Districts & Neighborhoods: Comparisons

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

Do Taipei’s 12 districts and various neighborhoods have any distinguishing characteristics from each other? Are Peitou, Shihlin, Neihu, Nankang and Wenshan like suburbs where everybody needs a car, or does public transpo reach those places? Can you walk out the front door and have access to markets, restaurants, MRT, busses, laundry services, etc.?

Are Tatung and Wanhua districts considered “downtown”? What are the Chungshan, Chungcheng, Taan, Sungshan and Hsinyi districts like?

Are there neighborhoods known for their specialty as tourist ghettos, shopping centers or business/commerce districts? Are there neighborhoods known for violent crime, poverty/theft, drugs or X-rated seediness? Or is this stuff just all over the place in a sprawling chaotic jumble?

Thanks for any insight. :?

2

In Taipei neighbourhoods you can literally get anything, any where, at any time.
There are minor differences between the districts, but nothing drastic.
Some areas are more attractive than other areas, but there is not much that significantly sets it apart from other parts, except for maybe the older areas like Dihua Street or parts of Wanhua.
There is no suburban sprawl and no strip malls. It’s all urban sprawl.
There is almost no violent random crime or poverty on the streets of Taipei.
Wanhua may be considered the seediest side of town, but it’s an old area, and although it’s riddled with bordellos, it’s still quite safe for tourists–hence the Snake Alley Tourist Market.
Da an and Xin yi has probably more foreign restaurants, but not as inundated as Tian Mu. Tian mu is its own little world.
Ximending is a funky shopping district with lots of theatres.
Xinyi is still being developed, but turning into a business hub.
Neihu is more pleasant in some ways than other areas of Taipei as parts of it are new, and there are a few lakes around there (Dahu, Donghu). But so is Xindian, and Muzha, and anywhere closer to the mountains is nicer and the air is fresher. Luckily, transportation is still fine in those areas, especially where the MRT reaches.
The area off Linsen and Zhongshan is more of a Japanese tourist area.
Beitou is as well, but it’s the hotsprings region, so it’s touristy in general, and quite pleasant–again, the mountains.
I would say that parts of Taipei, in my opinion, are more livable than other parts, but that would depend on what one would deem ‘livable’. My priorities have changed over the years and i don’t need the inner city convenience as I did before, which is why I moved out of the Da-an area after living there the past 5 years. I found it very convenient to friends, libraries, transport, shopping and restaurants.
Where I live now, Xijr, is inconvenient to all those facets, but it’s comfortable and clean, and strikingly beautiful up here on the mountainside, and it’s convenient to my office.
You’re just going to have to find out for yourself when you get here, but like I said, don’t expect anything hugely different from area to area.
The neighbourhood differences are more subtle than in some cities of the world.

3

What you’ll need to do when you get here is go to the area you are considering and walk around it for a while to get a feel for it. Take the MRT to a stop you want to be near, and then just stroll around the area. You’re looking at at least about half an hour on the MRT from Beitou, more for even further out.

Personally, if I’m living downtown I’d rather be right downtown, and if not, then I’d rather be out of the city completely. The ring of suburbs around Taipei, such as Zhonghe, Yonghe, Banqiao, Xinzhuang, etc., are not as pleasant as downtown Taipei in general, and much less convenient. Rural areas such as Muzha, Neihu, Fuxinggang, etc. are quite nice and more quiet, but are also far out of the way if you go downtown a lot.

Taipei is developing in an eastward direction, so newer, more expensive housing is found the further east you go, it seems. Older places can be had for a lot cheaper, and the western part of the city has a lot more of these kinds of places.

4

I would consider everything between the rivers downtown.

What are the Chungshan (Zhongshan), Chungcheng, Taan (Da’an), Sungshan (Songshan) and Hsinyi districts like?

Chungshan - north of Taipei main station; nothing much, downtown district with residential and commercial properties
Sungshan - same thing bascially, includes domestic airport
Hsinyi - financial disctrict, some newer buildings (offices, hotels and residential) - expensive but also a bigger shopping area with cinema complex (Warner Village)
Taan - has Taan park, else another downtown messy place

…X-rated seediness?

Linsen North Road (Chungshan disctrict) is known for that. Lot’s of so-called KTV places around serving mainly Japanese customers who stay around that area.
At the northern end of that same road you find a place called “The (Combat) Zone”, a handfull of small bars and pubs where you can pay the girls to entertain you. Not that I would recommend the place though …

That said I actually stay somewhere along Linsen North Road (but not in the zone) though I don’t feel bothered - at least I can go out and buy a new pair of shoes at 4am if I want to … :wink:

Public transport (MRT, bus) is pretty good - easy to get around even though you don’t speak Chinese (well, taking a bus isn’t that easy but after a while you can figure it out somewhat), MRT also connects to some suburbs but lines to Neihu and Sanchong are under construction (the latter just started only).
In most places you find lot’s of small shops to serve your daily needs, not only in downtown Taipei but also in the suburbs.

5

Which neighborhood/section of Taipei would you say is the cheapest to live? By this I mean, for someone willing to live in a small, basic apartment, where in the city is the rent, in general, cheapest? (And if you give the name of a place, please indicate whether it’s a neighborhood of the city, or a suburb, or what.)

6

Considered district by district, the cheapest districts are Nangang and Wanhua (according to the aveage rentals tracked by Tsui Mama). This is looking at Taipei City alone, not county. Nangang is cheap becuase it’s quite far from downtown and not a nice area. Wanhua is cheap (with the exception of the Ximending area) becuase it’s the oldest part of town and shows it. It’s also full of cheap old former-public housing buildings. However you can get reasonable places there very cheap, and (especially if you have a scooter), it’s very close to downtown Taipei.

Looking at Taipei County, I forget which districts are the cheapest. I imagine it’s Xinzhuang, Sanchong, Wugu, Xinzhuang, and Shuiln. Reason: these are horrible overcrowded areas which would be awful to live in. There are nicer parts of Taipei County such as parts of Xindian, Yonghe etc, where you can get good prices, but sometimes these rival Taipei City prices (Yonghe is more expensive than Wanhua and Nangang now).

Brian

7

I lived in Shulin many moons ago and second Brian’s opinion. Most areas just west of the river from downtown Taipei are pretty much shit-holes, IMHO.

8

Neihu is great, with mountains that offer a break from the summer heat, and lakes and hiking trails. A suburban feel. But no MRT for a few more years…

9

[quote=“WorkingVaca”]Do Taipei’s 12 districts and various neighborhoods have any distinguishing characteristics from each other? Are Beitou, Shilin, Neihu, Nankang (Nangang) and Wenshan like suburbs where everybody needs a car, or does public transpo reach those places? Can you walk out the front door and have access to markets, restaurants, MRT, busses, laundry services, etc.?

Are Tatung and Wanhua districts considered “downtown”? What are the Zhongshan, Chungcheng, Da’an, Sungshan (Songshan) and Xinyi districts like?

Are there neighborhoods known for their specialty as tourist ghettos, shopping centers or business/commerce districts? Are there neighborhoods known for violent crime, poverty/theft, drugs or X-rated seediness? Or is this stuff just all over the place in a sprawling chaotic jumble?

Thanks for any insight. :?[/quote]

Wanhua is the oldest part of Taipei, where it was a busy port before the Japanese came over and the river silted. So it is the most historic area of Taipei (although nothing historic is really left…). Some parts are run down, but by no means is the entire district a dump as some proposed. In actuality some parts are nice to live because of close proximity to large recreational area, like riverside park and Youth Park.

Like what Rascal said, 中山區 (Zhongshan) is one of the seedier part of Taipei with the bars, KTV, and sauna places (you know it’s seedy when the proprietor covers the license plates of his customers’ parked S class Mercedes!) that caters to foreigners, especially Japanese. This area in the 70’s was where the U.S. soldiers stayed, hence all the bars. However all these activities are limited to the area around Xuancheng St. (雙城街) and Linsen N. Rd. Taipei’s most exclusive “love motel” is in that area. If you were heading east on MinSheng E. Rd., once you cross XingSheng N. Rd. everything’s gone.

10

Beitou
Hotsprings are very good with water of the Yangmingshan mountain range. Many households in Peitou have their own “wenchuan”.
Peitou/XIn Peitou MRT

Shilin
Nightmarket of course, actually near Chientan MRT station.

Neihu
Dahu; big lake actually is a nice place to walk.
building an MRT-line

Nankang (Nangang)
Industrial park with lots of companies like Acer and many others.
(end of the blue MRT line)

Wenshan
Pretty quite place. Check out Jingmei nightmarket near Jingmei MRT station.

Tatung and Wanhua districts
Wanhua is even often not indicated on Taiwanese maps for tourists.
Zhongshan, Chungcheng, Sungshan: some shops.

Da’an
Dan park.
(Songshan) and

Xinyi districts
Financial districts with a lot of banks.

Are there neighborhoods known for their specialty as tourist ghettos.
Tourist attractions are all over Taipei. Have a look at the Lonely Planet Guide or check out the Taipei Tourist Office website.

shopping centers
Ximenting (West-Taipei Trading circle) and Chunghsiao Tunhua area (East-Taipei trading circle), the area near Warner Village is cool too.

or business/commerce districts
Xin Yi

violent crime, drugs or X-rated seediness
Try Linsen North Road late at night

poverty/theft
Some areas of Wanhua

? Or is this stuff just all over the place in a sprawling chaotic jumble?
Whatever you want, you surely can find it in Taipei.