Nonetheless, I'm happy to share my experiences - though being a broken record rewinding how great some places in Taiwan are and you should not miss out. I've decided to dig out our old itineraries for the sake of the 'lazy folks'.
7 Days 6 Nights Taipei Itinerary
To kick-off, here's my maiden trip to Taiwan back in end-February to early-March 2010. It was probably Hubby's 2nd or 3rd trip, having been there with his Prudential colleagues previously. Hence all the planning was done by him.
Honestly I didn't like Taiwan as much in the beginning - the weather in Taipei then was cold and rainy and he introduced me to many 'weird' foodstuff for the first time. You will see me mentioning this throughout the itinerary haha! However it was also the trip where I grew my 'must-eats' list including 萬年排骨老店, 小南門傳統豆花 and Mister Donut. And yes, a lot of bubble tea.
This itinerary would probably be the most useful to many first-timer travelers to Taiwan as Hubs included most of the must-see and must-eat for me. Do note that the following itinerary recollection is based on the numerous photographs taken (Hubs don't prepare written itineraries). This itinerary has not been updated, and we would skip certain places of interests such as temples and certain foods (some of the stuff I detest includes spicy cuisine, spring onions and yam).
Honestly I didn't like Taiwan as much in the beginning - the weather in Taipei then was cold and rainy and he introduced me to many 'weird' foodstuff for the first time. You will see me mentioning this throughout the itinerary haha! However it was also the trip where I grew my 'must-eats' list including 萬年排骨老店, 小南門傳統豆花 and Mister Donut. And yes, a lot of bubble tea.
This itinerary would probably be the most useful to many first-timer travelers to Taiwan as Hubs included most of the must-see and must-eat for me. Do note that the following itinerary recollection is based on the numerous photographs taken (Hubs don't prepare written itineraries). This itinerary has not been updated, and we would skip certain places of interests such as temples and certain foods (some of the stuff I detest includes spicy cuisine, spring onions and yam).
Day 1 - Excited but blah weather
- Flight arrival in late evening. Traveled to Taipei City via the trusty airport bus.
- Stayed in Ximending, hotel along Chengdu Road.
- Ate late dinner at the only stall that was opened beside the hotel. Had my first taste of pig kidney, not bad. But the stall had a stinky pee stench.
Day 2 - Realized I have iron-stomach for Taiwan street food
- City Hall MRT Station - Eslite (I think we walked all the floors. Loved the artsy stuff and bought a number of books), Shinkong Mitsui shopping centres (went to a foodcourt for yummy 萬年排骨老店, there was an outdoor food festival then, had my first smelly tofu there, don't like it), Taipei 101 (didn't went up though due to the gloomy weather)
- Zhongxiao Dunhua Station - Zhongxiao Donglu, Yang Zi Da Hun Tun
- Jiantan MRT Station - Shilin Night Market (it was fully outdoor then). Bought many bags from Tian Lan Xiao Bu.
Day 3 - Great View + Fireworks!
- Moved to Rainbow Hotel, also in Ximending
- Shopped around Ximen. Ate A Zong Mian Xian, KFC Egg Tarts (they had more variety than in Singapore), Ya Rou Bian (don't like)
- Back to Taipei 101 - clear skies that day. Snapped lots of photographs.
- Walked to SYS Memorial Hall - we managed to squeeze to a good spot to watch the lantern festival and fireworks!
- Houshanpi MRT Station - Formosa Chang, Wufenpu
- Returned to Ximending for night street eats
Day 4 - Discovered miracle water!
- Xinbeitou MRT Station - Hotspring. My only input for this trip was probably researching for this atas hotspring place Villa32. We loved it! Also, I had a very stubborn pimple for days which finally came out with a gentle touch - after which I deemed hotspring as miracle water! LOL
- Danshui MRT Station - eat all sorts of weird stuff, don't like ah-gei and the sour plum soup. Took a boat to Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed the sunset with Hubs.
- Zhongxiao Dunhua Station - Dintaifung for dimsum (I think this outlet is closed now), Dong Qu Fen Yuan desserts, Daiso at Mingyao Department Store (we were crazy about Caramel Corn then)
Day 5 - Unluckiest day of the trip HAHAHA!
- Went to Bank of Taiwan to exchange more cash. Dintaifung didn't accept credit cards - luckily Hub set aside some money for transportation otherwise had to stay and wash plates the previous night...
- Walked to Yuan Ling Shoe Street... 'cos Hubby's in love with shoes. He thought he would have found lots of fashionable street-wear there. Opps!
- Took bus Blue-7 from City Hall MRT Station to LEECO Outlet Mall. Hub's damned excited initially, but came out empty-handed. We also went to a Carrefour nearby (didn't know what food stuff to buy then)
- We bought a big of Mister Donut and took a bus to Yangmingshan. However it was near 5pm already and the sun was setting. We walked from the bus terminal to the sign "Yangmingshan", snapped some photos, ate some donuts while walking back to the bus terminal. Sad.
- Made our way to Shida Night Market. We loved Xu Ji Sheng Jian Bao. But that's about it for the foodstuff there as most of the foodstuff there were too bland for our taste buds' liking. I recalled buying a lot of cheap and nice jewelry there.
Day 6 - Scenic Views
- Took train to Ruifang, changed bus to Jiufen. Ate the famous beef noodle and yam/sweet-potato ball dessert, and lots of weird kueh.
- Took bus back to Ruifang, change train to Pingxi. We arrived after the annual lantern festival, hence it wasn't crowded in Pingxi. It felt weird to release the sky lantern in the middle of the road where not much folks around were doing it too. The store-owner gave us some sparklers and Hub became a kid again! Saw many huge spiders too (eeks!) Ate some weird-tasting peanut sesame paste, no like.. Had the gaoliang wine black pig sausage which I picked out all the spring onions and garlic haha! Took the last train back.
- Went to Raohe Night Market. We enjoyed the meat broth and oily glutinous rice at Bai Nian Lao Dian by the shophouse temple where one of the female shop helpers welcome you in a loud screechy high pitch. (Was very excited and told Hubs at once when I returned in November 2017 and saw her again!) Had herbal mutton soup, iced fruits desserts, etc. Bought the (useless) face mask as there were lot of motorcycles exhaust. Was like wearing a decorated bra cup on our face.
Day 7 - Last Day in Taiwan
- Sabotaged by me. Can't recall the exact MRT Station we stopped at but we WALKED a lot as I tried to search for beads and findings stores. I was still managing my Etsy shop and selling at bazaars and flea markets then.
- Taipei Main Station underground malls. Shop non-stop too. Our 'favourite' are the Check Fun cube-rental stores due to their variety of cute stuff.
- Had the second 萬年排骨老店 meal, Bao Xin Fen Yuan (don't really like) and finally found Tian Wai Tian hotpot buffet. (We always look forward to our upcoming trips for the hotpot buffet).
- Journey to the airport for evening flight.
That's all folks! Do also refer to my other blog post https://wendyboey.blogspot.sg/2014/01/taiwan-travel-itinerary-for-taipei.html when planning for a vacation in Taipei