This fifteen-day Taiwan route is a full clockwise lap of the island for travelers who want the Pacific coast and the tropical south as much as the big-city food and museums. The pace is steady and unhurried, with two nights in almost every stop and no back-to-back long hauls. You’ll use the Taipei MRT, TRA express trains down the east coast, local buses (or a rented scooter if you hold an international permit) along Highway 11, the Kenting Express bus, the Kaohsiung MRT and ferry, and the High Speed Rail for the final run north.
Days 1-3: Taipei and the Northern Hills
Give
Taipei three nights, because this lap leaves the north behind for good on day four. Spend the first full morning at the
National Palace Museum, where a rotating slice of roughly 700,000 imperial Chinese objects lives. Budget three hours minimum, and arrive at opening before the tour groups reach the jade cabbage. The afternoon belongs to
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, where the honor guard changes on the hour and the white …
read more 👉This fifteen-day Taiwan route is a full clockwise lap of the island for travelers who want the Pacific coast and the tropical south as much as the big-city food and museums. The pace is steady and unhurried, with two nights in almost every stop and no back-to-back long hauls. You’ll use the Taipei MRT, TRA express trains down the east coast, local buses (or a rented scooter if you hold an international permit) along Highway 11, the Kenting Express bus, the Kaohsiung MRT and ferry, and the High Speed Rail for the final run north.
Days 1-3: Taipei and the Northern Hills
Give Taipei three nights, because this lap leaves the north behind for good on day four. Spend the first full morning at the National Palace Museum, where a rotating slice of roughly 700,000 imperial Chinese objects lives. Budget three hours minimum, and arrive at opening before the tour groups reach the jade cabbage. The afternoon belongs to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, where the honor guard changes on the hour and the white marble plaza works best in late light. On day two, ride the MRT to Xinbeitou for Beitou, a hot spring district where the Thermal Valley steams a milky green and a soak costs less than lunch. Day three is a rail day out east: TRA to Ruifang, then a short hop to Houtong Cat Village, an old coal town where dozens of cats sleep on the stairs between mining relics. Continue by bus to Jiufen in the late afternoon, when the teahouse lanterns switch on over the hillside alleys, then bus back to Taipei for dinner.Days 4-5: Hualien and Taroko
The Taroko or Puyuma express trains reach Hualien in about 2 to 2.5 hours, and weekend seats sell out days ahead, so book early. Taroko National Park is the reason to come: marble walls rising straight from a jade-colored river. The April 2024 earthquake closed large stretches of the gorge, and reopenings have come in stages, so check which trails are open before you plan your day; the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle runs from Hualien station into the park. Save the second evening for Hualien’s Qixingtan Beach, a long curve of gray pebbles where the Pacific drops off steeply. It is for walking and watching the swell, never for swimming.Days 6-7: Taitung and the East Coast
The train south to Taitung follows the East Rift Valley through rice paddies for 2 to 3 hours, an easy travel day. Taitung itself is low-rise and relaxed, and a better base than any of the coastal villages for getting around. On day seven, head north up Highway 11 to Dulan Beach, a surf spot with a sugar factory turned weekend music venue, then push on to Taitung’s Sanxiantai, where an eight-arched footbridge snakes across to a rocky islet. Coastal buses run only a handful of times a day, so start early or rent a scooter in Taitung.Days 8-9: Hengchun and Kenting
Take the South-Link line to Fangliao, then the bus down the peninsula; the whole trip runs 3 to 4 hours. Sleep in Hengchun, an old walled town with its gates still standing, cheaper and calmer than the strip in Kenting proper. From here, local buses and rental scooters reach Kenting National Park, with its coral cliffs and the lighthouse at Eluanbi at Taiwan’s southern tip. Swim at Nanwan Beach, the easiest water entry on the peninsula, and spend a late afternoon at Baisha Beach, a small cove of pale sand that stays quiet outside summer weekends.Days 10-11: Kaohsiung
The Kenting Express bus drops you in Kaohsiung after about 2.5 to 3 hours. Ride the five-minute ferry from Gushan to Cijin Beach, a dark-sand strip on a narrow island lined with seafood stalls where you pick your fish from ice trays. On the second day, take the MRT to the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, a vast performance complex under a single wave-shaped roof, free to wander, with cheap tickets for concerts many nights.Days 12-13: Tainan
A 30 to 40 minute train brings you to Tainan, the old capital, where you should eat beef soup for breakfast and walk the temple lanes before the heat builds. Dedicate the second day to the city’s northwest: the National Museum of Taiwan History tells the island’s story from indigenous settlement to martial law with real nuance, and the nearby Sihcao Wetlands run small boats through a tunnel of mangroves. Combine both by bus or taxi in one afternoon.Days 14-15: Taichung
The High Speed Rail covers Tainan to Taichung in about 45 minutes. Spend your last full day around the National Taichung Theater, Toyo Ito’s building of curved concrete caves with a free rooftop garden, then finish with street food in the evening. On day fifteen, the HSR reaches Taoyuan in about 40 minutes, and the airport MRT takes you the rest of the way.
If you can stretch the trip, fly or ferry out to the Matsu Islands, where granite villages cling to the cliffs and the coves glow blue with bioluminescence in late spring.v2.webp){kind=logo}
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