Taiwan Holidays
We have just returned from holidaying:)
Statue of Liberty. Hmm..USA? Nope. We did not go to USA. We thought we had our western experience to Australia last year and this year we want to have a taste of the East. So we went on a free and easy trip to Taiwan:)
What I love about free and easy tour is that we can customise our itinerary to satisfy all young and old in the family:) Though it means spending some time researching, planning and even covering the minute details of which driver to engage beforehand or alternatively finding which transport line to take to our destinations in Taiwan. At the end, it actually costs a little more than package tour (cause we got ourselves a personal tour guide cum driver) but we maximise our time there and appreciate the destinations better especially when I have read about them before we arrive.
It was a really relaxing time, being the first time that I could leave home without having to worry about office. Would have been there longer if not because Brendan needs to attend a ceremony.
We have gone on quite a number of local tours and invitations after we returned from Taiwan and have not been free to share our heaps of latest fun in this blog space. Will be sharing our exciting Taiwan tours and (also our local tours) as soon as I could spare the time. Stay tune! Yuki is sick and so it is pup caring time….
Meanwhile, see below for our Taiwan trip itinerary (free and easy) which I will post our travel stories soon:) Stay tune!
Day 1
1) Flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport 2) Tamshui/Danshui old street and waterfront (Taipei) 3) Fisherman’s Wharf /Lover’s Bridge (Taipei) 4) Ximending (Taipei)
Day 2
1) Pingxi 2) Shifen 3) Ruifang 4) Jiufen 5) Gold Ecological Park 6) Golden Waterfall 7) Nanya 8) Yangmingshan National Park 9)Xin Beitou
Day 3
1) Presidential Palace (Taipei) 2) Daxi flower bed (Taoyuan) 3) Daxi Bridge (Taoyuan), 4) Futian Garden Farm (Daxi, Taoyuan) 5) Mount Jiaoban Villa park (Jiaobanshan) 6) Mount Jiaoban mystery tunnel (Jiaobanshan) 7) Fuxing Youth Activity Center (Jiaobanshan) 8) Playground at Daxi 9) Cihu Mausoleum (Taoyuan) 10) Daxi Old Street 11) Sanxia Old Street 12) Restaurant Five Dime (Taipei) 13) Miramar Ferris Wheel (Taipei)
Day 4
1) Window On China (Taoyuan) 2) Leofoo Hotel (Taoyuan) 3) Longtan weird house 4) Long Tan Da Chi (Taoyuan) 5) Shimen Dam (Taoyuan) 6) Shimen coffee house 7) Yangmingshan Geothermal Valley or Hell Valley (Taipei) 8) Xin Beitou MRT ride 9) Shilin Night Market (Taipei)
Day 5
1) Maokong Gondola (Taipei) 2) Taipei Zoo 3) Taipei 101 4) Din Tai Fung (Taipei) 5) Bo Pi Liao Old Street In Manka (Taipei) 6) Huaxi Street Night Market (Taipei) 7) Vigor Kobo (Taipei) 8) Miniature Museum of Taiwan (Taipei) 9) Wu Fen Pu Garment Wholesale Market (Taipei) 10) Raohe Night Market 11) Red House, Ximending (Taipei)
Day 6
1) Tamshui/Danshui (Taipei) Little White House 2) Tamshui/ Danshui (Taipei) Fort San Domingo 3) Tamsui/Danshui (Taipei) Itteki Memorial House 4) National Palace Museum (Taipei) 5) Martyrs’ Shrine (Taipei) 6) Modern Toilet Restaurant (Taipei) 7) Chiang Kai-Shek memorial hall (Taipei) 8) 228 Peace Memorial Park (Taipei) 9) Coastal drive to Taiwan International Taoyuan Airport 10) Flight Home
We are posting our day to day adventure. Do click on links to view more:) Updating of links is in progress.
Looks like you squeeze in every minute into your itinerary too haha, hope your family had fun too :)
Hi Andy,
Thanks for your sharing. With good reviews by you and some others - that’s why Taiwan becomes one of our desired destination:) Our itineraries are packed. Thanks to our friendly personal tour guide who made it possible because I have so much demands for him.
Hi
Like your idea of a free-and-easy, family-only trip to Taiwan. Could you share with us where you stayed? And you had a personal tour guide too? Which travel agency did you engage for this personal guide?
Hi Lin,
We booked air tickets and accomodations through Five Stars Travel and the hotel was Just Sleep Hotel at Ximending (with MRT underground passage just at the door step). I won’t say anything special about the hotel but it’s really great for its location (MRT, 7-eleven below and buzzling night life with Ximending just across the road):) You can actually book the air tickets and accomodations from any other travel agent or self-booked. We prefer SQ (cos our kids got entertained on board with gaming and movies) and hence for F&E, we get to choose our preferred airline and dates:)
The guide was recommended by a friend and not through travel agent. I do not think travel agent provide contact for personal tour guide on F&E trip. There are drivers that you could engage too for driving you to preferred destinations but I prefer a guide who ferried us in his personal car and did lots of explanations to us plus bringing us to worth going places. A guide also helps us to take heaps of family photos too which we usually have to do using a tripod (again very cumbersome to bring overseas). Only thing about F&E trip is that you need to spend time finding out about Taiwan, moving around in public transport and there will be no meals provided as part of package. However, for our kids, getting a guide has saved us plenty of time and we get to eat whatever we prefer and see places customised to our family needs. We decide how long we want to stay at each place too:) However, do take note that a driver might quote NTD $3,000 to NTD$4,000 a day within Taipei, more out of Taipei and a guide maybe higher. It’s best to call or email them to arrange before going.
I believe you will have a great time too in Taiwan:) I hope the travel experiences that I am posting soon will help those who are planning a trip to Taipei and Taoyuan:)