Best area of Kaohsiung to live in?

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
21

I lived in NiaoSong for a while right on the lake, it was very peaceful there and on the outskirts of town. It was a bit of a drag having to drive all the way into downtown (could be 20 minutes) but the quality of my apartment was amazing and i was being overcharged, paid a bit under 9000NT a month (shouldve been about 7500 but I paid the foreign premium oh well). Anyway, it was nice to live there if you like quiet luxury. Cab rides to bars downtown weren’t too bad either. I would recommend it for sure.

22

Thank you all for the information! :slight_smile: Sorry for the late reply, got some negative information regarding my internship so it is a bit shaky at the moment.

23

What a great thread! Just what I was looking for.

I’m also looking to move to Kaohsiung as well, just visited the city once so not really familiar with it, and I have a few additional questions:

  • Are there areas of the city to avoid (pollution, crime, no shops etc…)
  • Is the pollution still really bad?
  • Do the MRT and those free bike rentals really suck? They all sound like great ideas but it feels like I keep reading negative comments about them.

Thanks!

24

the MRT is great as long you live at and your destination is near an MRT station. The MRT feeder buses kind of suck because of the schedule (20 mins I think between buses) and the maps are in Chinese (English is available online). the bikes could work but who really wants to bike when 30+C (6 months of the year). I barely use the MRT because it will usually take me 3x as long to go anywhere (compared to motorcycle).

The skies are smoggy all winter until the rains/typhoons/winds come in the summer. I think it still has the worst pollution of the major cities in Taiwan but none of them are good.

I said it earlier (I think) but most foreigners live in the Kaohsiung Arena/Art Museum area. It’s more expensive but you’re close to a lot of good bars/restaurants. Central Park/Love River area and Cultural Center are also popular. Chengching lake/Niaosong is nice and cheap (mentioned above) but it’s better for families unless you don’t mind being disconnected. But the bigger factor is that you live relatively close to work. Traffic sucks and I would not be as happy commuting 30+mins each way.