Visit Taiwan with kids – all you need to know: the ultimate guide

Here’s all our top tips, practical info and ideas for visiting Taiwan as a family.

Taiwan is the most underrated country we have ever visited. And Taiwan is a perfect place to visit with kids. It offers culture, wildlife, a varied climate, city-scapes, town retreats, tea plantations, lakes, mountains and beaches. And it is very easy to move around, especially along the west coast. Here’s the practical information from our 17 days road-tripping in Taiwan and top tips to make your trip and planning easier.

Read a more detailed version of our roadtrip in our two blog. Part 1 features Taipei and Taichung. Part 2 covers Sun Moon Lake, Alishan, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

Language can be one barrier when visiting Taiwan. English is very seldom spoken so be prepared to use google translate a lot. The people of Taiwan use google translate both as written translation as well as using the speaker function and passing the phone between you. You can even download the entire ‘language’ so you can still use the app if not connected which is very handy.

Where we stayed in Taiwan

• Taipei – for budget yet city centre living check out the Backpackers Hostel. Located 7 minutes from an MRT station and next to a supermarket, it offers cheap, clean accommodation and a kitchen and lounge area. It very much reminded me of YHAs in the UK. We had a private room with 4 bunk beds and of course it was a shared bathroom scenario. For 3 nights it really was more than fine!
• Taipei – If you want a private bathrooms check out Lininn in ZhongShan which only cost a little more. The beds are HUGE – in one double you could easily sleep 3 people! It is a 7 minute walk to a park and major bus route, but a bit further to the MRT (11 minutes). There is a fridge but no cooking facilities – but with 7-eleven a 3 minute walk away, maybe you don’t need them.
• Taischung – Kiwi Express. Located just a 10 minute stroll to the river and 5 minutes to the park, and a 5 minute taxi from the main station this is a great location. The rooms were clean with private bathrooms and had a fridge and kettle. There are several convenience stores and the area has several restaurants within walking distance.
• Sun Moon Lake – we stayed in Ithca at a sweet hotel called Taihu just a few minutes walk from the waterfront. There was parking and breakfast included in the room rate – and the breakfast, whilst ‘different’ was good. Hiring bikes is only a 5 minute walk away and street food, restaurants and convenience stores are even closer.
• Alishan – we opted to stay in the HomeStay area, at a sweet homestay. Now to be honest we were shocked at the price of accommodation in Alishan, but we were delighted with what we got. I think we were the only guests staying at the time. There were 6-8 rooms, sleeping up to 4, breakfast was included and it had a great courtyard and garden for the kids to play, a (fenced in) fish pond and free parking too. It is only a few minutes drive from a variety of hiking trails and the main town where there are restaurants and stores and a tea factory tour.
• Tainan – we stayed at SleepJia hotel, with a very spacious quadruple room with excellent bathroom facilities. The double was also spacious and the beds very comfy. Location-wise there are restaurants within a 5-10 minute walk, a 7-eleven within 5 minutes and a main bus route within 10 minutes. The MRT is a little further, and the station is 5-10 minutes in a taxi. This hotel also has a shared kitchen you can use if you need more than just the fridge and kettle in your room. There is also a small garden for some outdoor space.
• Kaohsiung – we opted for an Air BNB in Kaohsiung as we were there a little longer. Staying by pier 2 is the best area to stay in Kaohsiung as a family. The apartment we rented as very comfortable with amazing hosts and the location could not have been better.

Hiring a car in Taiwan

When visiting Taiwan with kids, hiring a car can make travelling easier, especially when heading inland. We hired our car through klook as it worked out cheaper for the one way rental. We collected it in Taichung main station (convenient) and dropped it at Tainan HSR (inconvenient). You can rent car seats if needed and you get given a fuel card for petrol and then pay a fee for mile of usage rather than the full-full policy in other countries. Tolls are automatically tracked to the car and added to your final bill (along with your mileage fee).

Driving in Taiwan was no issue, even in the cities. People are slow and considerate on the whole. Driving to Sun Moon Lake was pain free, but be aware that it can be windy. If prone to travel sickness you should consider whether the route 22 to Alishan is worthwhile. The scenery and experience is out of this world but the roads are windy – we just took our time and used travel sickness tablets for our son who usually suffers. He also sat in the front and was fine.

Being vegetarian in Taiwan

We didn’t struggle at all – it was a better experience for us than Vietnam and Japan. Even though English is rarely spoken, we used google translate to communicate a clear ‘no meat no fish’ message and any stir fry or curry or usual dish was rustled up without the meat. There are also plenty of western choices if you hunt them out in advance. The street food markets will have chips, twisted potatoes or chargrilled veg even. For the kids there was always noodles, rice, chicken and they didn’t go hungry.

7-eleven was also our friend with pot noodles, sandwiches, crisps, nuts and the obligatory daily hotdog on a stick for Nyle. We stocked up on cereal and yogurts for our breakfasts too.

Getting around

A local sim card for Taiwan cost us £1 a day for data. They are readily available in the airport and also 7-elevens. There is also an easycard which costs £2 to purchase and then you top these up in 7-eleven and use them for all transport – locals trains, buses and trams (just not the HSR).

The MRT in every town was easy to use and with the help of Google maps we even ventured on buses which was hassle-free and meant we could enjoy seeing the places we were in, rather than underground tunnels!

The high speed rail stations are located a long way from the city centre. This is especially true for Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung – it may not actually be that much quicker taking the HSR when you factor in taxi or onwards travel costs to get to your accommodation.

For our HSR tickets we booked via klook which has a 2-4-1 offer for foreigners and it made the fast train travel cheap – even if the stations were a bit inconvenient at times. Use this link to book via klook and then you go to the HSR website to reserve your train and seats, and then pick up your tickets at the station. Top tip: whenever you book any travel and need to show or exchange tickets, it helps to have your passport with you. Sometimes they won’t even issue your tickets without your passports even if you have your reservation confirmation.

Uber is used in Taiwan, but Grab isn’t so if coming from another S.E. Asia country,  make sure you are set up ready for changing to Uber. Uber Eats also works in Taiwan!

All the cities we visited have international airports so it is worth checking if you can fly to your next destination from there, rather than having to head back to Taipei. We flew out of Kaohsiung onward to Japan.

Our recommended itinerary for a visit to Taiwan with kids

There is so much to explore in Taiwan and we didn’t even get to the East coast. If you have 2-3 weeks to visit Taiwan as a family then here’s a recommended itinerary. You can read more about all the below places in our 3 blogs on Taiwan.  Part 1 includes Taiwan and Taischung. Part 2 shares our experiences from Sun Moon lake, Alishan, Tainan and Kaohsiung with kids.

Travelling from North – South: