Offbeat Taipei and Beyond: 5 Days
Five days is where a Taipei trip stops being a city break and turns into a Taiwan break with a Taipei base. Two days in the capital, one day at a tea town most visitors skip for Jiufen, one day riding the High Speed Rail out to Taichung and Sun Moon Lake, then a final easy day before the flight home.
Book these before you go
- Taipei 101 observatory ticket , NT$600 standard
- Sun Moon Lake day tour from Taipei , if you’d rather not manage the Taichung bus connection solo
Day 1: old Taipei
Longshan Temple in Wanhua, incense-thick, dedicated primarily to Guanyin. Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Liberty Square next, timed for the changing-of-the-guard if possible. Lunch: beef noodle soup, NT$150-400. Evening: Raohe or Ningxia night market over Shilin’s crowds, same NT$50-70 stinky tofu rite of passage.
Day 2: tower, museum, free view
Morning: National Palace Museum, NT$350, one of the world’s genuinely great collections of Chinese imperial art. Afternoon: Taipei 101, correcting the record on the way in: tallest building on Earth only 2004-2010, before the Burj Khalifa took the title. The 88F ticket is NT$600 and plenty; skip the roughly NT$3,000 Skyline 460 outdoor add-on and catch Elephant Mountain at sunset instead for the same skyline, free. Dinner at Din Tai Fung, homegrown Taiwanese since 1958, NT$500-800 per person.
Day 3: Pinglin, not the crowded alternative
Most five-day itineraries send this day to Jiufen. This one goes to Pinglin instead, a tea town roughly an hour out by bus from Xindian MRT station, no direct train, which is exactly why the tour buses stay away. Pinglin sits partly inside the watershed feeding Feitsui Reservoir, Taipei’s own drinking-water source, and that protection has kept it low-rise while Jiufen filled up with selfie sticks. Spend the day on the old street’s tea-egg stalls and the Pinglin Tea Museum, a far better case for Taiwan’s tea culture than a themed cafe back in the city.
Day 4: out to Taichung and Sun Moon Lake
This is the day the trip properly leaves Taipei’s orbit. Taiwan’s High Speed Rail hugs the west coast and gets you from Taipei to Taichung in about an hour. From Taichung HSR station, a Taiwan Tourist Shuttle bus (roughly 1.5 hours) runs to Sun Moon Lake, the island’s largest natural lake, ringed by mountains. A boat ride across the lake and a stop at a lakeside temple fill the afternoon before the same route back to Taipei in the evening.
Day 5: wind down, then home
Keep the last day light after four fairly full ones. Tamsui, directly on the MRT, gives you a relaxed riverside morning, an old fort, and an old street of snacks. Or spend it in Beitou instead: free public foot baths, paid spa hotels, the steaming Thermal Valley. Genuinely held opinion after four days of comparison: Beitou beats Jiufen as a half-day out, similar MRT ease, far fewer tour buses, and a hot soak at the end instead of a crowded staircase. Keep the afternoon free for packing and a last night-market snack run.
Five days at a glance
| Day | Focus | Distance/time from Taipei |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Longshan Temple, CKS Memorial, night market | In the city |
| 2 | National Palace Museum, Taipei 101, Elephant Mountain | In the city |
| 3 | Pinglin tea town | ~1 hr by bus from Xindian MRT |
| 4 | Taichung, Sun Moon Lake | ~1 hr HSR + 1.5 hr shuttle bus |
| 5 | Tamsui or Beitou | Direct MRT, no transfer |
Does the EasyCard cover the High Speed Rail or the Taichung shuttle bus?
No. EasyCard handles Taipei’s own MRT, buses, YouBike, and the Kuo-Kuang bus toward Jiufen if you ever need it, but the HSR and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle to Sun Moon Lake are booked and paid separately, ideally a day or two ahead for weekend travel.
Is Pinglin a full replacement for Jiufen, or am I missing the sky lanterns?
You’re trading lanterns for tea, not getting a substitute experience. If sky lanterns specifically matter to you, pair a future trip’s Jiufen day with Shifen instead, since that’s where the actual lantern releases happen. Pinglin’s appeal is quiet and tea, full stop.
Base yourself in Zhongshan or Ximending, both convenient to the HSR station at Taipei Main. Cash still matters at night markets, in Pinglin’s smaller shops, and at some Sun Moon Lake vendors. Build weather slack into Days 3 and 4 if you’re traveling June through October, since typhoon season peaks in August and September. For a longer version reaching further south, see the 6-day itinerary .