Taipei

Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, is a unique city where old and new world mix, famous for its night markets and the second tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. Busy and live city, full of city parks is surrounded by amazing nature. If your family likes to hike, climb up the Elephant Mountain (bringing a baby carrier instead of buggy is recommended...

Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, is a unique city where old and new world mix, famous for its night markets and the second tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. Busy and live city, full of city parks is surrounded by amazing nature. If your family likes to hike, climb up the Elephant Mountain (bringing a baby carrier instead of buggy is recommended and makes life much easier).

For combined outside/inside stroll, visit the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall (free entry) and the park with two majestic buildings, National Theatre and National Concert Hall, the Longshan temple with beautiful waterfalls (be careful if your children have a sweet tooth, the gifts on the altars are made mostly out of candy’s). Though a little bit further out of the city, the National Palace Museum is a place to visit when you want to taste Taiwanese history and once your little ones get bored, play around in the adjacent park.

Although most of these places allow children to run around freely, we recommend going to the 2/28  Peace Park, Daan Park or Fine Arts Park, all with its nicely equipped playgrounds. or the Danshui area, where you can take a stroll along the delta of the Tamsui river.

Visit the Taipei Zoo, largest zoo in Asia, is a great place for your kids to enjoy a day. The mini train will drive you between different Zoo levels and the local shuttle bus will transfer you to one of the Maokong gondola stations. Even if you are afraid of heights, you will enjoy the cable cart ride, as the beautiful landscape of the city and the nearby surroundings will open up right in front of you.

The Taipei 101 is a must-see place for visiting parents although super crowded. Even though you can book the tickets in advance, the queue to get to the lift is exhausting, especially for children and babies. The basement food court offer some refreshment but still, if you want to take one of the fastest lifts in the world to admire Taipei city from the observatory deck, plan carefully.

The world famous night markets are definitely a place to see but again, very crowded, full of retailers luring you to buy their goods (well, duh, it’s a market) and almost no place to leave your babies to toddle freely. Ximen market is one of those opened during the day. Otherwise visit the Dalong, Ningxia or Yansan street markets or the Tonghua food street market.

The local public transport network, MRT is dense and we found it pretty convenient. Especially that you pick a station you want to go to, purchase a chip instead of a ticket which is great fun for the kids, just don’t lose it. There are few stations challenging while travelling with your buggy, however most stations are reconstructed and traveling around using Metro was pretty much ok. We do recommend to buy the tickets to the Hop on-off bus, as there are two lines (red and blue), starting at the Main Train/bus Station that will take you to all places you want to see. You can leave your buggy behind the drive and sit safely on the upper deck.