Taipei 3-Night, 4-Day Model Plan: Night Markets, Jiufen and Shifen Made Easy

Transport and admissions for two (flights, hotels and meals excluded)TWD 2,948for twoAbout JPY 14,300; the line items and the check date are in the table at the end

Taoyuan Airport to Taipei Main Station takes 36 minutes on the express. No car, no tour coach: four days on the MRT, the TRA and buses. One day in the city, one out to Jiufen and Shifen, and only two paid sights in the whole trip.

Itinerary

DAY 1Land in the evening and stay inside Xinyi for the rest of it

Why this order: day one is a return trip between Taipei Main and Xinyi and nothing else. Because the airport is 36 minutes from the city, whatever slack a delayed flight eats comes straight out of the evening.

Taiwan runs one hour behind Japan. An evening arrival still gets you out of the airport in daylight. That single hour, together with how short the ride into the city is, is what makes a Friday-night departure that buys a whole weekend actually work.

Before you leave, only two things need settling: power and tax

Taiwan runs on 110 V at 60 Hz. That is ten volts above Japan, so most equipment plugs straight in, and the Taiwan Tourism Administration lists both two-pin and three-pin outlets as being in use. The thing to watch is that many buildings carry 220 V sockets for air conditioning. A plug that fits is not a promise about voltage, so check the rating printed on the device itself. How to tell the two apart is set out in the difference between a plug adapter and a transformer.

The other is the Japanese international tourist tax charged on the way out, which is going up in 2026. It is collected inside the air fare, so there is no moment on the ground where you pay it, but a total that ignores it is a total that drifts. The JPY 3,000 departure tax covers what changes and when.

Afternoon: Taoyuan to Taipei Main is 36 minutes on the express

The Taoyuan Airport MRT express runs A1 Taipei Main Station to A12 in 36 minutes and to A13 in 39. The same stretch on the commuter service takes 48 and 51. Both cost TWD 160 full fare, so the faster train is not the dearer one. Express departures leave at 00, 15, 30 and 45 past the hour from 05:30 until 23:00. On an evening arrival, even counting immigration and the baggage belt, you can be standing in Taipei Main within an hour of landing.

What takes some thought is not the ticket. It is the card.

An ordinary EasyCard is TWD 100. Since 1 August 2026 the deposit-based cards are no longer sold, so handing it back at the end of the trip does not return the price of the card. Two people means TWD 200 of setup cost. In exchange, one card covers the MRT, the buses, the TRA and the convenience stores. Taipei Metro also runs a frequent-rider rebate, but the tiers start at 5 per cent for 11 to 20 stored-value journeys in a month, 10 per cent from 21 to 40 and 15 per cent above 41. Four days does not reach the first tier.

No unlimited pass is bought in this plan. The heaviest metro day is DAY 2 with four rides, and DAY 3 belongs to the TRA and a bus. Breaking even on the one-day pass needs about seven rides, so buying one simply costs more. There are timed versions as well, TWD 180 for 24 hours, TWD 280 for 48 and TWD 380 for 72, and they fail on the same arithmetic.

Evening: go up Taipei 101 thirty minutes before sunset

Taipei 101 is 508 metres tall and held the world height record from opening until 2010. The observatory is open 10:00 to 21:00 every day including public holidays, and the lift from the fifth floor to the 89th covers the distance in 37 seconds at 1,010 metres a minute. Arrive half an hour before sunset and a single admission buys you the city turning from amber to night.

Taipei 101 Observatory17:30, 90 minutes

Highlights: the TWD 600 general ticket gets you the indoor deck on the 89th floor and the 88th. The open-air 91st appears in the concession and package listings as a floor number, but the operator’s own wording is that it opens irregularly depending on weather and without notice. Clear skies are not a guarantee of access. The 88th is the damper viewing floor, where you look up at the gold sphere.

Practical note: concession, senior and child tickets cannot be bought online and are sold only at the counter on the first floor of the office tower. With a student or an older companion in the party, build in the time to queue there. Children 115 cm and under enter free regardless of nationality.

Hours

10:00–21:00 (daily, including public holidays)

General

Adult TWD 600 (89F and 88F)

Add-ons

101F Sky Garden +TWD 380; fast pass TWD 1,200

Counter

Observatory ticket desk, 1F of the office tower

Official

Official site ↗

The damper is usually described as sitting on the 89th floor. In fact it runs through the middle of floors 87 to 92. The sphere is about 5.5 metres across and weighs 660 tonnes, built from 41 welded layers of 12.5-centimetre steel plate and hung from the 92nd floor on eight cables 8.9 centimetres thick and 42 metres long. Maximum design swing is 150 centimetres. It gets introduced as earthquake protection, but the purpose the building’s own material gives is damping the sway under high wind.

For anyone who wants to be outside there is a separate product called Skyline 460: TWD 3,000 a head, booking required, minimum height 145 cm, no heels and no skirts, cancelled in bad weather. The conditions bite harder than the price. Put it on the first evening and the wind on the day can delete it. If walking outside matters, move it to a day you can read the forecast for.

The operator does not publish a last admission time. Whether you can get in just before the 21:00 close is not something that can be verified, so this plan works on going up half an hour before sunset.

Night: do not book a table on the first evening

Taipei 101 stands in the middle of Xinyi, a district of department stores and raised walkways, so dinner settles itself the moment you come down from the observatory. Xiaolongbao is the widest door into Taipei food, and the wait for the steamer basket is predictable.

Book a restaurant with a fixed time slot on the first night and an hour of delay on the flight pushes the whole evening out of shape. Taipei keeps feeding people late, so arriving without a reservation on day one is the version that does not collapse.

DAY 2Bangka up to Shilin, south to north in one straight line

Why this order: run north in one direction from Longshan Temple near the southern end of the metro up to Shilin. The only thing off the rail network is the Palace Museum, so all the bus changing gets concentrated into that one leg.

Morning: Longshan Temple has a fixed gate to enter by and another to leave by

Bangka Longshan Temple was founded in the third year of Qianlong, 1738. People from Jinjiang, Nan’an and Hui’an in Quanzhou, Fujian, the three counties known together as Sanyi, put up the money, and the Guanyin enshrined here came from Longshan Temple at Anhai. It was designated a second-grade historic site in 1985 and raised to a national one in 2018.

Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian deities stand in the same compound. The matchmaker Yue Lao is popular enough that the temple announces his birthday celebrations, and on that day the queue is a different animal. The rule of the visit is to enter through the dragon gate and leave through the tiger gate; go in the other way and you spend the whole time walking against the flow.

Bangka Longshan Temple09:30, 60 minutes

Highlights: incense smoke turning in a courtyard that never empties of worshippers. The carving and the roof ornament are built to be read from directly underneath, so circling the outside shows you about half of it. The surrounding Bangka, or Wanhua, is where Taipei began, and the old wholesalers and eating houses are still there. The morning is planned around walking the neighbourhood, not just the temple.

Practical note: the temple does not publish a suggested visit length. The compound itself is not large, so this plan allows an hour that includes the streets around it. On a day that is running late you can cut it to the temple alone.

Entry

TWD 0

Nearest

MRT Longshan Temple

Official

Official site ↗

Afternoon: buying the museum with Taipei 101 saves TWD 130 each

General admission to the National Palace Museum is TWD 350. Bought separately alongside the TWD 600 Taipei 101 observatory that is TWD 950, but a combination ticket covering the Northern Branch’s first exhibition building and the observatory sells for TWD 820. TWD 130 a head, TWD 260 for two. If DAY 1 is going up Taipei 101 anyway, buying this first is the only real saving in the trip.

The free categories are generous. Anyone under 18 enters free regardless of nationality, as do visitors with disabilities and one companion. The Zhishan Garden, the children’s gallery in the basement of the first exhibition building, and the Zhide Garden, which is open all year, need no ticket at all.

National Palace Museum13:30, 150 minutes

Highlights: the collections assembled by successive dynasties. The two famous pieces are the Jadeite Cabbage and the Meat-shaped Stone, and both spend periods away from the building on rotation, with their presence or absence knowable only from the museum’s exhibition calendar. Covering the whole place in one visit is not possible, so decide on two or three things to see before you go in.

Practical note: the opening-hours page is in flux. As of 14 September 2026 it carried only the trial daily opening of 09:00 to 19:00 that ran from 8 August to 13 September, with no year-round times displayed. The hours for the week you travel need checking again just before you leave.

General

TWD 350; concession TWD 150; under 18 free

Combination

First exhibition building + Taipei 101 observatory TWD 820

Closed

Mondays as a rule (2026 special openings 28 Sep, 26 Oct, 9 Nov, 7 Dec)

Nearest

Bus from MRT Shilin or Jiantan

Official

Official site ↗

A Monday breaks this day outright. Apart from the special opening dates, the museum closes on Mondays, so putting DAY 2 on a Monday empties the whole afternoon. When that happens, swap DAY 2 and DAY 3 and send the Jiufen and Shifen trip to the Monday instead. The damage is smaller that way.

Night: Shilin Night Market runs 17:00 to 24:00

Shilin opens at 17:00 and closes at midnight. It occupies more ground than any other night market in Taipei, spreading across Jihe Road, Dadong Road, Danan Road, Daxi Road, Lane 101 of Wenlin Road and Wenlin Road itself. In 2023 it took four stars in the Ministry of Economic Affairs market assessment.

Shilin Night Market17:30, 120 minutes

Highlights: the fried chicken cutlet the size of a face, pepper buns, oyster omelette, mango shaved ice. Ordering small and sharing, two people get through four or five items. The basement food court has seats, which is where to go when standing up to eat stops being fun.

Practical note: the buses back from the Palace Museum to Shilin station fill up in the early evening. Making the 17:00 opening means leaving the museum before 16:00. Stay at the museum until closing instead and you reach the market around 19:00, when the stall queues are longer.

Hours

17:00–24:00

Nearest

MRT Jiantan

Entry

TWD 0

Pay in cash here. The MRT, the TRA, convenience stores and department stores all take the EasyCard, but a share of the night-market stalls are cash only. Splitting a day’s worth of small notes into your wallet in advance saves giving up after you have queued.

DAY 3Shifen first, Jiufen second. Reverse it and you miss the lanterns

Why this order: take the TRA out to Ruifang, run the Pingxi Line to Shifen and back, then change to a bus on the return leg and climb to Jiufen. Jiufen is at its densest when the lanterns come on, so it does not go first.

Morning: Taipei to Ruifang costs TWD 73 on a local train

From Taipei Main to Ruifang, the local train is TWD 73 full fare and takes 46 to 68 minutes; the fast local is the same fare in 39 to 48. Tze-Chiang and Puyuma services cost TWD 114 and take 35. TWD 41 more buys you about ten minutes, so this plan takes the first fast local of the morning. The express only earns its keep on a day you have overslept.

The table explains why no day pass is bought. The Pingxi and Shen’ao Line day ticket is TWD 120 full fare, TWD 60 concession, raised from TWD 80 on 23 June 2025. It lets you get on and off between Badouzi, Ruifang and Jingtong all day. But Ruifang to Shifen one way is TWD 29 full fare, so a return for one person is TWD 58. The pass only works on a day you get off at Pingxi or Jingtong as well. It is sold at twelve stations including Taipei, Ruifang and Shifen, so deciding to add stops once you are there is still in time.

Shifen Old Street and the sky lanterns10:30, 90 minutes

Highlights: walk out of the station and the railway is right there, with shops on both sides of it. You write a wish on the lantern with a brush and release it from the track. A few minutes before a train is due the shopkeepers move everyone off the rails, so the releases are cut into intervals by the timetable.

Practical note: lantern prices are set shop by shop and there is no single published price list. Charging by the number of colours is the usual arrangement, so the price gets settled at the shopfront before you start writing.

Nearest

TRA Pingxi Line, Shifen

From Ruifang

TWD 29 full fare one way, 27–32 minutes

Shifen Waterfall Park12:00, 60 minutes

Highlights: the resemblance to Niagara has earned it the name Taiwan’s Niagara Falls locally. Several viewing platforms are set around the park, and when the sun catches the spray a rainbow stands over the plunge pool, a spot New Taipei City has named Caihongyuan, the rainbow pool. Entry is free.

Practical note: opening hours change with the season. June to September is 09:00 to 18:00 with last entry at 17:30; October to May is 09:00 to 17:00 with last entry at 16:30. On an itinerary built around reaching Jiufen at dusk, the non-summer months mean leaving here around midday whatever you intended.

Entry

TWD 0

Hours

Jun–Sep 09:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30); Oct–May 09:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30)

Nearest

On foot from Shifen station

Official

New Taipei City Tourism Bureau ↗

Afternoon: the bus stop to look for is called Jiufen Old Street

From the Qumin Square stop beside Ruifang station up to Jiufen Old Street is a TWD 15 full fare bus ride of fifteen minutes. Routes 788, 825, 827, 856, 965 and 1062 all pass. The stop name Jiudaokou that turns up in a lot of guides does not exist in the current official stop list. Get off at Jiufen Old Street.

There is also a direct option from the city. Route 1062 runs from MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing to Jiufen Old Street at TWD 94 full fare, TWD 47 half. It does not call at Ruifang station, though, so it is unusable on a day that also includes Shifen. It becomes the answer only if you drop to Jiufen alone.

Jiufen (Shuqi Road and Jishan Street)15:30, 180 minutes

Highlights: a hillside town built on gold. Red lanterns and teahouses line Shuqi Road, a narrow steep stone stair, while Jishan Street runs on as a tight shopping lane. The lanterns come on around sunset, and for that hour the outline of the town changes. Taro balls are the local thing to eat.

Practical note: the steps go up and then down and then up again. Arriving here on legs that have already done ninety minutes at Shifen leaves nothing for the climb to the teahouses with the view. If sitting down over tea in Jiufen is the point, shorten the Shifen Waterfall leg instead.

Walking

TWD 0

From Ruifang

Qumin Square stop, TWD 15 full fare, 15 minutes (788, 825, 827, 856, 965, 1062)

Direct from Taipei

Route 1062 from MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing, TWD 94 full fare (does not stop at Ruifang)

Going back means the same bus down to Ruifang. At dinner time it runs full, and you take the hill standing up. Either eat in Jiufen and come down late, or come down early and sit down from Ruifang. Taipei is about an hour away on the local train.

Not assembling the train and bus connections yourself is also an option. Klook lists Jiufen and Shifen day trips out of Taipei, usually with transfers and a lantern bundled in. Doing this day under your own steam costs the two of you TWD 468 in fares, so the difference is the price of not reading timetables.

DAY 4A morning on Dihua Street, and the countdown to the airport

Why this order: work backwards from an afternoon flight and leave only Dihua Street in the morning. The airport is 36 minutes from Taipei Main, so leaving the city three hours before departure is enough.

Morning: walk Dihua Street after ten

Dihua Street is one of the oldest trading streets in Taipei, a run of wholesalers in dried goods, Chinese medicine, tea and cloth. Buying gifts here keeps the unit price legible in a way the night markets do not. Pineapple cakes and tea leaves are on the same street.

It is a late-rising street, though. Arrive in the nine o’clock hour and a lot of the shutters are still down; walk it after ten and you waste less of it. The last morning is given to it precisely because those hours line up.

Afternoon: spend down the EasyCard before you head for the airport

Taipei Main to A12 at Taoyuan is 36 minutes on the express, 39 to A13, departing at 00, 15, 30 and 45 past the hour until 23:00. Allowing two hours for international formalities, leaving Taipei Main three hours before departure works out. There is a one-day A1-to-airport ticket at TWD 320 that covers a return, but the outward and return legs fall on different days here, so singles it is.

A balance left on the EasyCard is not a problem, but the TWD 100 the card cost does not come back. That changed with the end of the deposit system in August 2026. The stored value itself spends fine in convenience stores, so clearing it on drinks and gifts before you leave for the airport means carrying less home.

Alternatives

Where to stay

This itinerary asks one thing of a hotel: five minutes’ walk from an MRT station. DAY 3 starts with a TRA train out of Taipei Main and DAY 4 leaves for the airport from the same station, so the closer you are to Taipei Main the shorter everything gets.

Taipei Main is the interchange for everything. TRA, high-speed rail, two MRT lines and the Taoyuan Airport MRT all connect through one underground complex, which puts both the early train on DAY 3 and the express on DAY 4 inside walking distance. The trade is that the area goes quiet at night and has fewer places to eat than the alternatives. It does not suit anyone landing late and wanting a meal.

Ximending is one stop from Taipei Main with shops open until late. Zhongshan is one stop on the Tamsui-Xinyi Line and reaches Shilin Night Market without a change, in a quieter mix of department stores and street-level shops. Staying in Xinyi puts Taipei 101 within walking distance on the first evening, but Taipei Main is about fifteen minutes away on the MRT, which weighs down both the DAY 3 morning and the DAY 4 departure. This plan does not choose it.

Prices move on identical dates, which is why none appear in the table above. For what is actually free and what it costs on your dates, Klook lists Taipei hotels with the distance from the nearest station shown alongside.

Book flights, then the room, then the tickets. The Taipei 101 observatory and the museum combination ticket are both available on the day, so they can wait. The exception is the concession ticket, sold only at the counter on the first floor of the office tower, so allow extra time on the ground if anyone in the party qualifies.

What this trip costs

Assumptions: two adults, no rental car and no tour coach, three nights in Taipei. Air fares are outside the total because they swing too far by route and season, and rooms and meals are outside it because they move on identical dates. What is listed is the part that holds still: published fares and published admissions.

Every figure above is the published rate as of 2026-09-14. The yen conversion uses the reference rate on the same day, TWD 1 = JPY 4.8504.

That TWD 2,948 is the part that does not move unless the route does. Two people covering four days on this much transport and admission works because most of what you look at is free. Longshan Temple, Shilin Night Market, Shifen Waterfall, Dihua Street, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall: none of them charge. Only Taipei 101 and the Palace Museum do, and those two are tied together by the combination ticket.

On top of it go flights, the room, food and connectivity. Those four are the only moving parts, which means the places to squeeze a budget pick themselves.

Of the items left off the table, the one with a readable price is data. Taiwan eSIMs are priced by days and volume, while a rented pocket router is one device shared between two people, so splitting it works in your favour. Against that, the collection fee and the damage waiver are charged separately, which narrows the gap at two travellers. The break-even by party size is worked out in the eSIM against pocket Wi-Fi comparison.

Food changes character depending on how wide you open it. Stay on night markets and street stalls and the daily figure stays small; put a Xinyi or Zhongshan restaurant into every evening and it moves by an order of magnitude. This plan has two night markets and street food or local canteens at lunch, so decide how many restaurant evenings you want, one or two, before you set the room budget.

Where this plan does not work is any set of dates including a Monday. The Palace Museum closes on Mondays apart from special opening days, and the Maokong Gondola has Monday maintenance closures. Leaving on a Friday night and bolting on the Monday suits the one-hour time difference beautifully, and then on that Monday the thing you most wanted to see is shut.

Compared with other short-haul cities over the same three nights, the Hong Kong four-day plan travels shorter distances and loads more weight onto the evenings, while the Penang five-night plan splits the trip into a street half and a sea half. How many days you can take decides which way you lean.

Sources: official sites of Taipei 101; the National Palace Museum; Bangka Longshan Temple; the Taipei City Market Administration Office; the New Taipei City Tourism and Travel Department; Taiwan Railway; Taoyuan Metro; Taipei Metro (including the Maokong Gondola); EasyCard Corporation; Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall; and the Taiwan Tourism Administration / Checked on 2026-09-14 / Photographs: Sunkenbean (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) and the credits given in each caption