Taiwan

Capital City

Taipei

Language

Taiwanese, Mandarin,
Hakka

Currency

New Taiwan Dollar
(TWD)

Weather & Nature

Hot, tropical. Typhoon season (June to October), Earthquakes

Medical

No Vaccine requirements, mosquitos (dengue)

Visa

90 visa-free tourist entry
for UK, EU citizens

Get In

The main access point that most visitors will greet on their way in and out of La Ilha Formosa is Taipei Taoyuan International Airport. Taiwan's major two airlines are China Airlines and EVA Air. Between them they offer flights to several destinations world-wide.

Of course, Taipei Taoyuan also is an excellent gateway to other parts of the island. Flights are available to major cities, such as Kaohsiung, and some of the smaller islands in the Taiwan strait, like Penghu.

To/from destinations in Asia, flying to Kaohsiung International is also an option, giving visitors immediate access to the country's beautiful south.

Get Around

Train

There are many ways to discover Taiwan, by land, sea and air. Taiwanese public transportation is excellent, safe, clean and afforable and criss-crosses most of the island. A network of high speed rail connects Taipei in the North to Kaohsiung in the south, traversing via Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Taoyuan along the way.

Another, denser network of regional trains connects the major cities. It's a slower route, stopping at smaller towns, which make it a good option for moving around the island, stopping and discovering locations along the way.

The East coast is also served with a regional train network, which connects Taipei to Taitung, via Hualien, in one of Taiwan's most scenic routes, crossing along the stunning Pacific coast and passing close to Toroko national park.

Trains do not however go to the southernmost coastal locations, including Kenting national park, nor to the mountains in the country's interior, expect for the tourist train to the mountains from Chiayi.

Tickets can be purchased at a train station and a desk, at a machine or in the TRA app. Many journeys can also be paid for on the EasyCard, a more useful version (see Financing, below) of the pre-paid, tap in, tap out card systems across many major cities (such as the Oyster Card in London).

Bus and Subway

Long distance buses offer competing services to the train networks, which tend to be a little cheaper (and slower) than the trains. For tourists, The company Taiwan Tour Bus (recognizable by the famous Taiwan tourist bear) has a network that goes from many major cities to top tourist destinations, such as Kaohsiung to Kenting national park, Chiayi to Alishan national park, Taipei to Jiufen and many others.

Within towns and cities, local buses are one of the bus ways to get around, though schedules outside of large cities and especially on outlying islands, might be unreliable. Destinations tend be written in both traditional Chinese and Latin (English) script, making life a little easier for foreigners, but this is not always the case.

Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung have a mixed light rail/subway system which can get you around those cities quickly. While excellent in the inner city, getting to some of the outlying areas of town usually still requires taking the bus.

For finding your way around a city, navigation apps like Google Maps are quite reliable for trains and subways but less so for buses. Buses are usually numbered, making ensuring you are on the right line easier, but sometimes only written in traditional Chinese.

Paying for transportation is best done on the Easy Card.

Driving

Depending where on Taiwan you are, renting a car or scooter is the most convenient way to get around. Inside major cities, its much more likely to be a nuisance, and you are better off sticking to trains or buses. Outside the the cities however, and in particular on the east coast or in the interior, driving can give you much more flexibility and is generally a good way to explore the country at your own pace.

Driving in Taiwan is a generally relaxed experience. Speed limits are quite low: 50 km/h for unsigned, urban roads and 60 km/h for country roads. On the highways, speed limits are always sign-posted, but vary from 90 to 100 km/h. The Taiwanese drive on the right side of the road. Drivers do tend to stick the rules in both urban and country areas though, as with any location, you do get the occassional questionable move or speedster.

Road quality varies depending on location. Most of the roads on the mainland, especially in cities, on the west coast generally, or headed to/from major tourist hotspots tend to be very good. Road quality is noticably worse on the outlying islands, though not dangerous expect in the periods immediately following, for example, a typhoon where roads can become flooded or buried under a landslide, though the authorities are very good at closing off areas of high risk.

What makes Taiwan different from locations in, e.g. Europe, is the large number of motor scooters that you are sharing the roads with. In the major cities and the outlying islands, this is most vehicles on the road. If you are unfamilar with scooters, its best to look up the specific rules - such as the mandatory hook turning at junctions - whether you are driving one yourself, or not.

Renting a car is quite a straightfoward process. There are services in English (etc.). In recent years, Taiwan has become increasingly strict in cracking down on who can rent which kind of vehicle, which can introduce an element of trial-and-error for foreigners, as you head from rental agency to rental agency hoping to find someone who will rent to you.

At a minimum, as a foreigner, you must have the correct licence(s) and international drivers license in order to make a rental. For renting a scooter this does mean that you must have an A licence!