Opinions on which of these locations in Taipei is best for a young family?

Really!! How long have you been in Taiwan…the Taiwanese copy everything!!:):rofl:
ROC = Republic of Copy

Where can I go to check out this complex, could you link me on google maps? I’ll be arriving in Taipei on Tuesday and this sounds fantastic.

I also work from home so an all in one place with gym/swimming pool sounds perfect.

Guys thanks for all the feedback. Again I’m not familiar with the expat scene there, that’s why I’m asking for your eI guess its not similar to Shanghai or Beijing for example that have big expat areas. That’s fine for us, we want to learn Mandarin that’s a big reason for moving to Taiwan (esp for my kid). As long as there’s a little western influance we’re good, and based on my time in Taipei that seems to be the case.

On the rent, you guys don’t think 40-50k NT is a good budget? I’ve been looking on 591.com and see plenty of units in that range in my target areas that look nice and modern. Maybe a little over 50K would still be OK, and I figure that can be haggled down a bit as well, esp if I offer to pay several months in advance.

I think you should book someplace for the first month while your looking so you’ll have time to check yourself.

What other requirements or desires do you have? Where are you learning Chinese? What are you hobbies? Will your child go to school and what kind of school do you want? You might not be able to find a slot in a school that you like and then you could end up commuting just for a school. Da-an is a small park and there is a bit of difference in different areas of Da-an. The riverside has huge parks. Neihu is huge buildings with not much street level feeling and slow ride into Taipei city also requiring a transfer to most places. Tienmu, even though older and slower, is nice for families for schools and social, but no MRT and long commute from Taipei. Danshui is too far unless you spend you life in Danshui, which is not Taipei.

Eh? Small? It’s huge!
River side parks aren’t really parks here. They are more like bike trails and walking paths that get flooded every rainy season.

Also, Tianmu has no MRT??? Yes it does. MRT 2 Zhishan station (至善).

Depends where you’re trying to go. I know they call that the Tianmu Sogo and Tianmu Carrefour, but usually when I refer to Tianmu, I’m talking about the Tianmu Square area, or the Takeshimaya Department Store, or the American School. And those areas aren’t accessible by MRT unless you want to walk thirty minutes or so. (Which is a big reason I almost never go into Tianmu these days.)

I wouldn’t praise Danshui’s air quality too much. I live in Danshui and it’s not that unusual for the air quality here to be worse than it is in Taipei City. I’ve never figured out how that happens - something about smog creeping up or across the Taiwan Strait, I guess.

Living with a young family in Danshui: many areas have basically no sidewalks, and that’d be a concern - in general, Taipei City is much better in that regard. There isn’t much variety in international restaurants, if that’s an issue for you. Buying non-Taiwanese groceries can sometimes be a hassle, depending on what you’re after. Everyone tells me it’s much rainier than Taipei, and while that’s certainly been true over the past week, I think the difference is overstated.

Somebody from Tamsui please tell OP about winters there.I do not dare.

That’s not Tianmu though.

For you…best choice is Daan or somewhere in Taipei city proper. Budget is enough to live well.

In fact just look around Daan park area first if you find something you like within budget , take it.

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That’s a bold statement. Daan spans a pretty large area including parts of Liuzhangli (which covers Tong Hua night market), the busy areas of East District, both NTUT, NTU and NTNU areas.

I don’t second guess that the area around Daan park is quiet…the stretch of Songjian to Jianguo on Xinyi is one of the few stretches of road in which I’ll feel completely safe takin the scoots up to 85kph since there’s no side roads. I will say that parts of Renai and the parts of Dunhua that aren’t near East District are quiet too, but to say that Daan is the least congested is a lie, we don’t sell lies here! :smiley:

Dear OP, Neihu isn’t as bad as most people say it is, however, the MRT line going through it is the oldest MRT line in the country. The tram cars are pretty small and are VERY congested during rush hour and weekends. As your main means of transport before you get a car, I would factor that in.

Despite my novel above, Daan is a great choice due to the abundance of top tier local schools available and like Andrew said, you are at the geographical center of the city. Nonetheless, if you plan on sending the kiddo to the American or European school, not very convenient. This is where you start to consider Shilin and Beitou areas. The commute time will be easily cut in half by moving closer to those two schools.

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Daan is great as long as you can find a nice quiet alley, never ever on a main road, heaven forbid.

You might want to consider the Muzha area. It’s nice.

Shhh, don’t tell anyone…

Remember that when looking on 591, the listing size of the apartment is not the actually size of the apartment. It includes a common area outside the apartment that is shared by multiple apartments. So the size is smaller than the listing size.

I would think newer apartment of 25 ping (890 sq feet / 82 square meters) would be at least 60K-70K in the areas you mentioned.

Size depends on your perspective :joy:

Daan Park is 2 square kilometers, and riverside parks are 50 or more kilometers with huge amounts of park and activity.

Most of Tienmu not really accessible to MRT especially central area where everyone lives, shops, eats.

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Muzha is okay, it’s got a lot of cruddy areas too and not well serviced by MRT.
Depends where in Muzha really.

Yeah, it’s pretty terrible, all of it, no one should bother with it…

(in my best Yoda voice)

“My home this is!”

Yeah man it’s a big secret lol.

Thought you were using Chinese grammar.