Day 3 - Taipei 101 and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial
Taipei 101
Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial
LiaoNing Night Market 遼寧夜市
Taipei 101 is one of the biggest landmarks in Taiwan and is a must-hit in Taiwan. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is nearby and an awesome spot to find some open space and get amazing shots of Taipei 101. Liaoning Night Market was pretty quiet on a week night, might be better on the weekend.
Taipei 101
Taipei 101 is easily accessible with MRT but there is a bit of a walk from the nearest station. The base of the building is a massive 5-story modern mall, with shops nearby. To go up to the top, follow the signs to Observation Deck and buy tickets either on the spot or pre-purchase online. There’s always a line but it moves fairly quick, our wait was around 20min.
Once exiting the elevator at the top, you can get 360 views by walking around. There is also an upstairs that allows you to go to the outdoor deck, but it was closed due to weather during our visit this time. Be sure to walk into the center of the floor to check out the Damper Ball, largest in the world, and the cool explanations. There are also cafes and snack shops and you’ll get some coupons with your tickets, but we skipped them due to the long lines. When you’re ready to go, walk downstairs to get in the elevator line. You can also get a different view of the damper ball from the lower level.
Don’t miss the massive food court in the basement level of the mall. There are tons of great options! It was super crowded when we visited though, Definitely worth checking out even if you don’t stay there to eat.
Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial is a nice place to visit with its open space around the fountain. The building was closed during our visit, but we still appreciated the outdoor space. The fountain was a nice place to relax, and you can take some amazing reflection pictures of Taipei 101 with the fountain. It was getting dark when we were here and we got some very nice pictures!
We visited Taipei 101 around Christmas and there was a food court event nearby. The crowd was insane! It was cool to see but the lines were not worth it for fairly mundane food choices. In a city where there is amazing food around every corner, I didn’t quite understand the fascination of this food court event.
There is an MRT station closer to this memorial than the one for Taipei 101, be sure to check google maps for the closest station when you’re ready to go.
Liaoning Night Market 遼寧夜市
We actually visited this night market by accident, was thinking of Ningxia night market but ended up getting direction for Liaoning. Oops. We found a great spot for duck blood soup, very tasty! But this isn’t the most happening night market, especially on weekdays, would not recommend it.
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.