After your first of many hotel breakfasts, begin the day at the National Palace Museum, home to one of the world’s largest collections of Chinese imperial artefacts.
Sit down for lunch at the legendary Din Tai Fung in the iconic Taipei 101 building, before heading up to the observatory. Here, you’ll find the building’s famous 660-tonne tuned mass damper, designed to reduce vibrations and strengthen one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. Don’t miss the opportunity to take in panoramic views across the city, 382 metres above. Afterwards, you’ll visit the nearby Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to see the precision of the hourly changing of the guards.
The evening belongs to Raohe Night Market – one of Taipei’s oldest and most atmospheric night markets, with vendors lining the full length of the bustling street.
After breakfast, head into one of Taipei’s most distinct neighbourhoods, Dadaocheng. The city’s oldest commercial district still includes original 19th-century red-brick shophouses, now home to tea merchants, traditional herbalists and a thriving arts scene.
From there, venture south to Yongkang Street, home to incredible dumpling shops and independent cafes along a tree-lined block. Enjoy lunch at the Michelin-recommended Tien Hsia San Chueh, where lavish surrounds complement the bold flavours of its bone broth and noodle soups.
The rest of the day is at leisure. Consider a stroll through Ximending’s pedestrian shopping district for more delicious street food, vintage clothing and the energy of Taipei’s younger crowd. Alternatively, Daan Forest Park is a great way to take a breath in a busy city, filled with tranquil picnic spots and lush native flora.
Enjoy a delicious breakfast at the hotel before spending the morning at the Nanmen Market, a covered traditional market in central Taipei where vendors sell preserved meats, dried goods and Taiwanese snacks that have kept regulars coming back for generations.
After lunch, board your tour’s private coach bound for Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan’s largest lake that’s ringed by forested mountains and positioned approximately 748 metres above sea level. The drive takes you away from the busy urban capital, along the island’s northwest coast and up into the mountains.
After taking in the serenity of this striking lake, you’ll board a boat for scenic tour across the shimmering waters to Wenwu Temple on the northern shore. Dedicated to Confucius and the martial god Guan Gong, the temple’s lakeside setting is among the most dramatic in Taiwan.
Checking into your hotel overlooking the lake, dinner is at your leisure at the hotel and the evening is yours to savour those magnetic lakeside vistas.
Travel time: Driving – approx. 3.5 hours
After breakfast at the hotel, reboard the coach for a trip south to Taiwan’s oldest city and its former capital, Tainan. This city is brimming with Dutch and Japanese architecture existing side by side with Taiwanese temple culture.
Lunchtime takes you to Du Hsiao Yueh’s flagship Tainan store, where the city’s famous danzai noodles originated. Afterwards, you’ll visit Anping Old Fort, built by the Dutch East India Company in 1624 and the oldest standing fort in Taiwan. The afternoon’s highlight is Sicao Green Tunnel, a narrow waterway threading through ancient mangroves so dense that the canopy overhead blocks out the sky entirely.
The coach then continues to Kaohsiung for another evening at leisure.
Travel time: Driving – approx. four hours
Begin the day with breakfast at the hotel before the morning takes you to nearby Lotus Pond, where the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas rise from the water in a blaze of colour. Tradition holds that entering through the dragon’s mouth and exiting through the tiger’s brings good fortune, while the view across the pond is worth the detour regardless.
Lunch follows at Old Taiwan Original Cuisine for quintessential Taiwanese classic dishes and historical memorabilia lining the walls, after which the afternoon is free to explore the city at your own pace.
Those with energy to spare can make their way to Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum, one of the largest Buddhist museums in the world, set within the grounds of the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan.
Today marks one of the trip’s best sightseeing opportunities, as you prepare to board the Breezy Blue train at Fangliao Station. This three-hour journey is the best way to see the Taiwanese coastline as you travel in style on this vintage train from the 1950s and 60s. The train follows the shoreline south and then east, with the Pacific Ocean visible from one side and steep green hillsides on the other. A delicious bento box lunch is served onboard before an all-too-soon arrival in Taitung.
The afternoon begins at the Bunun Tribal Leisure Farm to learn the traditional customs, daily practices and cultural heritage of Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples, the Bunun peoples. You’ll take part in a DIY weaving activity and witness a cultural performance. Please note: cultural performance will only take place if eight people attend the Bunun Tribal Leisure Farm.
After being dropped off at your hotel, the rest of the day is at leisure.
Travel time: Train – approx. three hours
Breezy Blue coastal train journey from Kaohsiung to Taitung
The east coast road north from Taitung is one of Taiwan’s finest drives, and today’s itinerary makes the most of it.
After breakfast, you’ll board the coach en route to your first stop in Xiaoyeliu, a small coastal park where mushroom-shaped rock formations have been carved by centuries of wind and wave erosion. Passing through the coastal town of Chenggong, your next stop is the Sanxiantai Arch Bridge, where an arched eight-section pedestrian bridge that looks like a dragon in flight connects the mainland to a small offshore island, with the Pacific Ocean stretching out on both sides.
Return to Chenggong for lunch at Meet Marlin, a sustainably focused seafood restaurant with panoramic ocean views. The coach then continues north to Hualien for a jade workshop, where you’ll learn about the unique characteristics of this beloved gemstone and use traditional methods to grind and polish your own jade pendant to take home.
Pull into the hotel in the late afternoon, in time for dinner and an evening at leisure.
Travel time: Driving – approx. three hours
After breakfast at the hotel, the day really kicks off with a visit to Qixingtan Beach where a curved pebble shoreline welcomes deep cobalt blue waters and Qingshui Cliff looming down over the coast.
Back aboard the coach, a visit to the Taroko Visitor Centre in the Taroko National Park provides context to the region’s unique landscape, before the road follows the coastline to Qingshui Cliff itself. Face the sheer rock cliffs as they plunge directly into the Pacific Ocean at one of Taiwan’s most dramatic coastal viewpoints.
Continue on to lunch at Dajili Tribal House in the town of Xincheng, then you’ll travel north to Yilan City and finish up at the Kavalan Distillery. Taiwan’s first whisky producer offers a guided tour of the production process, concluding with a tasting of the distillery’s range.
When the tasting concludes, you’ll be transferred to your hotel to spend the rest of the day at your leisure.
Travel time: Driving – approx. 3.5 hours
Enjoy an early breakfast before boarding the coach for The National Centre for Traditional Arts. The Centre offers a well-preserved complex of Taiwanese folk architecture set beside the Dongshan River. You’ll learn about the legend of Shennong, the founder of Chinese medicine and create your own herbal sachet to take home.
Today’s lunch is at Fan Ge Tian Weng, known for its slow-roasted chicken-in-jar, giving you the energy to head into the hills for an afternoon above Yilan City. Here you’ll visit a working tea plantation, where the cultivation and processing of the region’s oolong is explained on a guided walk through the terraced fields.
The day’s exploration ends at Wufengqi Waterfalls, a three-tiered cascade reached via a short walking trail through dense subtropical forest.
Return to the hotel in the early evening for dinner at leisure.
Travel time: Driving – approx. 2.5 hours
Start your final full day of touring with a hearty breakfast, then your coach heads north along the coast to three of northern Taiwan’s most distinctive destinations.
Yehliu Geopark opens the morning with its famous ‘queen’s head’ rock formation and surrounding landscape of wind-carved sandstone pillars. Spend some time exploring these towering rocks, then head to lunch is a seafood spread at the nearby Four Sisters restaurant.
The afternoon takes in Jiufen’s hillside lanes, made internationally famous by their resemblance to the settings in Spirited Away – narrow steps, red lanterns and tea houses perched above the harbour. From there, you’ll head to Shifen’s old railway track to release a sky lantern as a group, written with wishes before it lifts into the sky above the valley.
Tonight, the guided tour concludes with a farewell dinner at Brick Kiln Restaurant in Taipei.
The rest of the evening is at leisure, giving you time to relax and plan tomorrow’s full day of self-guided exploration.
Travel time: Driving – approx. one hour
Bask in the freedom of a whole day to explore Taipei at your own pace. Sleep in, explore a neighbourhood that didn’t make the itinerary, or return to a favourite spot from earlier in the tour.
Two optional half-day excursions are available for those who want a guided experience (surcharges apply).
After a final breakfast, meet your private transfer at the hotel for the drive to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) where your journey comes to a close.