Linkou, New Taipei City.
Living here for the past 5-6 years and feel very convenient.
With (they keep saying “soon”) future MRT station (A9 in Linkou proper) connect both the city and the airport, there will be even more added value.
There is at least one German restaurant and another Spanish tapas restaurant aside from typical Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean cuisine.
There is a Carrefour and a few Wellcome, or even traditional market if you feel like joining the locals bargaining in Taiwanese language.
There’s also few Starbucks and other local chain coffee shops scattered around the city.
There is a shopping mall (just opened) near the A8 MRT Station (in Guishan, Linkou’s twin city).
The roads are wide, the only issue (without MRT as of now) is traffic jam on Friday night to Taipei (5PM to 7.30 PM, the highway basically packed with cars coming to Taipei). I think, with MRT, this won’t be issue later on.
Linkou is nice enough and all, but calling it New Taipei City don’t really make it part of Taipei City in my book. 
It should be called Taipei outer greater metropolitan area to get a better idea. Also having one MRT station at the edge of it is not super convenient for a lot of folks who actually live there. Most folks will probably still be driving around even if the MRT will be handy for some. It’s the real suburbs. Having a Carrefour and Starbucks isn’t really a ringing endorsement of a place.
But if one read the OPs statement, one would say this kind of suburb is not what he’s looking for. He’s looking to be in the foreigner action, so yeah closer to Taipei city center probably the better. Being single, that’s pretty easily achievable fortunately as rents are quite reasonable especially living just over the river or sharing in the city center itself.
No, I wouldn’t recommend where I live to others as I live in what was Taichung County and it’s too far from the city and often very boring. I’m here because I have a few friends here and the teaching job provides regular hours and free accommodation. I spent a year in Loudong ten years ago and if I could the same sort of deal jobwise I have here, I’d definitely consider returning. I’ll be moving somewhere else in November. Ironically, I’ve mainly been considering Kaosiung.
I’ve been meaning to share my thoughts on moving into Song Shan District in Taipei for awhile, but keep getting side tracked.
Song Shan is the airport, Minsheng Community, Taipei Arena and the areas around the Song Shan Train station. You have nice, like many of the districts you have upscale and quiet areas as well as some older and loud areas.
I would suggest living along the stretch between Taipei Arena and Nanjing Sanmin MRT. There’s the green MRT on Nanjing East Road and the buses on there can take you almost anywhere.
I’m the biggest fan of Minsheng Community. It stretches from Dun Hua North Road to Ta You Road (west to east) and Minquan to Nanjing (north to south). The area really resonates a very comfortable atmosphere to live within a very hustling bustling city like Taipei. Pros are that there’s an abundance of green everywhere! The trees around Minsheng Community make it seem like you’re not in Taipei. It closely resembles the atmosphere you get when talking down Dunhau Rd in Taipei. The biggest Con is that it has no MRT line. You have to rely on bus to get out of the area. The green MRT line on Nanjing is an option, but that’s always a good 20-30 min walk depending on where you are located.
I will say that living by Song Shan train station is very convenient if you need to make trips out of the city via train or high speed rail. The local train from Song Shan to Taipei Main is faster and much cheaper than the MRT and it’s one of the quickest ways to get to the HSR from in the area. Also, getting to the airport via TRA, connecting to HSR, and then the shuttle bus to the airport is also equally if not faster than taking the bus/driving. However, a friend of mine used to live there and said that the area is dead during the day. It starts getting busy at night because of the night market, but finding something to eat in the area was always tough for him and his gf. You have a few old shops and of course City Link above the train station, but there’s not much variety.
I think the nicest thing about Song Shan is that most of the district is relatively close to the riverside parks. Whether you’re near the train station or near Taipei Arena, you’re not too far from an entrance to the riverside parks. It’s a great getaway from the noise of the city where you can ride bikes, take a jog, there’s a dog park, tennis courts a little farther down the river towards the grand hotel, an abundance of basketball courts and has two hockey rinks as well!
Whatever your choice is, good luck with deciding!
We live in Da’an. i like it a lot. Compared to other places in Taiwan i believe it’s more expensive when it comes to eating out… but i find even without a car everywhere is easy to get to. I like my dr here
Yes Kenting is easy to get to to from Da an. Or anywhere up a mountain. 
I’ve lived in Kaohsiung for almost three years. Started out living in YanCheng. Pros for me were the nice harbor and pier 2 art area which is good for a leisurely stroll and short bikerides. I studied at NSYSU at the time so the location is perfect: not far from the city center, MRT and university. Absolutely loved eating my biandang at sunset with a Gongcha on the side, watching Chinese tourist getting ‘educated’ by Falun Dafa at the British consulate. Working in the Starbucks watching the ships float by. Also Kaohsiung is only second to Taipei when it comes to playing pro-level pool, but yeah… you gotta be into that. 40 ping (oldish but clean) apartment for 7000nt.
Big con is the air pollution for me. I actually moved to NiaoSong district for that reason. 30 ping apartment including big swimming pool, spa, gym, pooltable, tabletennis, small movietheater for 14000nt. The air quality is a bit better there, with a nice big park surrounding ChengQing lake. A bit far out of the city center and not much there as shops go. Sadly it takes a long drive through grim towns to get out of the city into nature (not counting Monkey mountain).
Still the airquality was not good enough so decided to move to Hualien. I’ve been living there for 8 months now. The cons are that the poolscene is not great at all, it rains a bit more than I would like but apart from that all it’s great: decent airquality, lots of hiking and rivertracing, comfortable and challenging biking opportunities. Decent amount of western and asian cuisine, some festivals, nice indigenous flavor, 30 minutes scooterdrive and you jump in a river with fish eating at your feet. Wild hotsprings… If you have the means to live here it is the place to be. Take a Taroko or Puyuma train and in 2 hours you’re walking in Taipei. Kenting is a bit far off, but just another 2 hous south and you’ll be in Taidong which is even more rural but with its own variety of cultural and natural activities. Too bad the sun sets on the other side of the island and there’s no Gongcha