Taipei 101 and the National Palace Museum, the lantern-lined lanes of Jiufen, sky lanterns at Shifen, Sun Moon Lake in Nantou and Fengjia night market.
Photo: Yu Hong Lee / Unsplash
Day 1
The group meets at Da Nang International Airport for the direct flight to Taoyuan International Airport. Your guide meets you and transfers you to the hotel in Taipei. Depending on landing time, the evening is free for Ningxia night market or to rest at the hotel.
Day 2
The morning starts at Taipei 101, a 508-metre tower shaped as eight stacked segments of bamboo, with a 660-tonne tuned mass damper hanging inside against typhoons and earthquakes. Next is the National Palace Museum and its collection of nearly 700,000 objects, including the jadeite cabbage and the meat-shaped stone. In the afternoon we head into the hills to the north-east: Jiufen old street, where red lanterns hang the length of the Shuqi steps, then Shifen, where you write a wish on a paper lantern and release it from the middle of a working railway track.
Day 3
We check out and drive about three hours down to Nantou County in the centre of the island. Sun Moon Lake is Taiwan's largest natural lake, named for its two halves: one round like the sun, the other curved like a crescent moon. You take a boat past Lalu island in the middle, climb to Xuanzang Temple for the view down over the water, and visit Wenwu Temple on the north shore, guarded by two large stone lions at the entrance. We stay near the lake or in Taichung.
Day 4
The morning is at Rainbow Village in Taichung, a former military dependants' settlement that a veteran resident covered in painted colour to save it from demolition. At midday we visit Dajia Jenn Lann Temple or Taichung old quarter depending on the schedule, and the afternoon is free at Fengjia night market for bubble tea, egg cakes and grilled squid. We return to Taipei at the end of the day, with time to shop in Ximending.
Day 5
After checking out there is time to buy pineapple cakes, high-mountain oolong tea and cosmetics. Your guide sees the group through check-in at Taoyuan International Airport for the flight back to Da Nang, where the programme ends.
Taiwan covers a lot of ground for a short trip, because the island is only around 400 km long and the motorway network is very good. Five days is enough to work from Taipei in the north down to Nantou in the middle and back without a single day spending more than about three hours on the coach.
Day two is the fullest in the programme: the city in the morning, then the hills at Jiufen and Shifen in the afternoon. We combine them deliberately, because they lie in the same direction and splitting them costs another half day of driving. The trade-off is a late return to the hotel that evening.
Taiwan gets a lot of rain, particularly in the north-eastern hills around Jiufen, and typhoon season runs roughly July to September. Pack a light rain jacket. We prepare and submit the Taiwan visa applications on your behalf; you supply a valid passport and the documents on a checklist we send in advance. Group size, hotel category and departure dates are fixed when the contract is signed.
Overseas ToursThe classic Korea route from Da Nang — Gyeongbokgung Palace, the tree-lined avenues of Nami Island, a full day at Everland and evenings in Myeongdong.
Overseas ToursSouthern Korea when the maples turn — Haeundae beach, the painted hillside of Gamcheon, the thousand-year-old Bulguksa temple and the old Silla capital at Gyeongju.
Overseas ToursEast to west across Japan — Senso-ji in Tokyo, Lake Kawaguchi beneath Mount Fuji, the torii gates of Fushimi Inari in Kyoto and Dotonbori after dark.