Taipei Shih Travel Forum

Hello everyone!

I'll be visiting Taiwan with my family (dad, sis & boyfriend) sometime late June (Wed to Sun). We'll arrive Taipei at abt 2pm & will be staying in Royal Castle Hotel.

I'm trying to squeeze as many places of interest as possible within our short stay in Taiwan, namely:

Day 1:
(1) Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall
(2) CKS Memorial Hall
(3) 101
(4) Wufenpu
(5) Raohe NM

Day 2:
(4) LongShan Temple
(5) Beitou Hotspring or Wulai Hotspring
(6) Danshui / Fisherman's Wharf
(7) Shilin NM
**Personally, I would prefer Wulai Hotspring, but because the Xindian MRT (to Wulai) is at the opposite end of Xin Beitou MRT (to Beitou), I'm not sure if I should just stick to Beitou, so that I can also visit Danshui & Shilin NM along the way.. If I opt for Wulai hotspring, is there any sight-seeing place coz I doubt my dad would want to join us for the hotspring spa**

Day 3:
(1) Yehliu
(2) Jiguashih
(3) Jiufen
(4) Shifen
(5) Keelung Miaokou (temple + NM)
**Will engage a taxi driver (Mr. Meeky Yang is highly recommended?) to bring us, will this take us a whole day? Or can we squeeze 1 or 2 other places of interest back in Taipei? Any recommendation if this is possible?**

Day 4:
(1) Train fr. Taipei to Hualien
(2) Taroko Gorge
** Will engage a taxi driver upon reaching Hualien (a Mr. Chen is highly recommended?) Unfortunately I forgot to take down his no., if anyone has it, please let me know. Also, will this take us a whole day? Where else is worth visiting besides Taroko Gorge?**

Day 5:
(1) Ximengding before heading to airport for flight back to SG.
**Our flight back is at abt 6pm, so we'll have 1/2 day to wander around, any nice places to recommend?

Notes:
**I'm also thinking of a visit to Yangmingshan, can I squeeze this in any of the days? Do I need a guide to bring us or it's fine to be on our own?

** I'm fine with dropping visits to Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall & CKS Memorial Hall.. I've them in my itinerary for my dad, but I'm not sure if he'll enjoy the visits to the halls afterall.. Hee.

**If I were to drop the memorial halls, are there any places that we should consider going? Basically my dad is in love with the Taiwan programmes introducing all the Taiwan snacks (xiao chi), so if anyone can recommend nice places to "pig out", that'll be very much appreciated.

Let me know your thoughts on the above, all comments are welcome. Thanks in advance to all helpful forummers.

Cheers!

Hey!! Your Dad will enjoy both the Memorial Halls as they are different. Also nothing else open at 9am in the morning so these and the Martyr's Shrine (Really good Changing of the guards here) are great for a visit.

Hualien -Private Cabs- licensed:Chen should be busy during June, Try Lu-Also very good and highly recommended.
Mr. Lu Lai-fu - 886-928-569-081
Mr. Chen Guang-fa - 886-937-167-779, 886-3-861-1353, 886-3-856-6895

Meeky's tour is Whole day but if you really like Tofu, you can ask him to try and add SengKeng-Tofu street for delicious Tofu dishes. Small street but nice for Tofu afficiados.

Hi Nuttyazn,

One more qns I have, if you can help too.. Is there high speed train (bullet train) service from Taipei Main Station to Hualien? If there is, can we & where can we book tickets online?

Thank you in advance.

Cheers!

Hi,

Sorry, no HSR To Hualien. It is best to take the 6.45 train to Hualien as it will get you there early and you can make the most of your time there. Since you are going on a weekday, you should not have a problem with the tickets however, you can buy the tickets 3 days in advance once you get here.

Taipei main Station is just one stop away from Ximen and worth a visit. 2nd floor has a great inexpensive food center. Behind is the underground Mall-Taipei City Mall for really cheap Tshirts and Shoes for Gals.

Yangi St near Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT Stop and Yongkang St is 2 other places for a variety of food here.

Hello Nuttyazn!

In that case, we'll to save Hualien for our next trip to Taiwan. My dad is really keen to try the HSR, so we're planning for a day trip to Taichung (SML, Fengjia NM etc, still reading up and doing research) instead of Hualien.

Thanks for the tip on the underground mall, Yangi St & Yongkang St. Will definitly add these places in my itinerary. :-)

(PS: I managed to book Mr. Meeky Yang for a day trip to Jiufen, however he mentioned SengKeng Tofu Street may be out of the way if we are to visit Yehliu > Jiguashih > Jiufen > Shifen > Keelung Miaokou. :-( I hope he can somehow squeeze that in for us on the day!)

Cheers!