Hi, am thinking of visiting Taiwan next year but not sure exactly which month is the best time to go.?

Question

Primary objective is to shop and eat. Definitely visiting Taipei and other parts of Taiwan hopefully given sufficient time. Can recommend where to go and what to do/try/eat/buy there? Thanks!

Answer 1

Best time to go is in March. It's not too cool and not terribly hot, which provides an ideal time to shop, eat and tour. I would reccomend you try Snake Alley in Taipei for an exposure to some strange things in Taiwan, also Xi Men Ding if you like to see exciting, trendy stores and arcades, and I would also reccomend taking the MRT to Dan Shui to see the old colonial embassies and some beautiful northern coastline. I would strongly advise you to avoid Warner Village in Hsin Yi (near Taipei 101) as it is just a tourist trap. See Taipei 101 (up close), and for really good food try the Shi Da night market, especially the huge Taiwanese sausage, really good shaved-ice, "frogs eggs" drink and Guo Tie (or "pan fried dumplings"), all over the city. Good luck, and try the book at the link below for what I think is one of the best guides to the Taiwanese food and shopping districts.

Answer 2

The best time to go there is second half of April to first half of June. After that it gets too hot with ocassional typhoons to really enjoy.

Interesting happening around that time will be thge Dragon boat Festival on 19 June, with preliminaries a few days ahead.

Taipei itself is full of places to see and visit. Taipei 101, tallest building in the world, Just SW of there, the four animal mountains to climb (not too strenuous), Yang Ming Shan (mountain) National park just north of city, National Palace Museum chock full of Chinese items (Which Chiang Kai Shek brought over from the China museum), and while there, don't forget the garden as you're leaving, with ponds full of colorful Koi fish and a dragon fountain. A visit to Grand hotel could be interesting. Then there are many street markets and a number of night markets (not the same thing).

There's a story that when Chiang Kai Shek was retreating before the Communists, he took all the good cooks with him. There must be some truth in that, because of all the places in the world I ever visited, Taiwan has the best tasting food.

Other places... Tainan is famous for its noodle soup (Tainan tung mien), Hualien has great fruit, and if you chose another time to come, some fruit is available year round like watermellon.

For visiting, I'd suggest a nice place, Taitung, a few miles from there is the Green Island where you can rent a motorscooter and tour the whole place in 45 minutes. Beautiful view.... Then north of there is Hualien, with the Taroko Gorge park and the Taiwanese aboriginies.

South of Taipei is Wu Lai Scenic Area with cable cars up a mountain... To NE, is Yeliyu National Park with it's sand queen.

For some pix, http://www.flickr.com/photos/24446973@N00/

That should be about enough (my big mouth). Taiwan is a place I'd love to live forever if they'd let me.

Answer 3

March may be the best time to go to Taiwan. Since you can appreciate the varieties of flowers, and the weather's still cool for you to enjoy the warm spring in the spa places. Surely you need to enjoy the great food there. You can find all kinds of delicious cusine in all seasons depending on your favorite. Sin-Yi District near Taipei 101 is a good place for shopping. Enjoy your trip!

Answer 4

May to August is the best time, summer period. Make sure to visit Ximengting and Shilin Street if u want to do some shopping. For food, try local snacks like oyster mee sua and crispy chicken chop.

Places of interest could be Taipei 101; World's tallest building, and Yamingshan National Park

Answer 5

I am a Taiwan PR who stayed there since Feb 05 to Aug 06.

Feb-March is the best time. Its changing of season so the weather would be just nice to the farm for Strawberry picking and the best timing to get cheap clothings for either winter or summer wear!

Bear in mind that when different places in Taiwan are good for different food so it would be tiring to travel around as the place isn't small. Try not to take cab cos i got cheated before.. Bus damn cheap! Most of the places aren't accessible so plan widely before going..

Answer 6

I would say spring,
to avoid rain in summer,
typhoon in fall,
and the cold in winter.

But I think that since you r here to shop,
it depends mostly on what type of clothes you wish to buy,
for winter or summer? Long sleeve or short sleeve?
You know what I mean,
Come in the right season!

As for your second question.......
It depends on what you want to do.
There are museums if you want to learn about history,
water and amusement parks if you want fun (though none of them r as exciting as the US's),
there are snow watchers on the mountains in winter to watch (if you want to watch them get crazy when they see snow),
there is the "Taipei 101" if you want to be in the tallest building of the world,
and or you can dive in the every south of Taiwan (Kenting),
and the night markets are dirty but worth to take a look,
or you can just look around and enjoy imagining what's it's like to live in Taiwan (like what books they sell in bookstores)......

btw, try walking around the outside of two or three high schools,
you might find one of those little shops that sell drinks. You only have to pay for about 20~35 NT for a huge cup of drink, it's totally worth it. And it's one of Taiwan's unique culture too ( I think.....) , you can see students gathering around those shops after school, and you can see each of them holding a cup of drink!

Answer 7

I would say late October or early November, as that is probably the driest time of year and not too hot or cold.

Answer 8

November. The monsoon season is over and the weather is just right.

Answer 9

don't go there ,china will bomb Taiwan soon