1.Taipei 101 & the elephant hill trek –You just can’t miss Taipei 101 when you are in Taipei. The super tall skyscraper was once the tallest building on the planet. Taipei 101 has a very unique architecture and it is built to be typhoon proof. It is easy to spot the tower from most places of Taipei. It takes 30 minutes by taxi from airport to reach Taipei 101. There is an observation deck on the top of the Taipei 101. The view was amazing from the observation deck.
You can also visit the mass damper which plays a huge role during typhoon or high wind scenario. There are various shopping malls and restaurants on the ground floor of Taipei 101.
Elephant hill is a small hill near Taipei 101. It is only 2 km from the tower. You can hike the hill in order to get some great views of Taipei 101. I did the hike during the night to see some great lighting from the tower. It takes 1 hour to hike the mountain.
2. Lungshan temple – Taipei has very good transport network. From Taipei 101 you can ride the metro in order to reach lungshan temple. The temple is very easily accessible from Lungshan temple metro station. This is one of the biggest Chinese temple in Taipei. The place was built around the 17th century. The temple was damaged multiple times during the 2nd world war but eventually it was renovated by the government. Nearby the temple there are lots of restaurants which serves local Taiwanese cuisine.
3. Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial hall – Chinag Kai-Shek memorial hall is located by around 30-minute walk from the lungshan temple. It is a national monument erected in the memory of Chiang Kai-Shek, former president of republic of china. The monument is a huge complex surrounded by park.
There is a statue of Chiang Kai Shek in the main chamber of the memorial hall. From the memorial hall chamber you can decipher the real size of the complex.
Memorial hall square also consists of national concert hall and national theater. The concert halls are located very close to the main gate of the memorial square. The front gate has an unique architecture and it is featured heavily in Taiwan tourism development campaign.
4. Sun yat-sen memorial hall – Sun Yat-Sen memorial hall is situated about 20 mins walk from the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. It is a memorial for republic of china father Dr Sun Yat-Sen. The guard changing at the memorial hall is a major tourist attraction.
The building is situated near chung-shan park. The complex includes gardens, historic walls and an exhibition center. You can get great views of Taipei 101 from the memorial hall.
5. Taipei Night market – Taipei is famous for its night markets. There are around 7 popular night markets in Taipei. Most of the night markets remain open until 4am in the morning. All night markets are easily accessible using the metro. I visited Ningxia night market which is around 10-minute taxi ride from the sun yet-sen memorial hall.
The place offers varieties of stalls which includes fried chicken, steamed scallops, burgers, dumpling,fried fish and tofu. Stinky tofu is a very famous Taiwanese dish. There are lots of stalls where you can try Taiwanese sweets and snacks item. You can also shop souvenir and toys from the market.
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