Taiwan

Yes, Taiwan is a safe destination for travel. The crime rate and violent crime rate are some of the lowest in the world. While we advise the usual caution that travellers should always take when away from home, no special precautions are required. Taiwan does have some earthquakes, but they’re very used to them and the country has high quality construction that stands up to natural forces well. We do recommend you take care when crossing the road – the scooter drivers aren’t always as careful as they should be.

Visiting Taiwan is possible at various budgets, though pricewise, it’s closer to South Korea and Japan than South East Asia. While fancy cocktail bars and high-end, multi-course meals can hit your wallet, sampling several stalls at a night market could set you back under GBP 7 / USD $10 / Aud $14 for the evening. Day to day travel expenses are no more expensive than travelling in Europe or North America, and often will be less.

The younger the person you are speaking to and the more urban the setting, the better your chances of being easily understood are. The more rural things get, the more likely that you may be relying on gestures and translation apps (which are always handy to have to hand).

This is entirely your choice. The length of your trip to Taiwan will depend on many factors, including cost, how much time you have available, how much of the country you want to experience, and the pace that you wish to travel at. Our Taiwan travel consultants will ask the right questions and together, we’ll come up with the best trip that fits you.

If you’re looking for just a short stopover, our Taipei Stopover is a great introduction to Taipei and northern Taiwan in just five nights. On the other end of the spectrum, you can encircle the island in a little over two weeks on our Taiwan in Depth tour – covering cities, hot springs and national parks – all using Taiwan’s high-speed train network.

Taiwan is one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly countries in Asia. Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage and Taipei hosts one of the largest Pride events in East Asia. Taiwan is very safe to travel as an LGBTQ+ individual or couple, even in more rural areas.

There’s no right or wrong answer to “when’s the best time to visit Taiwan?”, but we’ve got a month-by-month breakdown to help you decide when suits you best.

Spring and autumn are some of the best times to visit weather wise – with lower rainfall and milder temperatures. June brings the drum beats and boat races of the Dragon Boat festival and winter, while being cool to those living in Taipei, can feel almost balmy to those used to snow back home.

Taiwan is the kind of destination that works well as its own dedicated trip, or as a stopover between other travel plans. Taipei is very well connected to the rest of Asia, and slots perfectly into arrangements in other countries. What’s particularly exciting, is that Taipei directly connects to smaller airports like Chiang Mai, Busan, Fukuoka, or Sapporo, meaning that the rest of your trip may not have to start and end in a major city. We’ve got a couple of trip ideas combining Taiwan with Japan or Taiwan with South Korea that show you what’s possible.

We’ve got a massive list. But here’s a shorter answer.

It’s a place that can feel familiar, with Chinese and Japanese historical influences that remain evident in its food, high speed trains and love of hot springs. But so much of Taiwan’s culture is distinctly its own, with Indigenous cultures spanning back far beyond the first Dutch arrivals in the 1600s.

And it keeps surprising people. Mention Taiwan and most travellers picture Taipei’s skyscrapers and bubble tea. Few think of the mountain spine that runs down the island, clear tropical waters, or a museum that holds nearly 700,000 Chinese artefacts. That’s partly why we like it. It delivers a lot of what people love about Asia, but in its own signature way. Clean, efficient transport, scores of night markets, harboursides lined with art and rugged cypress clad peaks.

It’s just not top of everyone’s travel list yet, and we’re not sure why.

Bubble tea may be Taiwan’s second most famous export after semiconductors, but the cuisine goes much further than those chewy little tapioca balls.

Much of Taiwan’s dishes and street food bites originate from Fujian – the source of some of Taiwan’s earliest settlers after its Indigenous peoples. Then came fifty years of Japanese rule, bringing with it a wave of soldiers and government bureaucrats, and their own local dishes.

Today, that layering of history is represented in Taiwan’s flavours. While wandering Taipei, you may encounter a high-end Cantonese restaurant on one corner, a fiery Sichuan hot pot place down the lane, and a six-seat omakase sushi restaurant across the way. Visit an Indigenous community in Ita Thao and you could be served a traditional boar sausage. And we can’t discuss the food without celebrating the night markets – over three hundred of them in Taipei alone, with stalls spanning the entire island. Each market has their own specialties and local treats, so our advice? Don’t stop at one, and come hungry.