There are transit desks at TPE on the lower (arrival) level. CX goes into T1 and CI North America goes out of T2. However, T1 and T2 are connected.

http://www.taoyuan-airport.com/engli...sit-procedures shows you how to do it. If there is no bag, it is not a problem.

I have 8.5hr layover in TPE., and plan to go out to visit and get something to eat.. any suggestion? Do I need a visa? US passport holder.

A quick check on Google tells me no.

No visa, just a valid passport. Store your bags and take the express MRT into Main Station, you have plenty of time - although if you want to stay close, find a local bus that goes to Tai Mall or Metrowalk malls - plenty of restaurants and shops there to kill time for a few hours.

Able to get to the Taipei 101?

Yes, assuming you have 5-6 hrs net after factoring in arrival immigration and departing security and immigration, getting your bag back. Budget 1hr each way on the train, that leaves you about 3-4 hours with a safe buffer in the city. From Taipei Main Station transfer to the red line and go directly to 101, take same route in reverse back to the airport.

Awesome.

Its actually a 8.5hrs layover.. and if I do the 1hr each way on train and 30min to get thru immigration. give me maybe about 6hrs. and maybe give another hrs to get back to airport early for checkin immigration again.

8.5hrs layover
.5 out thru immigration
1hrs to town from airport
1hrs back to airport
1hrs to check in and immigration
-----
5hrs to play around town..


So from what I can find.. We would take the purple line from TPE to the Main station, then red line to Taipei 101. ?

For the immigration time - when does your flight arrive? The wait time is variable depending on time of day, same with security.

Yes, you take the Taoyuan Metro to Taipei Main Station, but be careful and choose the express train (every other train) - it will say express on the train schedule board, plus the seating will be 2x2 forward/backwards facing and not the local train which has the seats running along the side of the car. Once you arrive, transfer to the red line to the 101 station.

If you catch the express train it'll only be about 30 minutes from the airport to the Taipei main station but the train comes every 15 minutes. Once in Taipei you could then either take the long-ish walk from the Taoyuan airport station side to the MRT side to connect, or just take an Uber from the airport station which is pretty cheap in Taipei. The Uber pick-up will be at the Basement 2 level drop-off/pick-up area. There's also a taxi stand just a few steps further down. If you're familiar with the main station underground, then the walk from the Taoyuan airport MRT will be pretty quick, but otherwise can get confusing as I've gotten lost in there several times. For ease of transport though I'd just take an Uber everywhere in the city.

Taipei 101 basement has a food court with some good options. Even better options across from 101 inside the Mitsukoshi shopping center. There are several food courts there in the basements as well as more shops and restaurants above. Plenty of places to explore there.

I would advise against Uber - in the past they were cheaper than taxis, then the TW govt threw them out. Uber was recently allowed back in, but their prices are now significantly higher, and given that most taxis will take credit cards and even Apple Pay, there is no real advantage to Uber anymore as a taxi would probably be cheaper.

My most recent trip there last month I found Uber to be cheaper than taxis more often than not. I'd be taking the same routes a lot and have done both in taxis and Uber, and Uber came out cheaper majority of the time aside from surge periods. Another advantage for Uber is that you don't need to speak the language or print out Chinese addresses. Everything's in the system and language barrier is eliminated.

I doubt you'd have 5 hrs in town...
 

(Underline mine)

Even though not knowing your TPE arrival time, I wouldn't be so optimistic about having 5 hrs of play time in town since you don't factor in any wait time (for trains, MRT, transfers & in the queue...etc) and/or margin of error.

You better check out the other TPE layover thread and read the most recent trip report on 7-hr layover:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/asia...yover-tpe.html

Whichever transportation you end up choosing, good luck! :)

What about that GrabTaxi app, which is suppose to be popular in Asia?

Any comparable advantage in figuring out your destinations?

with the MRT and train, time.. do you guys see that taxi is quicker? I see most are here are using taxi vs the local metro. Is this cause its a more direct transportation?

I think GrabTaxi is only in SE asia right now. It might be in Taipei now (?) but I didn't use it.


Personally I prefer to save time and do door-to-door with taxi/uber. Eliminates all the walking/connection time in between if using MRT, and obviously if there are no MRT station close to where I am or where I'm going. I use the MRT blue line most often though to go across town along zhong xiao road.