Taipei is an easy, walkable city with excellent public transport, which makes it a great family base — and everything from red-lantern mountain villages to pandas is within a day trip. Five days gives you a proper city stint plus room for the two day trips that make this itinerary, without racing through either.
The plan at a glance
Day 1 — Taipei 101 & Ximending
Taipei 101 is the obvious first stop, and it's worth knowing why it's such a big deal: at 508 metres, it was the tallest building in the world for five years after opening in 2004, until Dubai's Burj Khalifa took the title in 2009. Its shape deliberately echoes a stalk of bamboo or a stacked pagoda, built in eight segments of eight floors each (eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture). The dedicated express lift runs from the 5th floor to the 89th-floor indoor observation deck in about 37 seconds — it was the fastest lift in the world when the building opened. From there, step outside to the 91st-floor open-air deck, 392 metres up, for a 360-degree view over the whole city and the mountains beyond. Go toward sunset if you can, so you see the city both in daylight and lit up at night.
In the afternoon or evening, Ximending is a lively pedestrian district of shops, street performers and cafes — often called Taipei's answer to Harajuku or Shibuya — better suited to older kids than toddlers, but a genuinely fun wander for the rest of the family.
Skip-the-line tickets for the observation deck are worth it, especially for a sunset time slot.
Check Taipei 101 tickets →Day 2 — Jiufen & Shifen ~45 min by train to Ruifang
The signature day trip from Taipei, and worth planning around the crowds. Take a train around 45 minutes to Ruifang, then a 10-minute bus to Jiufen Old Street — go early, ideally arriving around 10am when shops open, since it gets extremely crowded from noon and doesn't ease off until evening.
Jiufen is a former gold-mining town clinging to a mountainside above the sea, and its look is unmistakable: narrow stone stairways and covered alleys packed with teahouses, all strung with red paper lanterns that glow at dusk. The main thoroughfare, Jishan Street, is the heart of it — shops selling taro balls, dried fruit and souvenirs, with side lanes opening onto sweeping views of Keelung Mountain and the coast. The single most photographed spot is A-Mei Teahouse, a multi-level wooden building famous for its cascading red lanterns — worth stopping for a pot of locally grown high-mountain tea, brewed at your table, while you take in the view over the valley to the sea.
From Ruifang, transfer instead (or afterward) to the Pingxi Railway Line for a further 27-31 minutes to Shifen. The old street here is built directly around the train tracks — a working railway line, originally laid by the Japanese to haul coal, runs straight through the middle of the shops and stalls, with trains still passing just metres from where people are eating and browsing. This is also where the sky lantern tradition is centred: write a wish in ink on a paper lantern and release it from beside the station, watching it drift up over the valley. A short walk from the old street, Shifen Waterfall is worth the detour — a 20-metre-high, 40-metre-wide curtain of water often nicknamed "Taiwan's Niagara Falls" for its shape, with mist rising off the plunge pool below. Shifen has noticeably more breathing room than Jiufen even in the afternoon, so it works well as the calmer second half of the day.
A private day tour with hotel pickup takes the train transfers off your plate if you'd rather not plan the route yourself.
Check Jiufen & Shifen day tours →Already planning this?
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Start planning in WayTallyDay 3 — museum, park, and a night market
Ease the pace with the National Palace Museum in the morning — one of the largest collections of Chinese imperial artifacts in the world, brought over from Beijing's Forbidden City in 1948. You don't need to see all 700,000-plus pieces; head straight for the two most famous, both genuinely delightful for kids: the Jadeite Cabbage, a piece of jade carved so cleverly that its natural colour variations become a napa cabbage leaf, with a locust and katydid hidden in the leaves, and the Meat-Shaped Stone, a slice of banded jasper carved and dyed to look uncannily like a braised pork belly dish. Both are tiny, easy to find, and a good hook to get kids interested before wandering further.
In the afternoon, Daan Forest Park is Taipei's answer to Central Park — open lawns, a lake, a running track and playgrounds, a proper run-around after a morning of quiet gallery walking. In the evening, we've got a full Taiwan night markets guide with more detail, but Shilin Night Market is the obvious pick here — Taipei's biggest, with arcade rooms and a playground alongside the 500-plus food stalls, and it gets going from around 4-6pm so you don't need a late night with the kids.
Day 4 — Taipei Zoo & Maokong Gondola
These two sit right next to each other and pair naturally into one day. Start at the Taipei Zoo in the morning — one of the largest in Asia, with giant pandas as the headline act — and use the zoo's tourist train to cover ground without tiring everyone out. The Maokong Gondola departs right from the zoo's edge and climbs into the hills above the city, running over tea plantations with the Taipei skyline receding behind you. If anyone in the family likes a bit of a thrill, ask for a Crystal Cabin — one of 31 gondolas fitted with a reinforced glass floor, letting you look straight down at the forest canopy passing underneath (a small surcharge, around NT$50 extra per ride). Since the gondola runs into the evening, there's no rush: stop at a teahouse at the top if the kids can handle a slower finish to the day.
A combined Zoo + Gondola ticket (with the zoo's tourist train included) is simpler than buying separately.
Check Taipei Zoo & Maokong Gondola tickets →Day 5 — Beitou hot springs
A slower last day in Beitou, Taipei's hot spring village, easily reached by MRT. Before you soak, it's worth a short walk to Thermal Valley (once nicknamed "Hell Valley"), the sulphurous, steaming source spring that feeds Beitou's whole hot spring district — a milky green pool shrouded in mineral steam year-round, heated to over 70°C at the surface and up to 90-100°C in parts. It's fenced off and safe to view rather than swim in, but genuinely dramatic, and it's the reason Beitou exists as a spa town at all. Private family bathhouses are the reliable option for the actual soak — typically NT$2,000-4,000 for a 90-minute session for 2-6 people, booked ahead.
What it actually costs
A rough tally for a family of four across the five days, activities only.
| Category | TWD |
|---|---|
| Taipei 101 observation deck, family of four | NT$2,400 |
| Jiufen & Shifen train fares + sky lantern, family of four | NT$1,600 |
| National Palace Museum entry, family of four | NT$600 |
| Shilin Night Market food & games | NT$2,000 |
| Taipei Zoo + Maokong Gondola combo, family of four | NT$1,200 |
| Beitou private family bathhouse, 90 minutes | NT$2,800 |
| Total activities, 5 days | NT$10,600 |
Plan your Taipei days in minutes
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