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About Taipei  General Information

The city is situated in a basin in northern Taiwan that was inhabited by aboriginal peoples until settlers from China moved into the area about 300 years ago.
Eastern Taipei was largely underused fields until the nineteen-seventies, when the city began to develop the area as a financial and commercial district. Here, the modern face of Taipei shines through, with its glass and steel skyscrapers, wide boulevards, and the world’s tallest building, Taipei 101
Taipei also boasts dozens of world-class performance venues, where you can enjoy world-class theater and concert events. The city also offers a wide range of other diversions -- shopping malls, nightclubs, live-music bars, quality hotels, and exotic restaurants.

One of the major activities in 2010 will be “2010 Taipei Int’l Expo.” Taiwan is recognize as the kingdom of orchid, our nature resources are what we’re proud of. By the time of 2010, Taipei will be decorated with all kinds of floral and botanical art. And when you walk on the street, you can enjoy not only the modern but also nature side of this city. For more information about the floral expo, please visit www.2010taipeiexpo.tw  




Taipei is a diner’s paradise, a place where the smell of food emanates from every street corner, and the food here is excellent. From international cuisines to local Taiwanese dishes, the menus in Taiwan will have you coming back for more. In the city itself, there are many popular international eateries featuring Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Indian and Western cuisine with good service and moderate prices.

When you are in town, you definitely have to try the famous, DinTai Fung. Din Tai Fung is one of the “must eat” Chinese dumpling restaurants in Taiwan and next to the conference venue, one branch is just located in the modern SOGO department store. Din Tai Fung is also listed as one of the 10 wonders of Taiwan by the Chinese edition of “Reader’s Digest” and ranked by the U.S. “New York Leisure Magazin” as one of the ten must-see destinations for tourists visiting Taiwan in 2006.


Taipei City is one place where you can literally "shop until you drop."
There are ultra-modern shopping malls housed inside sleek skyscrapers, with all the top international brands available. The Warner Village area located between the City Hall and the 101 Tower offers the highest concentration of department stores in the country. There are also many sidewalk flea markets and night markets, where there are bargains galore for clothes, jewelry and assorted fashion accessories. Whether you go shopping at Taipei 101 or the Shilin Night Market, you will have the time of your life!
In addition, the tasty allure of the snacks sold in Taipei's night markets makes them truly irresistible -- Longshan Temple and the night markets at Huaxi Street, Shilin, Donghua Street, Raohe Street, Liaoning, and Jingmei, among others, all have their own special snacks giving off aromas that draw in diners from far and wide.

The Raohe Street Night Market is located near the intersection of that street and Bade Road, and stretches for 600 meters. There are numerous vendors here selling pork ribs simmered with medicinal herbs, a good choice of strengthening foods for the cold winter months. On Fuyuan Street, about 200 meters from Raohe Street, is a bustling row of seafood restaurants. The Raohe night market is also a place where you can buy all kinds of young and fashionable clothes at wholesale price.

The Tonghua Street Night Market, running between Xinyi Road, Sec. 4 and Keelung Road, Sec. 2, also provides all kinds of delicious snacks including cuttlefish stew, red-blossom sausage, heavenly fragrance bean curd, bowl rice, and vermicelli in soup, all unique and mouth-watering.

In addition to savoring Taipei's wonderful and delicious night-market delicacies, you may go shopping in the popular Xinyi commercial district. And, if you have a fondness for jades and other gems, you can go to the Jianguo Weekend Jade Market where almost 900 vendors display their wares every Saturday and Sunday. This market, one of the largest jade markets in Asia, attracts large crowds of local residents and foreign visitors alike who come here to browse or to buy.

For nightlife, there are many bars, pubs and nightclubs that cater to a wide variety of tastes in music and fashion, for all age groups. From British-style pubs to microbreweries serving tasty German and Belgian beers, the pub scene is alive every night, seven days a week. In addition, if you are interesting in dancing the night away, several hot spots will be ready to welcome you and your group. For fans of jazz or classical music, Taipei also boasts some world-class venues for your listening pleasure. A few pubs in the city also showcase the original music of Taiwan's Aboriginal peoples, and for visitors to the island, these places are well worth a stop. Most places can be found around the Warner Village (young and hip), Fushing and Anhe roads (chic and shock) and Shida road (student’s cool).

Night Market is also one of the specialties this city can offer. From local eatery, handicraft to clothing, and fun, one can totally expose himself to the real “Taiwanese” atmosphere. If you are looking for a quieter place to spend the night, 24-hour eslite bookstore is another option.

Venues are easy to reach by subway, bus or taxi, and some are close to major hotels as well. So after your working day is over, and you are ready for some serious relaxing, Taipei City is the place to be.

Taiwan enjoys a subtropical climate with warm weather all year round. Taiwan is extremely suitable for traveling, as the annual average temperature is a comfortable 22 degrees Celsius with lowest temperatures ranging from 12 to 17 degrees Celsius (54-63 Fahrenheit). It will be around 25 degree Celsius in October in Taipei.


The MRT currently has five lines in operation. Tickets can be purchased at automatic-ticket machines in all MRT stations. A “Single-journey Ticket” costs between NT$20 to NT$65 depends on distance. A NT$150”One-day Pass” purchased from a service booth will allow unlimited travel among all MRT lines within one day.
The MRT runs from 6 am to 12 midnight seven days a week. Smoking, eating, drinking or gum chewing are strictly prohibited on all MRT trains. In addition, the use of cellular phones is prohibited in the first and the last car of each train.


Taipei has a huge fleet of taxis. Charges are NT$70 for the first 1.5km and NT$5 for each additional 300 meters. An additional NT$5 is charged for every two minutes of waiting, and a 20% surcharge is added to fares between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. All fares appear on the meter, except for a NT$10 charge for cabs dispatched by phone and for each piece of luggage placed in taxi trunk. Tips are not required.