Taipei

The currency is the New Taiwan dollar (NT$), at about NT$31–32 per US dollar and about NT$5.7 per real in 2026. Convenience-store coffee runs NT$45–60, and café coffee NT$100–160; lu rou fan costs NT$35–60, and a bowl of niurou mian, NT$150–280. A sit-down dinner at an ordinary restaurant runs NT$250–500 per person; convenience-store beer costs NT$45–70, and a draft at a bar, NT$180–250. A metro ride runs NT$20–65; a hostel bed, NT$700–1,200; and a three-star hotel room, NT$2,500–4,200 a night. Cards work at shops, chains, and hotels, but night markets, street stalls, and temples are cash. ATMs at 7-Eleven and the post office accept foreign cards and are the simplest way to withdraw. No one tips anywhere: restaurants with table service already add 10% to the bill. The check is almost always paid at the counter by the door, never at the table. Keep the receipts: since 1951, the uniform invoice (統一發票) has doubled as an official lottery ticket. The draw is on the 25th of odd-numbered months, with prizes from NT$200 to NT$10 million; here, the proof of purchase is also a bet.

Taoyuan airport, 40 km away, with more than one way into the city

Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) is about 40 km to the west, and there's more than one way out of it, which is already a decision to make while tired. The Airport MRT, opened in 2017, links the terminals to Taipei Main Station in about 36 min on the purple express, or about 50 min on the blue commuter, for NT$150. It runs between 6am and 11pm; both cost the same and stop in the same place. Buses 1819 and 1961 make the same trip for NT$130 to 160, in 55 to 80 min, and run 24 hours, which covers middle-of-the-night landings. The taxi costs NT$1,100 to 1,500. The Songshan city airport (TSA) handles domestic flights and short routes to Japan, Korea, and China, 15 min from downtown on the brown line. Taipei Main Station also has the THSR bullet trains: about 50 min to Taichung and 1 hour 35 minutes to 2 hours to Kaohsiung.

Six lines plus the airport branch

The MRT has six urban lines plus the airport branch, about 130 stations. It runs from 6am to midnight, every 2 to 6 min, and fares range from NT$20 to NT$65. Buy an EasyCard (悠遊卡) at any station or convenience store: NT$100 for the card, nonrefundable, plus whatever credit you load. It pays for the metro, buses (NT$15 per section, with a transfer discount), YouBike, convenience stores, and some taxis. Anyone staying a full month buys the Northern TPASS for NT$1,200, with 30 consecutive days of metro, buses, and regional trains. It also covers the Airport MRT, in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, and Taoyuan. YouBike 2.0 bikes have a dock every few blocks and cost about NT$10 per 30 min. Taxis are yellow, with a flag fall of around NT$85, and Uber operates legally. Eating, drinking (even water), and chewing gum are forbidden past the turnstile, on pain of a fine. The eastern extension of the red line to Guangci/Fengtian Temple, 1.4 km past Xiangshan, went into service on August 30, 2026. The Wanda–Zhonghe line has been in testing since May 2026, with opening planned for 2027. Sidewalks are short and broken up by arcades and parked scooters, but the city is walkable in stretches of 500 to 800 m between stations. Outside the center, the bus covers what the metro doesn't, in Yangmingshan, Tianmu, and on the slopes of Muzha, and it only stops if you wave, so hold out your arm as it approaches.

Taipei is one of the safest big cities in Asia. Violent crime is rare, and women walk alone in the small hours. An item forgotten on a platform bench usually stays there for hours, or comes back through the station counter or the neighborhood police post. The real risk is traffic. There are more than a million registered scooters in the metro area; they take over the right-hand lane and turn without signaling. Cross at the crosswalk, and look behind you too when cars are turning. Typhoons, from July to October, shut down transit and shops for up to 24 hours. Follow the Central Weather Administration (CWA) and the city's announcement of a day off. Earthquakes are frequent and almost always harmless, and modern buildings are designed for them. The advice is to stay inside, away from windows, and not to use the elevator. Scams exist but are localized: street invitations to “tea houses” and hostess bars on Linsen North Road and in parts of Zhongshan end in inflated bills. The only precaution needed is not to follow anyone who approaches you on the sidewalk, and not to hand over your card. Emergencies: 110 for police, 119 for fire and ambulance. There are neighborhood police stations (派出所) open 24 hours on almost every avenue. Tap water is treated, but hardly anyone drinks it straight. Fill your bottle at the free filtered, boiled-water fountains in metro stations and public buildings.

No eating or drinking past the turnstile

Eating and drinking is forbidden throughout the paid area of the MRT, including stairs and platforms, and the ban covers water and chewing gum. The fine ranges from NT$1,500 to NT$7,500 and is actually enforced.

The blue seats stay empty

Priority seats (博愛座) stay unoccupied even on a packed train. Sit there and you'll be stared at; give it up and nobody thanks you out loud, but the gesture is expected.

Stand right on the escalator

The whole city stands on the right and leaves the left free for people walking up. It's the one line where nobody improvises.

At the temple, enter through the dragon door

You enter through the right-hand door (the dragon) and leave through the left (the tiger), never through the middle, reserved for the deities. Don't step on the wooden threshold; step over it.

Chopsticks flat, pay at the register

Never stick chopsticks upright in rice. That's the form of offering made to the dead. Rest them on the edge of the bowl or on the holder, and pay at the register by the door on your way out, not at the table.

Return your tray and sort your trash

At food courts, noodle shops and convenience stores, take your tray to the return point and separate food scraps, plastic and paper. On the street, keep wrappers until you find a trash can. Household waste has its own collection: use the official bags and check the stop and schedule for your address, announced by the truck’s music.

Check your visa and complete the TWAC before departure

Ordinary Brazilian passports are not on Taiwan’s visa-exemption list. Check the application process with the Taipei office before buying your flight. Also complete the electronic arrival card, TWAC, on the National Immigration Agency’s official website within seven days before arrival. The form is free and does not replace a visa.

Counting on a card at the night market

Counting on a credit card at the night market. Stalls, temples, older taxis, and family-run shops work cash-only. Withdraw cash at a 7-Eleven ATM before heading out to dinner.

National Palace Museum on a Monday

Going to the National Palace Museum on a Monday, when it's closed. The same attention to the clock applies to Taipei 101: showing up in the late afternoon without a timed ticket means facing the longest line of the day.

August: thirty-six degrees and the risk of a typhoon shutting down the city

Scheduling the trip for August, the hottest month and the one with the highest risk of a typhoon shutting the city down for a full day. Or landing during the Lunar New Year without knowing neighborhood businesses stop for days.

The monsoon drizzle lasts for weeks

Going out without an umbrella between December and February. The northeast monsoon drizzle runs for weeks on end, and convenience stores sell umbrellas for NT$150–250 precisely because everyone forgets. It's worth buying one as soon as you land.

你好 (ni hao)

Hello: works at any time of day

謝謝 (siè siè)

Thank you: the word you'll use the most

不好意思 (bu rrão i sse)

Excuse me / sorry: calls the waiter, asks to pass, opens any question

多少錢？ (duo shao tchién)

How much does it cost?

這個，謝謝 (tchê gue, siè siè)

This one, please: pointing at the menu or the display case

不要香菜 (bu iao siang tsai)

No cilantro: swap for 不要辣 (bu iao la) to ask for no chili

Three rivers in the basin between ranges

The city occupies almost the entire Taipei Basin, a tectonic depression of about 240 km² less than 20 m above sea level, surrounded by mountains on all sides: the Datun volcanic group to the north, with Qixingshan at 1,120 m inside Yangmingshan National Park; the Nangang hills and the Four Beasts to the east and southeast; and the Linkou range to the west. Three rivers meet there: the Xindian from the south, the Keelung from the east, and the Tamsui, which carries everything to the sea 25 km to the northwest.

The monsoon climate and the dikes

High dikes separate the city from the water, which is why almost no street has a river view: reaching the bank means crossing a floodgate. The climate is humid subtropical, with a northeast monsoon that brings continuous drizzle in winter and typhoons between July and October.

The arcades and the Japanese grid

The street grid is Japanese in origin: orthogonal blocks numbered by section (段), with alleys and lanes identified by 巷 and 弄 numbers, which turns any address into a coordinate system. Zhongxiao and Zhongshan cross in the center and set the east-west and north-south axis for the whole numbering system. Sidewalks run under covered arcades, a legacy of a colonial-era rule against rain and sun, almost always partly taken up by parked scooters.

The capital of Chinese-language cinema

Taipei is the capital of Chinese-language cinema outside the mainland. The New Wave of the 1980s came out of here with Edward Yang, who filmed the city in “Taipei Story” and in “Yi Yi” (2000), and with Hou Hsiao-hsien, whose “A City of Sadness” (1989) was the first film to deal with the 228 Incident on the big screen. The Golden Horse Award, created in 1962 and handed out in Taipei in November, remains the leading award for independent Chinese-language cinema, precisely because it is not subject to Beijing's censorship. The old factories became theaters and studios: Huashan, a 1914 distillery, and Songshan, a 1937 tobacco plant.

The home base of Mandopop

In music, the city is the base of Mandopop (the labels, studios and big shows at Taipei Arena) and at the same time hosts a small, old indie circuit, with venues like Legacy, in Huashan, and The Wall, in Gongguan. Private-room karaoke (KTV) is the standard social outing, open until dawn and charged by the hour and per person. In literature, “Taipei People,” by Bai Xianyong (1971), fixed the portrait of the 1949 exiles, and Wu Ming-yi is the most translated contemporary name. The tradition of 24-hour bookstores began in 1999 at Eslite on Dunhua South. After that branch closed in 2020 and the Xinyi branch in 2023, overnight opening moved to Eslite Songyan, in Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, in January 2024.

Temple: the neighborhood square

Religious life is syncretic and everyday: Taoist and Buddhist temples work as the neighborhood square, with divination by wooden blocks, offerings, and neighbor associations. Xingtian Temple banned incense and food offerings in 2014 because of air pollution, without losing the line for its purification ritual. Baseball is the national sport, played in the professional CPBL league since 1990, with a stadium in Tianmu and the 2023 Taipei Dome, in Xinyi. Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in May 2019, the first country in Asia to do so, and the October pride march, created in 2003, is the largest on the continent.

“Yi Yi” (2000), by Edward Yang

Three hours with a middle-class family in Taipei's apartments and offices; it's the most precise portrait of how the city is organized inside its buildings.

“A City of Sadness” (1989), by Hou Hsiao-hsien

The first film to confront the 228 Incident and the years from 1945 to 1949, shot partly in Jiufen, which became a tourist destination because of it.

“Taipei People” (1971), by Bai Xianyong

Fourteen stories about mainland exiles who arrived in 1949 and grew old in the new city; it explains where the military villages, the northern Chinese restaurants, and the nostalgia of the central neighborhoods come from.