Day 1 - Arrive in Tao-Yuan, Head to Yehliu, Jiufen & Shifen
Taoyuan TPE Airport
Yehliu Geopark 野柳地質公園
Jiufen Old Street 九份老街
Shifen 十分
We landed at 5:40am and decided to make it a full day of adventure to help fight off jet lag. These places are outside of city center and also require time to go from one to the next, so allow for commute time. We took our time and run out of time at the end, but had an absolute blast!
Taoyuan TPE Airport
We took a China Airlines flight from Ontario airport to TPE, enjoyed the lounge at Ontario with our Priority Pass membership.
Once arriving at TPE airport, be sure to pick up local SIM cards or wifi router. If traveling with one or two people, it’s best to get the SIM card for your phone. Since we have five people, we got a SIM card for a local phone number (very useful for reservations and travel apps) and another one to put in our wifi router that provides wifi access for everyone else. There are a couple of stands at the airport for this, and the prices are very reasonable. A must-have in Taiwan.
There are a few ways to get to Taipei or other cities. Buses leave straight from the terminal and come frequently, very convenient. You can also take the metro to the nearby HSR (high speed rail) station to get to major cities including Taipei. Lastly, you can prebook private airport drivers, but this requires advanced planning and some referrals. Taxis are quite cheap in Taiwan compared to most countries, but it can add up for long distances.
Since we were meeting up with friends, we got a private driver and met up with our friends in Taipei with another driver, and headed off to our day of adventure!
Yehliu Geopark 野柳地質公園
Yehliu is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Taiwan and lives up to the hype! Other than the famous Queens Head statue, the rocks here form various interesting shapes by ocean waves throughout the years, it takes just a bit of imagination to see interesting figures! Better yet, ask one of the many helpful workers there for some tips, many of them are happy to show you interesting views and angles now shown in the brochure! We had a worker that enthusiastically showed us hidden treasures and camera angles and even took pictures for us! There is also a nice food shopping street upon exit with tons of snacks. Just make sure you compare prices before buying anything!
Jiufen Old Street 九份老街
This is an extremely popular, i.e. crowded, indoor food area. There is more food than you have appetite for, and it’s longer than you may imagine, so be patient and walk to the end then you can turn around and hit the ones you really want to hit. If you have a big crowd and want to eat at a sit-down food stall, be ready to wait for a table! Alternatively, go for the food you can eat on the go. We patiently waited for seating for the 10 of us! Save room for desert! The taro desert balls are popular here but we didn’t get to try them.
Parking around here is extremely limited. This is where the private drivers are great, they’ll take you close to it and take care of parking while you roam.
Shifen 十分
There are two popular destinations at Shifen: Waterfall and Sky Lanterns. We started running out of time to do both and opted to do the sky lantern. It was such an unique experience! You find a shop, pick the number of colors you want in a lantern (the more color, the higher the price), they set up a stand for you to write anything you want (usually your wishes) on the lantern with Caligraphy brush pens, and they will help you launch it into the sky!
There are also tons of street vendors and food vendors here so be sure to walk around and try some snacks before leaving!