Taiwan runs on day trips.
Shifen or Jiufen first. Whether Taroko earns the hop to Hualien. What a driver costs once you split it four ways. The answers are under every review here.
From Shifen lanterns to Taroko marble.
These are the days that fill a first week on the island: where each one goes, what it costs, and which version of it is worth paying extra for.
Yehliu, Jiufen and Shifen in one run.
All north-coast day trips →
Wind-carved rock at Yehliu, tea houses stacked up a hillside at Jiufen, a paper lantern let go over the Pingxi railway line. One road strings all three together, and almost every operator drives it.
All three stops, shared minibus
Yehliu first while the tour buses are still on the freeway, noodles at Jiufen, then Shifen in the late afternoon when the lanterns photograph best.
The same coast, on your clock
Skip the 7am meeting point and the head count. A private car reorders the stops around the weather and waits while you walk down to Shifen waterfall.
Keelung port to the lantern towns
Keelung sits closer to Jiufen than Taipei does. The port-day versions are timed against the ship and skip the city entirely.
What a day out in Taiwan costs.
Every reviewed tour, grouped by what it costs to walk up and join. Taiwan is one of the few places where the cheap option is often the good one.
Night market walks, observatory tickets, museum entry and the shared north-coast coach.
Full days out: the gorge, the lake, cooking classes with the market shop first, small-group coast runs.
A car and driver for the day, multi-day island loops, and the private versions of everything above.
Taipei is the trailhead for most of Taiwan.
Four in five tours on this island leave from Taipei — the gorge, the lake, the tea ridges, the hot springs, the coast. Give the city three days of its own, then use it as a base.
Dinner in Taipei is a night market.
Oyster omelettes at Shilin, pepper buns pulled off a tandoor wall at Raohe, a bowl of beef noodles at eleven at night. A guide is worth it for one reason: they order for you, and they order the right thing.
What most people book first in Taiwan.
Every review →The tours more travellers here take than any others, and what makes each one worth the day it eats.
1
Shifen, Jiufen, and Yehliu Guided Day Trip
See Shifen lanterns, Jiufen’s Old Street, and Yehliu’s Queen’s Head on a well-organized, scenic day trip from Taipei.
From · $31
Read our review →2
Full-Day Private Custom Taipei City Tour
from $126
3
Yehliu, Jiufen, and Pingxi Day Tour
from $65
4
Jiufen Night View and Shifen Day Tour
from $31
5
Taipei 101 Observatory Deck Entry Ticket
from $19
6
Full-Day Private Northern Taiwan Tour from Taipei with Pickup
from $126
7
The Award-Winning Private Food Tour of Taipei: The 10 Tastings
from $90
8
Thousand Island Lake and Pinglin Tea Plantation
from $40
You will not find these outside Taiwan.
Temples and street food run the length of Asia. Releasing a lantern over a live railway line, bathing in a sulphur valley inside the city limits, and drinking oolong on the ridge it grew on are Taiwanese habits.
The Sky Lanterns
At Shifen the shops sit on both sides of a working single-track railway. You write a wish on a paper lantern in the colour that matches what you are asking for, the shopkeeper photographs you holding it, and it goes up over the valley. Trains still come through every half hour; everyone steps back and then carries on.
- 1Shifen, Jiufen, and Yehliu Guided Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,654 reviews
- 2Yehliu, Jiufen, and Pingxi Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 892 reviews
- 3Jiufen Night View and Shifen Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 870 reviews
The Sulphur Valley
Beitou is a metro ride from central Taipei and it smells of it — the whole valley steams. The colonial administration opened the first public bath house here in 1896 and the habit stuck: municipal pools you pay a few dollars to use, hotel tubs on the hillside, and Yangmingshan's fumaroles a bus ride further up.
- 1Beitou and Yangmingshan National Park Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 307 reviews
- 2Beitou and Yangmingshan Day Tour from Taipei★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 92 reviews
- 3Private Yangmingshan Volcano Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 67 reviews
Oolong Where It Grows
Pinglin and Maokong are inside greater Taipei, half an hour past the last apartment block, and both are working tea country rather than showpieces. A grower will walk you through the roasting shed and then sit you down for six or seven steepings of the same leaf while the mist comes off the ridge.
- 1Thousand Island Lake and Pinglin Tea Plantation★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 519 reviews
- 2Thousand Island Lake and Pinglin Tea Plantation from Taipei★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 172 reviews
- 3Pinglin Tea Culture and Maokong Guided Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 104 reviews
Taipei eats late, and outdoors.
All evening tours →
Shilin Night Market Walking Tour With a Private Tour Guide (2-hr)
Read our review →
Taipei Nightlife: Taipei Pub Crawls (2 Different Routes)
Read our review →
Taipei Food Tour: Night Market & Convenience Store(Food Included)
Read our review →Sort these before you land in Taiwan.
Most of Taiwan can be arranged from your hotel lobby the night before. These four cannot — they need a date, a document or a driver locked in while you are still at home.
- 01Taipei 101 Observatory Deck Entry TicketThe observatory sells timed entry and the sunset hour goes first; the priority ticket is the only way past the queue on a clear evening.
- 025-Day Best of Round Taiwan Island TourIsland loops run on fixed departure dates, not daily — pick the tour before you pick the flights.
- 03Kenting, Taiwan｜PADI Basic Diving License Course｜Taiwan Diving Open Water CourseAn open-water course runs over consecutive days and needs a signed medical declaration, so it has to be slotted into the itinerary in advance.
- 04Taipei Arrival Private Transfer: Taiwan Taoyuan (TPE) to HotelA transfer is priced per car and booked against your flight number, so it is arranged before you fly by definition.
When the plum rains come, Taiwan moves indoors.
Meiyu runs May into June and the typhoon season follows it. Neither cancels a trip here — the island simply has an indoor answer for everything: a kitchen with a market shop attached, a bath house in a steaming valley, a museum holding the best of the imperial collection, a tea room above the cloud.
By region — where you will be based
Taipei264 tours
New Taipei City19 tours
Kaohsiung16 tours
Taichung14 tours
Hualien7 tours- The South20 tours
Yilan8 tours- Every region →
The Taiwan loop, stop by stop.
Sun Moon Lake
AlishanJust added to the Taiwan list.
All recent →
Vintage Taipei – Best of Taiwan and Sunset Walking Tour
Read our review →
Alishan Day Tour from Chiayi (Incl. Park Entrance)
Read our review →
Keelung Shore Excursion: Xiangshan Hiking & Classic Taipei Culture Private Tour
Read our review →
Yilan 1-Day Private Tour to Kavalan Whisky & Cultural Gems
Read our review →
Private Yangmingshan National Park Hiking Day Tour from Taipei
Read our review →
Yangmingshan National Park & Hot Spring Tour (afternoon )
Read our review →
One-day Yangmingshan NP Beitou Hot Spring Park and Tamsui Tour Package
Read our review →
Keelung Shore Excursion: Private 6H Natural Wonder & Seafood Tour
Read our review →
Two-day Sun Moon Lake & Alishan Forest Park Tour Package
Read our review →
