Taipei Travel Answers

Guanda Temple could be combined with Tamsui. There are also several interesting day trip options:- Yinggee pottery town, Wului - aboriginal village, waterfall, Keelung - temple of Kuan Su, Yelihu - interesting rock formations. Did you mention night markets - there are lots.

It great to have some sense of organization going into Taipei. You will find that most will intertwine with one another. Night markets is a must because that is what Taiwan people do. Going into some of the large department stores and seeing their food court sometimes impress me also. There are so many temples too. I covered most of the area in three days and then back tracked to the places I really enjoyed. Taipei is great when you really get to know it. Unfortunately my favorite place for good coffee was at a Mc Donalds.

Thanks for your replies. Irene, it looks like Kuantu Temple and Guanda Temple are the same and I also noticed that you've helpfully written about it with directions - which sounds pretty easy to get to. I'll combine it with my trip to Tamshui. I take it that the day trips will involve public buses? For a non Chinese speaker, how easy are they to use or would it be better to grab a taxi (or are they too far for a taxi ride?) xymmot, I allowed 9 days in Taipei do you think that is too long since you managed to see it in 3 days? I'm just wondering if I can cut out some of the places I've listed. Do you think the way I've organised the places to visit is about right? Thanks.

As to day trips: we went to Yingee by train - no problem; Keelung by tain - no problem. Yelihu and Wulai we did ages ago on organized day trip, but I believe there is a public bus to Wulai and Yelihu can also be reached by public bus from Keelung. Destinations tend to be written in Chinese and not that many peoplespeak English, but everyone tries to hel and somehow you get to where you want to be.

Thanks, Irene. To save time and hassle I might try to look for an organised day trip to some of the places you've mentioned. I fear that a lot of time could be lost with me getting lost!

I created an itinerary based on your descriptions: travel.olc.tw/schedules/view... To answer your questions: # Maokong Gondola has a stop in Chi Nan Temple. # Half day at Beitou is enough, you could then get to Kuantu Temple You arranged many temples. Don't you like night markets?

Hi olctw. Thanks very much for your reply and especially for taking the time to build that itinerary for me - I really appreciate it :) Its given me a much better idea of how the places are linked to see them grouped like that. Do you think I can combine Beitou, Kuantu Temple and Tamshui into one day (judging from yours and Irene's replies)? I will also be going around night markets as well. I just forgot to put them in. I'm planning to go to Shilin night market and I believe there are a couple more to look into. Yes, you're right. I've put in a few temples but hopefully they are different to each other. As this is my first draft, I may skip some as I don't want to be templed out!

Sure you can combine them as they are on the same MRT line. As I'm the resident in Taiwan. I just couldn't tell if the temples you chose have big differences. If you are not willing to study the details of temples, maybe you could replace some of them by the following venus. Jiufen Old Street http://travel.olc.tw/points/view/26 New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum travel.olc.tw/points/view/14... A little bit far, but they could give you more differences. ;)

Thanks, olctw. I think I'll do Beitou, Kuantu Temple and Tamshui in one day in that case which will free up a day for me. The dilema I have is whether to do the day trips that have been suggested to me or go to Kaohsiung. I'm still deciding on this ;) I've looked at combining Jiufen and Yeliu as a day trip and also Taroko Gorge as another day trip. The alternative was to head south to Kaohsiung. Both choices appeal to me so I may have to toss a coin! PS nice website you have :)