Originally Posted by
brenc3
Absolutely, Taiwan is massively underrated as a tourist destination. I can recall when I first traveled there 20-ish years ago it was hard to find even a travel guidebook for Taiwan - most of the majors didn't cover it at all. The expansion of the MRT in that time makes it so much easier to visit. Taipei holds its own compared to other large regional cities, not to mention the single finest collection of Chinese art anywhere in the world at the National Palace Museum. Tons of natural beauty and none of it far from the big cities, good food, friendly people, very safe. It's always disappointing when I hear of people planning a whirlwind tour of East or Southeast Asia and Taiwan is left off the itinerary.
Japan's reputation as a great tourist destination is well-deserved, and it's much bigger than Taiwan of course. But Taiwan being a lower profile destination means, among other things, it's not as overrun with tourists post-Covid like many other popular spots in the world.
Really!? I remember 20 years ago there was a lonely planet and roughguide on taiwan in the library and Taiwan was a first world country back then still (I would say in a better predicament than it is right now as it was part of the 4 Asian Tiger miracles: Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan), and you know how developed those countries are (minus South Korea 20 years ago). But agree that not a lot of tourists in Taiwan and mostly from neighbouring countries.