A 17-day Family Road-trip Around Taiwan
Taiwan is a great country for family travel, offering an array of activities and sights that cater to both adults and children. It is also so underrated – probably the most underrated country we have ever visited. Our recent road trip around Taiwan with the kids was an unforgettable experience, filled with diverse landscapes, vibrant culture, and plenty of fun. If you’re looking for things to do in Taiwan with kids, read on to discover our journey through this beautiful island nation.
Starting Our Adventure in Taipei
Our adventure began in Taipei, the bustling capital of Taiwan. Taipei offered a great connection from the Philippines (our previous destination) and also an awesome plan for New Years Eve – New Years Eve in Taiwan is always shown on TV as the fireworks explode from the 101 building. That was our plan!
As we explored the city, we found it to be incredibly family-friendly with numerous attractions. However, it’s also just great for pottering around and exploring different areas. We found parks to play and didn’t rush around as much as we had been doing previously in big cities – and that felt ok.
We visited Taipei 101 which has a great food-mall in the basement floor area but we opted to skip the observation deck – if high views and a very speedy elevator are your thing then I would definitely check it out. Just walking around the area and enjoying the view of the building was enough for us!
We spent New Years Eve playing on various arcade grabber machines – which are everywhere – around the 101 area. As the crowds grew we opted to move to a quieter spot and spotted an area of green about 15 minutes walk away – Elephant Mountain park is where we got a great view of the 101 building as well as being a very family friendly area to watch the NYE fireworks in Taipei. The best thing was it had a park with other children playing and so we killed 90 minutes there without even trying to keep the kids awake! If you are ever in Taipei, or Asia even, around New Years Eve – the fireworks from the 101 building in Taipei were a definitely goosebump moment.
The other highlight of our trip to Taipei was the zoo. We had no plans to visit the zoo but when we discovered the price at less than £2 each (yes, £7.33 for a family of 4) we decided it was a good day out in the drizzle that we woke up to. The zoo is enormous – the largest in Asia – and is a great family day out in Taipei. The giant panda house (expect a queue) and koalas are at the entrance and then we recommend getting the tractor shuttle up to the far end of the park and work your way back down the hill. We didn’t have time to explore it all, but enjoyed the reptile house and African safari area with the hippo being a real highlight for us all.
There are food stops and stalls dotted around the park and most places have sheltered areas to watch the animals from if you are there on a wet day.
You could combine a visit to the zoo with the Maokong Gondola – both are found at the end of the brown metro line! If you opt to do the gondala as well, get off at the stop half way back down which is the top entrance to the zoo where the tractor shuttle drops you off – that will save some time.
Top Tip: on the brown line try and get the front carriage as this is a driverless train so the kids will feel like they are flying!
Taipei’s other highlight for us was the Ximending Night Market – located by the Ximen metro stop. Directly outside the metro stop is a rainbow street for a good photo snap before heading towards an area full of shops, food stalls, arcade and grabber machines, and street entertainers. But what you really need to come here for is the best brown sugar bubble tea on the planet! Xing Fu Tang Flagship is the place to go for bubble tea and dim sum in Taipei! There will be a queue out the door but let the kids go to the window to watch the bubbles being made to kill the time. Honestly so worth it. Grab your bubble tea, street food and then head towards the circular junction down the road with Watsons on the corner to enjoy the street entertainers!
We are quite a fan of the hop on hop off bus – it gives you a good view of all the main sites and your bearings, whilst saving little legs from too much walking. The Taipei one is less hop on,hop off, but more stay on and enjoy the ride for an hour! There are two routes, each taking an hour and cost £8 for an adult, and they depart hourly from the main station – look up the times so you know before heading there. But if you have just missed one, no panic as the main station itself is worth an explore with the grandest main hall I have ever seen in a train station – we enjoyed it being filled with a huge xmas tree at the time of our visit!
Other highlights for Taipei which we saw from the bus and we wish we had time for were the Lungshan Temple, the Botanical Garden and the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and Gardens. These both looked amazing so if you don’t do the bus, then head there for a bit of exploring.
Exploring Taichung
After an exciting time in Taipei, we took a high speed train to Taichung, a city known for its artistic vibe and attractions. The train took just over an hour and cost us less than £10 each as if you book via Klook there is a BOGOF offer!
We spent our two days here mooching! We stayed one block away from Taischung Park which has to be your first place to visit with kids. Not only is there a playground and a boating lake, but the real highlight was the squirrels. They are so tame that the kids could feed them – the locals were filling their hands with sunflower seeds and monkey nuts. We spent about an hour doing this and they never grew tired of it. A very sweet experience. There is also a running track, red bridges, stone sculptures, paths to explore, a massive wicker goat! and generally just a lovely atmosphere. You’ll even spot the older generation of locals practicing their dancing or tai-chi under the trees. A few hours can definitely we spent here.
After the park, we jumped on the bus to the National Museum of Natural Science, which features a wide range of exhibits, including dinosaurs, space exploration, and ecological displays and costs around £1 each to get in. The museum’s hands-on exhibits were perfect for keeping the kids engaged. There is also an area with films (cost another £1) and the building itself is pretty impressive – and there’s a big space for kids to run around in.
Opposite the Science Museum is the Rainforest Biome which costs another £1 each to enter. This isn’t anything on a par with Singapore’s Garden by the Bay, but it’s cheap, there’s a waterfall, pathways and a large tank full of huge fish. Head towards the café and you’ll see the fish from another angle, enjoy a drink, and there is colouring and a small indoor play area for smaller kids. You’ll also spot frogs in the vivariums. Really great value for money and you’ll spend an hour here covering all that off. We even got a free guided talk of the fish from one of the staff!
Other highlights in Taischung include walking along the river front – this is a great traffic free walkway for kids to run around a little. It takes you to Animation Lane which is worth an explore (2 minute detour for 10 minutes spent there) and pretty close to the Fine Art Museum which has a sculpture park out in front. Note the museum is closed on Mondays – epic fail from us! The main station also has some arty-fair and a small museum and carriages that have been converted to tea shops. If you’re there anyway, it’s worth a stop off for a bit – we picked up our hire car from here.
Before leaving Taischung, we headed to the Rainbow Village, a colourful wonderland created by an elderly veteran who transformed his village with his vibrant paintings. This was also closed on Mondays but other than seeing a couple of extra streets I don’t think we missed out too much. There is a small children’s park / sand pit to entertain them whilst you enjoy the area. It’s only small so don’t expect to spend a day here. It’s located in the same area as the high speed rail station so that’s one way to combine the two, or visit on your way out of the city if you are driving.
Top Tip: The High Speed rail station in most cities is located well outside the city and is not the ‘main station’ – it was 30 minutes from both Koahsiung, Tainan and Taischung – so factor this into your plans and costs as you’ll need to then get a local train or bus to the main city area. Despite having tickets from Tainan to Koahsiung on the HSR, we opted to forfeit them and just get the local train from the main station for the 40 minute journey instead!
Part 2 of our road trip, coming soon…..
