Hey folks,
Guess this topic has been answered hundreds time but for this long week end we are going down south. What do you guys recommend in Taichung and Kaohsiung particularly with small children (3 and 6mo).
Thanks
In Taichung, I recommend taking them to the HSR and catching the first train south to Kaohsiung.
Failing that, try the science musuem (ke-shi bo wu guan).
I don’t know much about Taichung but we went there a year ago for a feature article (http://issuu.com/travelintaiwan/docs/travel_in_taiwan_2014-1-2/13).
We went to the National Museum of Natural Science and the National Museum of Fine Arts, both interesting and educational (which kids might like or not like…), we visited Taichung Park, there you can rent a row boat on the pond. Kids love ice cream, so you might want to check out Miyahara, they have fine ice cream. We had dinner at Robot Station, a nice little place with a robot theme.
Haven’t been to Kaohsiung in ages, maybe I would go on a harbor or river cruise, check out Pier-2 Art Center, and maybe the Qiaotou Sugar Refinery, and go up to the Former British Consulate for harbor view and coffee.
At least those places are mentioned in another article in our mag (http://issuu.com/travelintaiwan/docs/20130304/17)
Across the Taichung Sogo Department Store, you will see the Splendour Hotel building. The same building has side elevators that go up to many floors. Each floor has specialty restaurants. You go up to the last theme floor, the kids activity floor, has lots of indoor playgrounds for kids, rides, 2 or 3 kids restaurants, ice cream parlor, anyway it is a giant space designed for parents with small kids.
Taichung
Houli Horse ranch is the starting point of a fun bike trail that goes for about 20km, round trip. Again it’s 30 mins north of TC. You get to ride through a 3km moutain tunnel, across a steel bridge which spans an empty reservoir, and then along a track which has plenty of snack stops. (We did it with our 3 mo! )
The Science museum is worth visiting with kids. There is a nice robotic dinosaur section.
The fine arts museum also have a free kids play area basement level. It’s nicely done and great if you need to sit down and watch the kids run around.
There is also a nice park outside Eslite bookstore with plenty of shops and restaurants to explore. In the same area, in front of Hotel one, there is a sub pavement level area. You can rent all kinds of electric vehicles here, from segways copies to RC porsches/audis etc big enough for a toddler to sit in.
Kaohsiung
This place is worth a visit late afternoon. Pier 2 Art District. (駁二藝術特區) Near Sizihwan MRT Station (捷運西子灣站) . Nice big art space, grassy and not too crowded. Kids can fly kites and make soap bubbles. Bring some food for a mini picnic.
Come back on Sunday from our trip (7 hours drive from KH, massive traffic jams…).
Taichung: we went to the wetland outside Taichung, very very nice place although they are a lot of people, you can walk further and be alone. Kids loved it. Sunset was wonderful. The next day we went to the Science Museum. It is nice but not the best one I have been. A good stop though if you have nothing else to do.
Kaohsiung: the Pier-2 is indeed a very nice place to walk around and as we were in the City Suite hotel, it is the most convenient location. We also went to Cijin Island, the beach is not that great, not much to do except take the ferry which is nice for the kids.
should have seen the jam to the Xueshan tunnel as well…epic. I abandoned it and stayed an extra night. I could tell you some interesting places in Changhua county near Taichung city but a bit hard to find them. I would also recommend visiting Tainan and stopping by places like Gukeng or Chiayi if driving north or south.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
But I was sure that the rush would be on Monday night !? Why they all went back on Sunday ?
Please write it down ! Always interesting.
Everybody had the same idea…to beat the rush at the same time. Traffic was quite light on the Monday.
Changhua has lots of dairy farms that are free to enter and have kids play areas, plus fresh milk and ice cream, take the 74 expressway from Taichung and only 20 mins or so. There’s also some places that grow pineapples and make pineapple cakes among other things.
Taichung city art museum area is a lovely area, always has different exhibitions , free to enter and loads of parks surrounding it, greenway also goes back to the people’s square area.
Tainan Anping district is always worth a. Visit along with beach nearby., also university area.
Gukeng is famous for coffee and has a tourist area just off the highway., very easy to access and beautiful subtropical scenery all year.
Lonely planet probably has a lot of these places with directions, check it out.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk