Taipei
This museum opened in 2008 in a Japanese-style building constructed in 1921 as a high-class hotel. The 1st floor has a teahouse serving afternoon tea,…
Must-see attractions in Taiwan
Kaohsiung
Taiwan's first modern sugar factory (c 1901) is no longer in use, but you can still see the old mechanisms and the vats. There's also a village here that…
Tainan
A foreboding temple dedicated to the King of Medicine (sometimes erroneously translated as 'Drug Lord'), the first of its kind in Taiwan. It faces the…
Taipei
Built in 1919 as the seat of the Japanese governor general of Taiwan, this striking building has housed the offices of the Taiwan president since 1949…
Penghu Islands
The 300-year-old Tongliang Banyan Tree covers a remarkable 600 sq metres, sending down roots that essentially form the pillars of a natural hallway that…
Taipei
This light and airy wooden station building dates back to 1916 and was in service until 1988, when it was disassembled and packed off to Changhua to go on…
Taichung
To the west of the city, an ageing village has been transformed into an art piece with vibrant colours and drawings on every inch of the walls by Mr Wong,…
Northern Taiwan
Designed to imitate the area's cuesta rock formations, this stunning glass and aluminium-panelled structure is worth a visit for the architecture…
Penghu Islands
This attractively laid-out museum gives a good introduction to the volcanic and sedimentary rocks that make up the archipelago. It sits on the slope that…
Former Residence of Tamsui Township Head Tada Eikichi
Taipei
This attractive 1930s wooden residence was the home of Japanese entrepreneur and public servant, Tada Eikichi. Slip off your shoes and stroll about the…
Kaohsiung
Love River was once an open sewer and it has seen a remarkable transformation in recent years. The waters flow clean and the bankside promenades with…
Liu Chi-hsiang Former Residence
Tainan
The former residence of renowned Taiwanese painter Liu Chi-hsiang (1910–98) has been restored and turned into a museum on his life and works. Liu was…
Tainan
This shrine was built in the Qing dynasty, but its roots date back to a shrine commemorating Ming loyalist Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) in the 1660s. The…
Taipei
This oft-overlooked museum has had a massive makeover and is now bags of fun if you're a young kid, into stamps or even mildly interested in them. It…
Kaohsiung
A music-themed viewing bridge atop a hill between the districts of Gangshan and Yanchao. The attractive 88m-long structure is suspended 40m high by cables…
Penghu Islands
Almost comically small, this cast-iron lighthouse was built in 1878 by Brits who initially staffed the place on 10-year shifts. The main attractions are…
Hualien
Set in a graceful garden that's all a-twitter with birdsong, this 1940s concrete building was used by the Japanese military to wine and pleasure their…
Former British Consular Residence
Taipei
Inside the Fort San Domingo site is the 1891 Former British Consular Residence, an elegant red-brick Victorian-style house, complete with furnishings re…
Kaohsiung
This lovely museum is housed in what was the city-government building during Japanese times. The building of the museum was one of the important…
Taipei
This fairly modest two-storey residence combines Japanese and western architectural styles and dates back to the late 1930s. In the 1950s it was the home…
Taitung
Set on a big courtyard of ornate gateways lit with massed clusters of lanterns, this is Taitung's largest temple. It's a beautifully proportioned,…
Taipei
The buildings here date back to the 1860s and 1870s and include former wharf offices, a warehouse and military barracks. The slabs of the wharf itself…
Tainan
Tainan families have been coming here for generations on the 1st and 15th of every lunar month to pray to the supreme Taoist entity, the Jade Emperor. The…
Eastern Taiwan & Taroko National Park
If you're taking the cross-island lane it's possible to make a short detour half-way along that leads up and up to a weather station at 324m altitude. The…
Tamsui Customs Officer's Residence
Taipei
This residence was constructed in 1869 after Taiwan was forced open to foreign trade by China's defeat in the Second Opium War (1856–60). This colonial…
Kenting National Park
Kenting's best-known landmark – a still-functioning lighthouse built in the 1880s – is at Eluanbi Cape, the southernmost end of Taiwan's Central Mountain…
Penghu Islands
The largest of Penghu's five fortress sites, this was one of a pair rebuilt in 1887 following the end of the Sino-French War. Four heavy Armstrong guns …
Eastern Taiwan & Taroko National Park
Viewed from the south, this rock supposedly resembles the profile of a whiskered Chinese dragon roaring at the sky.
Tainan
Behind the Mazu Temple, the fort was a stronghold of Dutch power until its 1661 capture by Koxinga after a nine-month battle. Most of it has been…
Taipei
This lovely corner building from the 1960s has been converted into a historical-cultural museum with great English explanations, by the same people behind…
Tainan
There used to be 14 city gates in Tainan and a city wall spreading several kilometres. This old gate is the only one of the four remaining gates that…
Taipei
This faded red-brick warehouse has been carefully restored (70% of the bricks were cleaned and reused) and sits on a highway-flanked scrap of land…
Tainan
You pay by the hour at this unusual library-cafe stocked with magazines, comics and visual arts books. It's a great place to chill – there's free coffee,…
Kaohsiung
On the southern edge of Lotus Pond are the red-and-yellow seven-storey Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, built in full-blown '70s flamboyance. They're connected…
Taipei
This multistorey centre explores Taiwan's indigenous people's culture with exhibits, performances, pictures and artefacts. There are crafted pieces –…
Taipei
Taiwan Comic Base is a Ministry of Culture initiative to show off and support the island's vibrant manga industry. This small centre has a graphic-novel…
Northern Taiwan
High-altitude Luchang Village is in a stunningly beautiful setting reached via a deep canyon road 15km southeast of Nanzhuang village. There is no bus…
Western Taiwan
The museum sits in a lovely heritage building, and on its grounds is the 300-year-old Hongmao Well (紅毛井; Hóngmáo Jǐng). This is the last of the original…
Tainan
A quiet temple hidden in an alleyway off Zhongshan Rd that worships Princess Seven Stars or Chiniangma (七娘媽), the protector of children, comes alive on…
Eastern Taiwan & Taroko National Park
This remote forest experience centre at 2320m, around 60km west of Chishang, introduces regional wildlife and doubles as the application point for permits…
