My husband is offered a job at CKS airport in Taipei. We have a kid of 4 years old and we are expecting another baby within a few months. We plan to send our boy to French school in the north of Taipei and thinking of staying somewhere not too far from his school. Been searching for info of nice area for family that we can afford (around 30,000 to40,000 NT) What I have in mind are Neihu, tianmu but have no idea where the area are exactly…
Can you please give us some advice the area we should stay that is convenient for my son to go to school and not too far for my husband to go to work…the area that is safe, not polluted and with park or lake , not too difficult to move around (with public transportation like mrt, bus)
Do u think that we can find some nice apartment or house within our budget (partly furnished)?
You’d probably want to live around Shihlin (where Tianmu is) or Beitou, as those areas are closer to the French School and are served by the MRT. It’s also not far from the highway, so your husband can commute to CKS. The thing is, a daily commute between CKS and Taipei is daunting, what with the traffic.
Neihu is nice, but it’s not served by the MRT yet and is farther away from both CKS Airport and the French School than Tianmu is. Tianmu, however, is quite expensive.
CKS Airport is not in Taipei. It is in Taoyuan County. It is about 40 minutes’ drive from Taipei when the roads are clear - longer when they are jammed.
you may find that you are going to have to make a decision on the job or the school. i live in taoyuan, and sometimes it takes the better part of an hour to get to the airport.
count on a lot of driving if you want to have both, and driving here is not much fun.
Currently, we live in Nankan, which is ideal for commuting to CKS daily, but not so good for social life in Taipei. To be honest, commuting between Taipei and CKS take 1-1.5 hrs each way…but heading into Taipei from Nankan to go out typically takes 30mins, because generally that’s not during rush hour.
We are in the process of looking for a place in Taipei that is close to the freeway, but even so the thought of 1hr+ each way everyday commute does not impress me. If your husband works a normal 8-5 job at CKS and lives in Taipei, it will mean he will be gone around 6.45am and back home about 6.30pm - which makes for a big day. In somewhere like Nankan, it would be 7.45am and home by 5.15pm.
Nankan is up-and-coming with many new apartment complexes (like about 20+) all nearing completion. I expect there will be some great rental deals coming along, so it really depends if you want quality of life at HOME or quality of life out and about in Taipei. IF you go out for a dinner once or twice a week only, then living closer to the airport and driving into Taipei afterhours might suit. IF you plan on spending a lot of time out in Taipei, then letting your husband do the commuting might work better.
I am not a parent, so this is an unqualified opinion, but if it was me I would put our 4 year old into a school out here. I’ve seen friend’s western kids around that age pick up mandarin so fast it really is an opportunity for you to think about. By the time he is around 6, you could look at more formal education and by then you will know more about what you want from Taiwan.
Anyway, please PM me if you want anymore specific information. There might even be a good chance I will see your husband out at CKS from time to time.