總統府 · CC BY 2.0Taiwan
Marble gorges, night markets and a mountain range that tops 3,900 metres.
“Marble gorges, night markets and a mountain range that tops 3,900 metres.”
Taiwan is small, mountainous and consistently underrated. The island is about the size of Belgium and holds 268 peaks above 3,000 metres, which is why the east coast falls into the Pacific in cliffs and the Taroko gorge is cut a thousand metres deep into marble. The high-speed rail down the west and a slow scenic line round the east make the whole thing loopable in ten days.
It is also one of the easiest places in Asia to travel: visa-free for 90 days for most Western passports, a transit card that works on every train and bus in the country, near-universal convenience stores, and a night-market culture that turns eating into the evening's itinerary. Add Taipei's hot springs and Tainan's temples and there is a fortnight here without repeating yourself.
Chapter 01
Highlights
Taroko Gorge
A marble canyon on the east coast with cliff-hugging trails and the Swallow Grotto. Earthquake and typhoon damage closes sections regularly - check which trails are open before going.
Taipei night markets
Raohe and Ningxia rather than the tourist-heavy Shilin. Pepper buns from the clay oven, oyster omelette, beef noodle soup - dinner for four euros and the best reason to be here.
Alishan
A narrow-gauge forest railway climbing through cypress into cloud, with a sunrise sea-of-clouds viewpoint and tea plantations on the slopes below.
Jiufen and the northeast coast
A hillside tea-house town of red lanterns above the sea, plus the Yehliu rock formations and the Pingxi sky-lantern railway line.
Chapter 02
Entry requirements for Taiwan
Checking your passport…
up to 90 days · free entry
90 days on arrival
Official portal only
Paid look-alike sites charge for a process that is free or cheap on the government portal. Use the link below and nothing else.
niaspeedy.immigration.gov.tw/webacard →Before you fly
The detail
- Maximum stay
- up to 90 days
- Fee
- free entry
- Passport validity
- Most destinations want validity beyond your stay, and some want six months. Check yours against the return date.
- Onward travel
- Airlines may ask for a return or onward ticket at check-in.
- Arrival form
- Taiwan Arrival Card - free, online, filed before departure through the National Immigration Agency portal.
- Health
- No vaccinations required. Healthcare is excellent and inexpensive by European standards, though visitors pay upfront - insurance still matters. Tap water is treated and safe to boil but most people drink filtered or bottled. Dengue occurs in the south in summer. Summer heat and humidity in the west are genuinely draining.
- Money
- Cards work in hotels, chains and department stores; night markets, small restaurants and rural buses are cash. ATMs at 7-Eleven and FamilyMart accept foreign cards reliably and are open around the clock. EasyCard tops up at any convenience store. Tipping is not practised.
A United States passport enters Taiwan visa-free for 90 days, one of about sixty nationalities on a list that has been widened rather than trimmed for years. There is no visa, no authorisation and no fee; what is required is a passport valid for the whole stay, a confirmed onward or return ticket, which airlines check at the gate, and the free online arrival card, filed on the National Immigration Agency’s own site before you fly instead of on the paper slip handed out in the aisle. It costs nothing, so any site asking for money to file it is selling you the form. The 90 days are not extendable in the ordinary case: a longer stay means a visitor visa obtained before travel from a Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which is what Taiwan has instead of embassies in most countries, so plan the length before you go rather than at an immigration counter in Taipei. One persistent rumour is worth ending: a Taiwanese entry stamp causes no difficulty entering mainland China, and a Chinese stamp causes none here, whatever you have read.
Check another destination with this passport →
Entry details: Editorial synthesis - Taiwan Bureau of Consular Affairs visa-exemption list, National Immigration Agency arrival card (2025–2026) · compiled 17 Sept 2026
Who needs a visa for Taiwan
12 common passports| Passport | Requirement | Stay | Process |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Visa-free | up to 90 days | No process · €0 / $0 |
| United Kingdom | Visa-free | up to 90 days | No process · €0 / $0 |
| Germany | Visa-free | up to 90 days | No process · €0 / $0 |
| India | Visa required | - | No Other passports record yet |
| China | Visa required | - | No Other passports record yet |
| Brazil | Visa required | - | No Other passports record yet |
| Nigeria | Visa required | - | No Other passports record yet |
| Indonesia | Visa required | - | No Other passports record yet |
| Philippines | Visa-free | up to 14 days | No Other passports record yet |
| Vietnam | eTA | - | No Other passports record yet |
| Egypt | Visa required | - | No Other passports record yet |
| Nepal | Visa required | - | No Other passports record yet |
Holding a passport that is not listed? The picker above answers for any of them. See where your passport takes you. Source: Passport Index, updated 14 Aug 2026.
Chapter 03
When to go
BestMar–Apr, Oct–Nov. AvoidJun–Aug.
Spring - mild, dry and comfortable; cherry blossom in the hills.
The band above each month is our editorial verdict - it weighs crowds, prices and access as well as weather. The line is average daily temperature, the bars are monthly rainfall. Select a month for the figures. Climate figures: ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo, 2005–2024 normals.
Chapter 04
What it costs
A day in Taiwan
Comfortable · sample day
≈ $70
Line items are real prices we track. The daily budget is an editorial estimate for this level, not their sum.
Where this sits among 244 countries we have costed
Lunar New Year is the one week that changes everything - trains sell out, hotel rates jump and much of the country closes for several days. Otherwise seasonality is mild: summer lifts Kenting and the outer islands, and typhoon-season cancellations affect availability more than price. Rail fares and metro rides are fixed year-round.
Updated Aug 2026 · Editorial synthesis - Taiwan High Speed Rail and TRA published fares, Taiwan Tourism Administration, hotel rate sampling (2025–2026) · confidence high
Excludes international flights - they depend on where you fly from.
Chapter 05
Regions to know
5Taipei & the north
The capital, Beitou hot springs, Jiufen's lantern-lit lanes, Yangmingshan's volcanoes and the Pingxi rail line.
The east coast
Taroko Gorge, the Hualien and Taitung rift valley, cliffs falling into the Pacific and the country's indigenous heartland.
The centre & Alishan
Sun Moon Lake, the Alishan forest railway and tea plantations, plus Taichung's food and art scene.
The south
Tainan's temples and old-capital food, Kaohsiung's harbour and Kenting's beaches at the island's tip.
The outer islands
Green Island and Orchid Island off the east coast, Penghu's basalt archipelago, and Kinmen and Matsu beside the mainland Chinese coast.
Chapter 06
Practical guide
Getting there
Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) is a major hub with direct flights from London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Vienna and Istanbul in 12–14 hours, plus dense regional service; Kaohsiung (KHH) takes regional flights. Songshan (TSA) sits inside Taipei and handles short-haul routes. The airport MRT reaches Taipei Main Station in 35 minutes.
Entry formalities
Taiwan Arrival Card - free, online, filed before departure through the National Immigration Agency portal.
Getting around
High-speed rail down the west, conventional TRA around the rest, with reserved seats worth booking on holiday weekends. EasyCard or iPASS covers metro, bus, TRA and convenience-store purchases across the whole island. Buses reach the mountain areas the trains do not. Taxis are cheap and metered, and Uber operates in the cities. The YouBike public bicycle system is genuinely good in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.
Money & costs
Cards work in hotels, chains and department stores; night markets, small restaurants and rural buses are cash. ATMs at 7-Eleven and FamilyMart accept foreign cards reliably and are open around the clock. EasyCard tops up at any convenience store. Tipping is not practised.
Safety
Extremely safe - violent crime is rare, lost property is routinely handed in, and solo night travel is unremarkable. The genuine hazards are natural: Taiwan sits on an active plate boundary and earthquakes are frequent, typhoons hit between July and October, and mountain weather changes fast. Hiking above 3,000 metres requires permits and is not a casual undertaking. Scooter accidents are the most common way visitors get hurt.
Health
No vaccinations required. Healthcare is excellent and inexpensive by European standards, though visitors pay upfront - insurance still matters. Tap water is treated and safe to boil but most people drink filtered or bottled. Dengue occurs in the south in summer. Summer heat and humidity in the west are genuinely draining.
SIM & internet
Tourist SIMs at the airport cost €10–20 for unlimited data and are among the best value anywhere; eSIM works. 5G coverage is comprehensive, including in the mountains along main roads. Free public wifi (iTaiwan) is widespread. LINE is the universal messaging app, as in Japan.
Chapter 07
Driving
City traffic is dense and scooters flow around cars in ways that take getting used to. The cross-island highways over the central range are spectacular and subject to landslide closures - check the road status before committing to one.
Rules change - verify with an official source before you rent.
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Become ExplWorld Verified →Chapter 08
Before you go
TaiwanChapter 09
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a visa?
Most likely not. Taiwan grants visa-free entry of 90 days to EU/EEA, UK, US, Canadian, Australian and Japanese passports. You need an onward or return ticket and a passport valid for the stay, and every arrival must file the free online arrival card before landing. Use the official immigration portal - paid lookalikes exist for a form that costs nothing.
How do I get around?
The high-speed rail runs Taipei to Kaohsiung in about 100 minutes down the west coast; the conventional TRA line loops the whole island and is the scenic option on the east. Buy an EasyCard or iPASS and it works on metros, buses, conventional trains and convenience stores nationwide. Scooters dominate the roads but need a licence Taiwan recognises. Renting a car is worth it only for the cross-island highways.
When should I avoid it?
Typhoon season runs roughly July to October and can shut transport and mountain trails for days at a time. Summer is also hot and humid. The best window is October to April, with the caveat that the north is grey and drizzly in the depths of winter while the south stays warm and dry.