I am visiting Taiwan with my family - 2 kids. I visited Hong Kong, Beijing and Shenzhen, I found there are few day tours which are reasonable to covers good places ?
where do I get information about day tour in Taipei. I like to see places in Taipei and around Taipei
Travel agents can set you up. Some here: en.liontravel.com/taiwantours.aspx
It’s so easy to get around taipei you don’t need an arranged trip.
Sure the MRT goes lots of places, but if it’s your first visit and you haven’t had time to read a travel book, you won’t know which are the ones worth seeing. Plus, a tour guide can give insight into the history and significance of what you’re seeing.
If you don’t find an appropriate tour and I’m still unemployed when you visit, give me a call. :discodance:
Sure the MRT goes lots of places, but if it’s your first visit and you haven’t had time to read a travel book, you won’t know which are the ones worth seeing. Plus, a tour guide can give insight into the history and significance of what you’re seeing.
If you don’t find an appropriate tour and I’m still unemployed when you visit, give me a call. :discodance:[/quote]
I disagree. Look at the itinerary on all the tours. The Martyrs Shrine? You realise that is for people who died in China? CKS Memorial Hall? A piece of crap monument (it fetishizes trad architecture as one prominent architect put it) to a former dictator. And what do we learn there? That Chiang is a great leader widely respected by the people. All nonsense.
Notice how the Presidential Palace does not even mention that it was built by the Japanese and actually is shaped like the character 日, for Japan. 
Other stops are usually the Palace Museum which is of course great but again one will not get any sense of Taipei or Taiwan from that.
Overall the tours will give you a very Han-man, blue tinted view of Taipei and leave you think “I should have just gone to China.”
But that’s my point. These are the top destinations that an independent traveler would head for, as well, especially since all of them except NPM (and arguably Martyr’s Shrine) are within easy access of MRT or buses. I am confident that I could lead a better Taipei tour than most travel books or travel agencies can, but sadly there is relatively little market demand – and my family and friends refuse to visit, even after five years. Their loss I guess. :-/
Other than the NPM none are top destinations in modern Taipei (the Presidential Palace is much diminished without its history). They are to Taipei what Sun Moon Lake is to Taiwan. Something that is nowhere near the best but is promoted because it was politically correct to do so in decades past. Now it’s just laziness that it persists.
You have to be a blind idiot to pick the inert and architecturally dull Martyrs Shrine over say the UNESCO heritage award winning Bao’an Temple. But I think you are agreeing with me. 
Wait, what? Taiwan doesn’t have any UNESCO sites…
I agree that Blue-ourism (see what I did there?) is a pretty lame way to sell Taiwan. If you want to see China, go to China.
[quote=“Hokwongwei”]Wait, what? Taiwan doesn’t have any UNESCO sites…
I agree that Blue-ourism (see what I did there?) is a pretty lame way to sell Taiwan. If you want to see China, go to China.[/quote]
It won a UNESCO Cultural Heritage Preservation Award honorable mention in 2003.
baoan.org.tw/ENGLISH/preservation_01.html
Blue-orism. I like that. 
But they tap-dance at the Martyr’s Shrine. I love that part.
If the weather is good my advice is to pile onto a bus and go to Yehliu geopark, particularly if you appreciate natural wonders. That’s still the best easy day trip I’ve been on…
Is it worth visiting both Yeliu and Heping Island Park?
Heping Island is very cool, but Yehliu is better and if you are trying to see a number of things just go to one. Afterwards go to Juming Museum and Jinbao Cemetary.
Take the train to Keelung then catch the tourism shuttle bus right outside the station. Takes you to all the above (except Heping) and continues to Tamsui.
I agree with MM, those typical organized tours are not really that spectacular. There are, however, a few tour organizers who can customize tours for individual travelers. Will try to find the contact info.
Some years back, there was a so-called Tour Buddy service, where tourists could sign up for private tours and young volunteers would take them by the hand and show them places of interest around the city. I liked the idea, not sure how satisfied the tourists where and why the service was stopped eventually, though. This was more of a cultural/language exchange kind of thing, but for young foreign tourists that might have been a cool experience.
If going on your own, yeah, just take the public transport, MRT/bus/gondola/ferry/railway, quite convenient in greater Taipei. I would do Taipei 101, Xingtian Temple and Tamsui if I had just one day.
If you have more time, take the train to Ruifang and from there the tourist shuttle bus to Jiufen, Jinguashi, Shuinandong, Nanya (oh no, no stop there, for whatever stupid reason…), Bitou Cape, Longdong and Fulong. There is really much to see on that route. The Keelung -Tamsui route is good too, Yeliu, Jinshan, Juming Museum, Shimen, Baishawan Beach, oh and two nuclear power stations… (you can actually visit one of those and learn about how they operate those plants).
Have fun!
Here is a relatively new tour operator who might offers some different tours than the established bigger ones. http://www.mytaiwantour.com/#
Just one or two days in Taipei with two kids? Maybe the zoo? Take a ride on that gondola up and down as well. Its cheap entertainment. And maybe next day, take in Tamshui? All accessible with the MRT> On one of the days, take them to Taipei 101 as well. End up the day with a stroll around Hsimenting. And the next evening, Shihlin night market.
A day trip by train to and from FULUNG beach could be fun since summer is here.
If I were going to do a day tour in Taipei, this is where I’ll go:
First, Beitou, goto the Hotspring museum, the library in front of it, perhaps even the Ketagelan aboriginal museum, then hop on a bus or walk to Bei-tou Wen-Wu Guan (Bei-tou museum).
From there you can either take a bus up to Yang-Ming Shan, go to Zhu-zi hu to look at the white flowers set against the volcanic Siao-You-Keng. Perhaps walk down the old pipe trial to golden falls behind Wen-Hua University, and see a couple Taiwanese macaque on the way.
Or one can travel along the redline towards Tamsui, stopping at the mangroves station for a strall, then head for Fort Santa Domingo and Former British Embassy. Return to tamsui old street for food, watch the sun set, ride bike.
Anything is better than going to Chiang Kai-shek shrine and the other Blue-ourist destinations.
I recently visited the Bopiliao Historic Block near Longshan Temple MRT and was very impressed. It’s kind of like Huashan Creative Park, which I also recommend, but less commercial and even older dating back to the Qing Dynasty. It’s a good place to walk around and get a sense of what Taipei was like a century ago. A must for history and architecture buffs.
[quote=“hansioux”]If I were going to do a day tour in Taipei, this is where I’ll go:
First, Beitou, goto the Hotspring museum, the library in front of it, perhaps even the Ketagelan aboriginal museum, then hop on a bus or walk to Beitou Wen-Wu Guan (Beitou museum).
From there you can either take a bus up to Yang-Ming Shan, go to Zhu-zi hu to look at the white flowers set against the volcanic Siao-You-Keng.
[/quote]
What bus do you catch from the folk art museum up to Yangmingshan?
It’s okay. I found it: 230. Brilliant suggestion btw.
Oh how long does it take to walk the Tienmu Trail all the way down?
My kids loved Bopiliao Historic Block. They found Huashan really boring when we went this past weekend. We much preferred the Songshan Art and Culture Park, which also has its own history. (kidzone-tw.blogspot.tw/2012/08/s … -park.html). In July, there should be more kids’ stuff going on at Huashan, but you have to check the schedule for the Taipei Children’s Arts Festival. There is also a lot more to see and do around the Historic Block that both parents and kids can appreciate.
Isn’t Hoping Island in Jilong still closed? The Aboriginal Culture Center near the bridge is OK, but if you are in the city for just a couple of days, I’d give it a miss and head to Yeiliou and Juming Museum, or the Gold Museum and Jiufen. These are all places that have enough history, English introductions both on-site and online, and variety to please everyone in a family.
Have you considered hiring a taxi for a day? I’ve seen a few recommendations for drivers on Facebook groups if that is something you would consider. I hired a driver on the East Coast when my father visited and it turned out to be very worthwhile.