My husband and I will be in Taiwan in May for 6 days and I need lots of advice.

I’m thinking of spending the first 2 nights in Taipei (essentially one day).

National Palace Museum
Longshan Temple
Taipei 101
Shilin or Shida Night Market

For the last 3 nights we are thinking of renting a car and driving down the east coast to Tarko Gorge and spending at least one night in Tienhsiang. It is my understanding that we can’t take Route 8 all the way across the island, correct? So I suppose we’ll take Route 7 northwest from there. I keep reading good things about Shitoushan so I’m tempted to try to stop there. We need to be at TPE for a flight around noon of the 6th day.

Are night markets in Taipei open every night of the week?
Is it a terrible idea for two people who can’t read Chinese characters to try driving around the island?
Any recommendations on a rental car agency?
Should we head north from Taipei and see Jiufen and Jinguashi at the start of the drive?
Any specific thoughts regarding places to stop when driving down the coast or across the island?
Would it be worthwhile to go down to Shitoushan, given that it’s a bit out of the way?
Could anyone give me a sense of the driving times between some major points on the route that I’ve laid out? How long would it take, for example to get from Shitoushan to TPE? Or from Tienhsiang to Shitoushan or the area around Shihmen Reservoir? Or, at a leisurely pace, down from Taipei to Tarko?

Thanks for any help and advice!

I think you choose a lovely time to visit Taiwan. You may miss the spring blossoms but there are plenty more to see in Taiwan. Summer heat, humidity and typhoons can ruin a lot of fun for western visitors. You don't have to suffer any of it when arriving in May.

Will this be your first visit to Taiwan?

It seems to me the attractions you mentioned were along the coastline. Giving Formosa is an island, you've got to experience the views of the coastline. You should be able to cover quite a few hot spots in 6 days. I would think it may be a good idea, after Taipei, to go northeast, then to Yilan and wrap it up in Hwalien (Tarko Gorge). Leave Shitoushan for your next visit.

Northeast Coast in Taiwan is very beautiful (check out the official website: Northeast and Yilan Coast Scenic Area for highlights). You can also enjoy as much seafood as you like along the way. It's possible you can witness the fishermen's catch for the day and order them right on the spot in fishing harbors if you arrive at the right time.

If you are up for hot springs in northern Taiwan, you can check out Beitou, Yangmingshan, Wulai and Jinshan. When heading north (then east), you can hit Tamsui, Fulong, Maoao Fishing Village, Bitou Cape, Keelung, Jioufen, Jinguashi, Pinghsi, Yeliou and Suao Cold Spring. Spending a night in Tienhsiang is a good idea. You can enjoy Tienhsiang and Tarko Gorge toward the end of your journey. I haven't "formally" introduced most of the above attractions in the other Taiwan thread that I started. I plan to cover them one by one in a more systematic way in the future though. You probably have to dig a little bit deeper on your own this time.

I can't answer your specific questions as to how long to drive from point A to point B, since most of my leisure trips were one-destination-at-a-time type of arrangements. Plus, transportation-wise, Taiwan has changed quite a bit in the last couple of years. I think other resident FTers will be able to address those questions much better than I.

What I do know is, generally speaking, the night markets are open everyday except for two days (I think) in each month. There are two "off" days that the Central Agency (re:vegetables & fruits) conducts no trade. Their schedule has something to do with the lunar calendar. Sometimes it happens on Mondays. FWIW, I've never figured out what those "off" days are. My mom always knows so I just ask her.

You said not reading Chinese. Not sure if you can communicate in Chinese or Taiwanese. If not, get a good dictionary/translator. If you do have to drive, make sure you have excellent maps in English. That might be a little bit challenging though. Even for a Taiwanese like me, I once (or twice ) got lost driving from Taipei to Keelung Night Market, where I've visited coutless times. Road signs can be very confusing, whether you read Chinese or not. The English translation may not be consistent. So don't be stuck with the spelling. Go with the pronunciation. To make things even worse, the streets can be very "intertwined" with busy traffic in certain places. Not trying to scare you, just want you to be prepared. On top of it, parking can be a huge problem at all the tourist attractions. I would think you may be able to manage by using a combo of public transportation & taxi. Most of the hot spots are accessible by public transportation. If you have your destinations written down in Chinese, taxi drivers will be able to take you to wherever you need to be.

Don't hesitate to ask for directions. Taiwanese will try to help you, even when they can't speak English. You do have to show them where you want to go in Chinese though.

I guess that's pretty much what I can offer. Last but not least, welcome to Taiwan!

I certainly can’t answer all your questions, but here are a few thoughts. First, about driving: the only point would be to explore out-of-the-way places and make stops at your own pace. If the point for you is to get to particular places, take trains and buses.

If you’ve really just got one day for Taipei, I would suggest something like: morning to the National Palace Museum (you can have a supposedly Qing dynasty lunch there); afternoon to Taipei 101 (you can go to the top around dusk for day-night views); then Longshan Temple in the evening. There’s a night-market right around the temple, so you don’t have to go out to Shilin.

As for driving to Taroko, I would be tempted to reverse course (or take the coastal route both ways), so that you are driving up (northward) along the east coast rather than down it. That way, it's easier to stop at the little parking lots for sea views and walks, since they’ll be on your right and you don’t have to cut across traffic each time (assuming you may make a lot of stops). I guess you can get from Tianxiang (Tien-hsiang) to Taipei in 4 hours; Taipei-Yilan is well under an hour with the new highway, then it slows down. But if you drive up the coast with a few stops and walks, it could turn into 6 hours or more.

Jinguashi is lovely, but if you’ve been stopping along the ocean already, it’s really not necessary. Jiufen is very crowded. Very, very crowded, all the time. My favorite NE coastal stops include the Longdong-Bitou stretch of cliffs and the Miyuewan (Honeymoon Bay) beach, which is kind of funky.

For misty bamboo-cypress forests, don’t forget Alishan. You could take the high-speed train to Jiayi and then drive or train up to the mountain for a couple of nights. If you decided to visit Alishan, you could potentially make Taroko Gorge a one-day trip by flying TPE-Hualian. Or 2 nights in Alishan and 1 in Tianxiang (you could rent a car in Hualien just to use in the county). Jinguashi/Jiufen is also a one-day (or half-day) trip from Taipei.

Driving here is a bit tricky at first. You have to remember that the motorbikes whizzing around you in all directions (and from all directions) are counting on you to continue moving forward at a steady pace. In the mountains, the roads are *extremely* twisty and narrow and there are usually bits falling down the cliff, so don’t go too near the edge. Also, keep an eye out for rocks that have fallen on the road from above. Basically, driving is easy enough; just stay alert. Even without knowing Chinese, you should be OK with a good guidebook and maybe some google maps printed out with characters (to show people when you get lost). Most road signs have romanization of one sort or another.

I would strongly advise against driving to Taroko Gorge - east coast is very tricky -- take the train. Upon arrival, you can arrange for tour in shuttle bus - if you're lucky, the two of you might be the only tourists for the day (which happened to my wife and two sons last year).

If you want to drive on the west coast of Taiwan, i.e. from Taipei to Taichung to Tainan and even as far as Kaohsiung, the route is fairly straight forward and easy drive. But again, if you veer off the path, don't expect clear and accurate signs or markings (regardless of the language).

For Taipei metro area, I would recommend getting car/driver.

Posters above have given great advice.Car rental companies I'd recommend includes:
1.car plus http://www.car-plus.com.tw/
2.IWS http://www.iws.com.tw/

Ask for (and insist on ) a car with a GPS navigator system installed in Eng so to save you the trouble of fishing out the map in the midst of a 'dangerous' drive in the mountain.
We've just done this route end of Jan and believe me, the scenery is worth the time spend. Jinguashi and Jiufen is quite unique too, and if you've the time, would suggest you visit them as well.

Laurjoyce, I've replied to your message but as you can see, I'm new to this forum and unlike the pm on tripadvisor, there's no 'reply' button for dummies so I'm posting here again just in case the message did not go through.
To cover jiufen, jinguashi, shifen, then go along the coast eastward covering all the northeastern scenic parks, down to Yilan, Hualien then Taroko would require at least two days if you want to get out of the car to gawk at the scenery.Otherwise, in theory, one day would suffice as it porbably take only around 6-7 hrs from Jiufen to Taroko.If NE coast is not your priority, then you could also take the expressway connecting TP to Yilan, which takes only about one hour as compared to the 2-3 hrs along the coast.

My suggestion would be to do
Yieliu Geologic park --Peace island (this is a mini peninsula in Keelung, make a brief stop here , there's a vantage point where one could see the distant Keelung island and there're also various interesting rock formation there).--jiufen--jinguashi--Yingyang sea--Nanya coast--Bitoujiao (nose tip in Chinese)--Northeastern coastal scenic park--Fulong beach--Yilan , here you could make a detour to Jiaoxi Royal hotel to take advantage of their meal plus hot spring package--Chingshui cliff--Taroko tienxiang.

Like I said, We just did a similar journey over 3 days in the reverse order (minus the Taroko portion, of course, as we live in Hualien and has been there umpteen times).
I have just put up a hotel review for Jiaoxi Royal on tripadvisor Taiwan forum; my username on that forum is mariatan so if you are interested, you could take a look there to see what the Onsen is like.

If you highlight/press mouse over the OP's name on the top left corner, a number of options pop out...including sending pm.

I see, thanks.

Just wanted to follow up with a quick trip report on Taiwan and thank those from FT who helped me plan. After spending a few days in Taipei we rented a car. An FTer encouraged us to get English GPS and it was really a life-saver! Drove up to Jiufen and Jinguashi and then down the coast to Taroko. We stayed at the Leader Village Hotel at Bulowan, which was wonderful. Spent a couple of days there and, of course, loved the park and did some nice hikes. We continued through the park and then headed up toward Wuling. Just before Wuling we found an organic farm that takes guests. A windy road took us into the little valley in which the farm sits. The mountain scenery throughout this area is just spectacular. The room was more than adequate (although I'm quite flexible about that sort of thing). Sun-Good was the name. (04-25901029) We had a delicious hot-pot dinner that night and a nice breakfast, as well. Continued our drive through the mountains and spent the last night at Lion's Head Mountain (Shihtoushan). One of the temples allows guests to stay the night and it was wonderful to wander around in the evening and early morning before any of the day-visitors arrived.

I loved Taiwan and look forward to going back for a longer trip.

Nice to hear your drive went fine. Most of the time I find driving in major cities in Taiwan a pain, with traffic and people not following rules (but I also become like that too in Taiwan and intersting that many Taiwanese that travel from So Cal to/from Taiwan can adjust!). I do like driving in Kaoshuing and south more (exception is old Tainan) as roads are wider and more like California.

The car is certainly king in Taiwan. Pedestrianised areas are almost unknown. as are dedicated pedestrian crossings. At junctions phases are long... so for a diagonal crossing you can wait 120 seconds to cross one part before 120 seconds to cross the other. Even with the green man in your favour, you can still be knocked down by a scooter or car doing a right turn. In fact I can only think of one junction in the whole of Taiwan where you get the green man both ways at the same time so you can cross in one go - and this is only at peak times on weekdays.

A junction near my place has a 7-ELEVEN nearby. Cars think nothing of parking right on the corner so you cannot even cross where you are supposed to. When the delivery van arrives, he parks in front of the traffic light so you can't see what it says when you want to cross the road. There is no dedicated public pavement/side walk either - you have to zig-zag your way through cars and bikes that park pretty much where they want to.

Some one please tell me it's better than this in California...

Jimbo you and I both know that taichung is the worst of all taiwan cities with the most selfish drivers in the world being bred here. Driving tests are based on manouver, indicate and maybe look and of course red lights are for reference only

Just wondering if anyone here could comment on how easy/hard it would be to find a bus to the gorge from the train station? Going to Taiwan but no plans of having a rental car, but would like to check out the gorge and the park if its easy enough.

I haven't done this, but the short answer is, it looks easy. There are 1-2 buses a day. Check out the government's Taroko park website: www.taroko.gov.tw. It has English pages on bus transportation. The only problem with the bus is that that it doesn't stop at the oo-aa sites where you could get out and look more closely at marble cliffs and milky river and waterfalls, etc. If you wanted a quick jaunt up and down, the bus might work. But you could still consider a 1-day car rental from the station. Hualien-Taroko is not that difficult (or long) a drive, if you planned it out ahead of time. The terror-driving is mostly in the greater Taipei area. As always, try to avoid tourist spots on weekends.

Taipei driving is kinder garden stuff compared to other parts of Taiwan when no one pays a blind bit of notice to signals or pedestrians, or even other cars to the point where you simply take your life in your own hands the minute you step out of the door