7 Things To Know Before Visiting Taiwan

On my second-ever trip to Asia — for our honeymoon — visiting Taiwan may have seemed like an odd choice, nestled in between stops to more popular tourist destinations Japan and South Korea. But we’ve always liked visiting places a bit off the beaten path. And the few people I knew who had been to Taiwan had loved it, so I was like… why not?

If you’re planning your own trip to Taiwan, here are a few things to know before you go!

1. Taiwan is not part of China

This one is honestly pretty confusing. I did know before going that Taiwan was not part of China, but I wasn’t sure why… and I also wasn’t sure why Taiwan isn’t considered its own country if it’s not part of China.

So, Taiwan is “officially” named the Republic of China . While China (the regular one that we typically think of) is officially named the People’s Republic of China.

Basically, the Republic of China (ROC) became the first modern government in mainland China after the Qing Dynasty fell in 1912. Over in Taiwan, the island was under Japanese rule from the late 19th century until 1945 when Japan lost WWII. At that point, control of Taiwan shifted to the Republic of China.

In 1949, a Chinese civil war between the “nationalists” and the “communists” was won by the communists. They then formed a new  government — the People’s Republic of China, which is China in its present-day form. The nationalists retreated to the island of Taiwan and took the original Republic of China government/constitution with them. So that’s why there are basically two different governments, but it’s still recognized as only “one China” and the PRC claims that the ROC is part of their territory.

And Taiwan isn’t recognized as a country by the UN, either. When people say there are 195 countries in the world (193 UN and two “observer” states, Palestine and Holy See), Taiwan is one of the two that doesn’t count — along with Kosovo.

2. Taiwan speaks Mandarin and writes with Traditional Chinese

As a newly diagnosed celiac, I had to do a lot of preparation before the trip — including saving these little translation cards that explain celiac disease in each of the languages we would be encountering, so I could show them in restaurants. I also needed to download each of the languages for offline use in Google Translate for when I was scanning ingredients on snacks in 7-Eleven.

Japan obviously uses Japanese, South Korea obviously uses Korean… but what about Taiwan? I knew there was Cantonese and Mandarin for spoken Chinese, as well as Traditional and Simplified Chinese for writing.

Well, here’s the answer: Taiwan speaks Mandarin and writes with Traditional Chinese.

One of the coolest things we did in Taipei was attend a private Chinese calligraphy class, and the teacher actually taught us even more about the differences! I was curious about the differences between Simplified and Traditional Chinese. She showed us how the characters are… simplified… in Simplified Chinese, and explained that China uses Simplified Chinese — a byproduct of Communism, where the intention with simplifying the characters was to boost literacy amongst a working population.

3. There are hardly any tourists

We were in Taipei for a week, and I feel like we hardly saw any other tourists. Maybe one time in our hotel elevator. But besides that, we really felt like we were in a place that was somewhat undiscovered by other tourists — and we loved it!

Compared to places like Tokyo or Seoul, or even the majority of places we visit around Europe, it was nice to not hear English spoken everywhere. It was nice to feel like we were dropped into another place, and life was going on as normally as ever… and we just got to observe it.

Those moments where you get to think, “Wow — I’m really not in the U.S./Spain anymore,” are soooo exciting to me, so consistently being in unique situations was so much fun!

4. Everything seems to be open late

If NYC is the city that never sleeps, then Taiwan must be the country* that never sleeps. (*Not recognized by the UN but recognized in my heart.)

I was shocked by the number of things that were open late in Taipei — not just until like 10-11 p.m., but way after midnight! For example, a popular hot pot chain, Hai Di Lao, is typically open until 3 a.m., with some locations open until 4 a.m. or later.

And the place where we went shrimp fishing, 全佳樂釣蝦場, is also open until 3 a.m.

I wasn’t really able to find a good reason for this, but it’s something that I’ve never really encountered before.

5. Taiwan feels incredibly safe

As I’m writing this, I’ve just read the tragic news that there was a fatal stabbing attack in Taipei Main Station earlier today. 🙁

But while we were there, I never felt anything other than completely safe. Matt and I actually commented on it a few times while we were out and about late in Taipei.

In fact, Taipei and Taiwan are consistently considered some of the safest places to visit in the world! In 2025, Taipei was ranked the second-safest city in the world for walking at night (hence everywhere being open late?) and Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world.

If the opportunity ever arose, I wouldn’t hesitate to visit Taiwan as a solo female traveler.

6. Taiwan is more than just Taipei

While we mostly stuck to Taipei during our visit, outside of a day trip to Jiufen and Houtong cat village, I wish we’d had more time to explore more of the country!

From the moment we arrived at the airport and caught the bus for the 45-minute drive to Taipei, I was blown away by the beautiful scenery and the colorful temples in the countryside. Being at the top of Taipei 101, I was able to see for miles — and I had no idea that Taiwan was made up of rolling green hills and mountains! In fact, apparently 70% of the island is made up of mountains, and it’s considered the most mountain-dense island in the world.

We did have the chance to hike Elephant Mountain in Taipei, which gave us a little taste of the outdoorsy activities that Taiwan has to offer. But we’ll definitely need to plan a trip back to explore more of the country someday.

If you’re planning your own trip, I recommend trying to spend more time outside Taipei if you can!

7. Taiwan has some of the nicest people I’ve ever met

Despite there being basically no other tourists… the people in Taiwan were so nice that I don’t even think I can accurately explain it. Obviously, we stood out. But instead of people being annoyed with us, or ignoring us, everyone seemingly went out of their way to talk to us or help us out!

Just a few examples:

• Getting a temple blessing at Hsing-tian Temple in Taipei — one of the female deacons approached us and asked if we knew what the blessing was all about, and brought us a leaflet with information in English
• Trying to find the calligraphy workshop — a man saw us looking confused and asked if we needed help finding the address of where we were going
• Wandering around another temple in Taipei — a man who was praying started talking to us about the temple and showed us his phone background, which was of the same statue we were looking at in the temple
• Shrimp fishing — a fellow shrimp fisher started talking to me and giving me tips for catching them
• Walking by a school one morning — a staff member came out and said they were having an open house for parents and invited us in to check out the programs the kids had prepared

Even two of those would have been enough for me to come away from our trip to Taiwan with such a positive feeling toward Taiwanese people. But there were even more encounters — I can think of a few more where smiles were the only language we had in common, but we were communicating perfectly clearly.

So I’m forced to come to the conclusion that I don’t think there are nicer people in the entire world.

Plan Your Taiwan Trip

 

What else do you want to know about visiting Taiwan? Let me know in the comments!

-Cathy

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