Originally Posted by
mhnadel
I'm going to be in Taiwan for 4 days in November.
i figure I have to do the obvious must-sees: Taipei 101, National Palace Museum, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.
I'm also big on aquariums and it looks like XPark is my best option. They have a program that lets you stay overnight in the aquarium. It's quite pricy, but it looks interesting. Has anyone done it and can tell me if it's worth it? I might also go tothe zoo since it's said to be the largest in Asia.
I've also done cooking classes (typically about 3 hours, a bit longer if they include a market tour) in several Asian countries (e.g, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia). I see several available in Taipei and a few of them claim to be vegetarian friendly. (I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat pork, which seems likely to be an issue with many of them.). Does anyone have any experience with one they'd recommend?
I'm contemplating a day trip to hot springs, but I'm not sure if that's a good use of my time.
I'm looking at hotel options in either Da'an or Ximending. I'm not a big nightlife person so the latter sounds like it might be too noisy and crowded.
Any thoughts?
Definitely avoid hotels around Ximen - crowded, noisy and touristy and more hostels than hotels for adults - I would suggest Daan as noted, but also Xinye is a nice upscale area - a couple smaller boutique hotels to consider there which are easy walks to a local night market (although the Linjiang/Tonghua night market has seen better days), the MRT station and Taipei 101 (if the weather is nice) - Eclat Hotel (part of SLH/Hilton) and the Madison Taipei (a Tribute collection hotel)