Taiwan itineraries: 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks

Nights per stop, not days. Add one buffer night in Taipei at the end of any route that ends elsewhere, or book a flight out of the last city.

Days 1–4 in Taipei. Land at Taoyuan (TPE) before 22:00 if you want the airport MRT rather than a taxi. Base near an MRT interchange and cover Longshan Temple and the riverside at dusk, the National Palace Museum on a weekday morning, and two night markets rather than five. Use one day for Jiufen and the Pingxi lantern railway, or Beitou hot springs if it rains.

Day 5: take the TRA express down the east coast to Hualien, roughly two to three hours. Book about 28 days ahead in peak season; seats on the fast services sell out around long weekends. Afternoon at Qixingtan beach or the Hualien night market.

Day 6: Taroko Gorge. The gorge has been partly closed since the 2024 earthquake and typhoons, so check which trails and shuttle sections are open before you commit to this route. If the gorge is closed, swap the day for the East Rift Valley or a coastal drive.

Day 7: morning in Hualien, then TRA back to Taipei for the flight home, or fly out of Hualien if your airline serves it. This route is the best first week in Taiwan because it pairs the city with one landscape, not five.

The high-speed rail links Taipei, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung, so the west coast is a series of short hops rather than long drives. Fly into Taoyuan and out of Kaohsiung (KHH) to avoid backtracking.

Days 1–4 Taipei. Day 5: high-speed rail to Taichung, then bus or taxi to Sun Moon Lake for two nights; the lake loop by bike and boat is the point, and the tea farms above it fill a second day.

Day 7: back through Taichung to Tainan for two nights. The old capital is dense: temples on every block, the Dutch forts, and the street food most travellers come for. Two nights is the minimum.

Day 9: TRA or high-speed rail to Kaohsiung, two nights. Harbour arts district, Lotus Pond, easy MRT. Day 11: fly home from Kaohsiung, or take the high-speed rail back to Taipei in about 1 h 30 if your ticket is return.

Go anticlockwise: Taipei, then the east coast south, then the west coast back north. This puts the slower, less connected half first while you still have energy for it, and ends with the high-speed rail, which is easy to change.

Days 1–4 Taipei. Day 5: TRA express to Hualien, two nights. Day 7: down the East Rift Valley to Taitung, two nights, with hot springs and rice valleys in between.

Day 9: the South-Link line from Taitung to Kaohsiung takes about 2 h 30. Two nights in Kaohsiung. Day 11: Tainan, three nights, because the food and temples reward a slower pace.

Day 14: high-speed rail back to Taipei, about 1 h 30, for the flight home. If you have a spare night, break the return in Chiayi and add Alishan for sunrise and forest trails; the mountain railway from Chiayi needs a booking and the sunrise trains fill early.

Three weeks lets you keep the 14-day loop and add the parts that need their own weather window. Build the loop first, then bolt on Alishan, more Taitung, and one island.

Alishan: one to two nights from Chiayi for forest trails, tea and sunrise above the clouds. Best in March–April and October–November.

Taitung and the East Rift Valley: two to three extra nights. This is the slowest, least developed stretch of the main island, with hot springs and Indigenous culture; best October–May.

Offshore: Penghu for basalt, fish traps and summer fireworks, two to three nights, best May–June and September. Kinmen or Matsu suit a history-focused trip and run on their own ferry and flight schedules. Both are weather-dependent, so keep them at the end of the trip where a cancelled flight costs you less.

Transport is the constraint, not distance. The high-speed rail is walk-up friendly outside holidays; the east coast TRA and the mountain railways are not, and seats open about four weeks ahead. Book the Hualien express and any Alishan train first, then build the rest of the trip around those dates.

Weather decides the order. The north is wettest in winter, the south is hot and wet in summer, and typhoons can shut the east coast and the islands between July and September. October–December and March–April are the safest windows for a first trip.

Money and rules are simple: cards work in cities, night markets want cash, tipping is not expected, and most Western passports get visa-free entry for 90 days. Confirm your own passport's current rule before booking.