently):
The Dadaocheng (the 19th-century tea merchant district on the Danshui River — the old warehouses converted to the specialty tea shops, the herbal medicine sellers, the specific historic Taipei that the modern city preserved): the Yongle Market (the fabric and the food, the traditional Taiwanese breakfast danbing (the thin egg crêpe rolled with the scallion and the dried pork) at the market breakfast stall): TWD 40-60 / £0.96-1.43.
Day 3: The Elephant Mountain and the 101
The Elephant Mountain (the Xiangshan trail — the 30-minute climb from the MRT Xiangshan station, the granite boulders, the Taipei 101 visible from the viewing platform above the tree line): the sunrise hike (the 5:30am departure, the Taipei 101 and the city skyline at first light): free.
The Taipei 101 (the 508-metre tower — the observation deck at 89 floors giving the Taipei basin and the mountains surrounding it): TWD 600 / £14.34. The indoor and outdoor deck both give different city perspectives at different light conditions.
DAY 4 — Taroko Gorge (Day Trip)
The TRA train from Taipei to Hualien (2.5 hours, the coastal route through the northeast Pacific headlands): the gorge accessible from Hualien by local bus or hire car.
The Taroko Gorge:
The Taroko National Park (the marble gorge carved by the Liwu River — the canyon walls 1,000 metres above the river, the marble exposed in the canyon walls giving the white and grey and grey-green surface that the highway tunnels and the footbridges cross at water level):
The Shakadang Trail (the 4.5km riverside path — the turquoise Shakadang River visible below the marble cliff, the suspension bridge at the trail’s entrance giving the first view into the canyon): free, 2 hours return.
The Eternal Spring Shrine (the memorial shrine built into the cliff above the waterfall — the spring visible through the arch, the waterfall descending to the highway level below): the most visually specific single spot on the gorge road.
The Zhuilu Ancient Trail (the Qing Dynasty supply trail cut into the cliff face 500 metres above the gorge floor — accessible by permit only, the 10km round trip, the permit from the Taroko National Park Visitor Center): TWD 200 / £4.78 permit fee, limited to 100 visitors per day.
Stay in Hualien overnight.
DAYS 5-7 — The East Coast
Day 5: Hualien to Dulan
The TRA coastal train from Hualien south along the Pacific coast — the most scenic coastal railway in Taiwan, the Pacific visible from the right-hand window seats throughout.
Dulan:
The Dulan village (the Amis indigenous community village on the Taitung coast — the Dulan Sugar Factory (the former Japanese sugar factory converted to the arts village, the indigenous craft workshops, the Amis music performances on weekend evenings), the Dulan beach (the Pacific surf break, the left-hand point break visible from the cliff above)):
The Amis (the Amis Pangcah — the largest indigenous nation in Taiwan, the specific Taiwan indigenous culture that the Japanese colonial and the subsequent Chinese Nationalist governments both attempted to assimilate and that has maintained the music, the weaving, and the harvest festival):
Day 6: Green Island
The Green Island (Lüdao — the volcanic island 33km offshore from Taitung, accessible by ferry (50 minutes, TWD 380 / £9.08 one way)):
The Green Island saltwater hot springs (the Zhaori Hot Springs — the saltwater thermal springs at the ocean’s edge, the seawater-fed pools at 45-53°C, the three pools visible at the ocean surface, the only seawater thermal springs in the world outside Japan and Italy): TWD 200 / £4.78.
The Green Island snorkel (the reef accessible from the Shilang diving area — the coral visible from the surface, the hawksbill turtle population resident around the island): the island hire shop (the snorkel equipment, TWD 300 / £7.17 per set per day).
Day 7: Return Taipei
The train from Taitung to Taipei (the South Link Line through the Central Mountain Range — the only rail route through the mountains, the 3.5-hour journey through the highland forest visible from the window): the most inland version of Taiwan’s rail circuit.
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Taipei) | £450-750 | £600-1,000 |
| 7 nights accommodation | £70-210 | £210-490 |
| Food (7 days) | £50-100 | £100-210 |
| Rail (Taipei-Hualien, east coast, Taitung-Taipei) | £30-60 | £40-80 |
| Activities and entries | £30-70 | £60-120 |
| Total | £630-1,190 | £1,010-1,900 |
