Taiwan in five days: a first night riding the elevator up Taipei 101’s 101 floors and into a night market for pepper buns straight from a clay tandoor, a day trading the National Palace Museum’s imperial jade for Jiufen’s lantern-strung stone stairways and a sky-lantern release over the old railway tracks at Shifen, then a coastal express train south into Taroko Gorge for two days of marble-walled trails, a swiftlet-nested cliff face, and a night inside the only hotel built into the canyon itself — with real hotels, real train fares, and 2026 prices for every stop.
Day 1
Arrive in Taipei
Touch down at Taoyuan International Airport and ride the Airport MRT straight into a city where century-old temples sit in the shadow of a former tallest-building-in-the-world, then climb 101 floors for a first look at the skyline before a night-market dinner.
🚆 Taoyuan Airport MRT to Taipei Main Station
~40 minutes · NT$160 (~$5 USD) / person
A direct express train links Taoyuan International Airport to Taipei Main Station every 15–20 minutes, skipping the highway traffic a taxi or shuttle bus would sit in.
Taoyuan Airport MRT · tymetro.com.tw
🏙 Taipei 101 Observatory
~1.5 hours, self-guided · ~$18 USD / person (5F–89F indoor observatory)
The world’s tallest building for six years after opening in 2004 still anchors the Xinyi skyline; the 89th-floor deck looks straight down over the city and out to the 660-ton tuned mass damper that keeps the tower steady in typhoons and earthquakes.
Taipei 101 Observatory · taipei-101.com.tw
🍜 Dinner — Raohe Street Night Market
~1.5 hours, self-guided · $3–$8 USD / dish
One of Taipei’s oldest night markets runs from a century-old Ciyou Temple gate down a covered lane of stalls, best known for hu jiao bing — black-pepper pork buns baked against the inside wall of a charcoal-fired clay tandoor.
🛎 Overnight — Palais de Chine Hotel
From $150 USD / night, for 2 people
A five-star boutique hotel across the street from Taipei Main Station, with art-filled interiors from local architect Ju-Shen Chen and easy access to the metro, high-speed rail, and airport train.
Palais de Chine Hotel · palaisdechinehotel.com
Day 2
Imperial Treasures to Lantern-Lit Streets
A morning with the National Palace Museum’s imperial collection and a working temple thick with incense gives way to an afternoon and evening out in the hills — Jiufen’s red-lantern stairways and a sky lantern released over Shifen’s old railway tracks.
🏺 National Palace Museum
~2.5 hours, self-guided · NT$350 (~$11 USD) / person
One of the world’s largest collections of Chinese imperial art, evacuated from Beijing’s Forbidden City in 1948, includes the Jadeite Cabbage and the Meat-Shaped Stone — arrive at opening to beat the tour-group crowds around both.
National Palace Museum · npm.gov.tw
⛩ Longshan Temple
~45 minutes, self-guided · Free
A 1738 Taoist-Buddhist temple thick with incense smoke and carved stone dragons, where worshippers toss red crescent-shaped jiaobei blocks on the floor to ask yes-or-no questions of the resident deities.
🏮 Jiufen & Shifen Sky Lantern Tour
~5 hours, small-group guided · $55 USD / person, incl. transport & one sky lantern
A minibus climbs into the hills to Jiufen’s red-lantern-strung stone stairways and teahouses overlooking the sea, then drops down to Shifen to brush a wish onto a paper sky lantern and release it over the old coal-mining railway’s tracks.
🛎 Overnight — Palais de Chine Hotel
From $150 USD / night, for 2 people
A second night back in Taipei before tomorrow’s train south to Taroko Gorge.
Palais de Chine Hotel · palaisdechinehotel.com
Day 3
Taipei to Taroko Gorge
A morning express train threads the Pacific coastline south to Hualien, then a local shuttle climbs straight into a nine-mile marble canyon for an afternoon on trailside paths and a swiftlet-nested cliff face.
🚄 Taroko Express Train — Taipei to Hualien
~2 hours · NT$440 (~$14 USD) / person
TRA’s Taroko-class limited express hugs the Pacific coastline south from Taipei; reserve seats online through the Taiwan Railway booking system a week ahead in high season, as this route sells out fastest of any on the island.
Taiwan Railway Administration · railway.gov.tw
🚌 Taroko Gorge Tourist Shuttle Bus
Day pass, self-guided · NT$250 (~$8 USD) / person
A hop-on hop-off shuttle bus links every trailhead along the single road that runs the length of the gorge, timed around the park’s main hikes.
🥾 Shakadang Trail
~1.5 hours round-trip, self-guided · Free
A flat, marble-dust path clings to a cliff above a river run jade-green by dissolved limestone, passing small stalls run by the local Truku Indigenous community selling wild-boar sausage and mountain vegetables.
🐦 Swallow Grotto (Yanzikou)
~40 minutes, self-guided · Free (helmet required, free at trailhead kiosks)
Swiftlets nest in hundreds of pockmarked holes in a cliff face carved by the Liwu River, above a road blasted straight through solid marble — hardhats at either end of the trail guard against occasional rockfall.
🏨 Overnight — Silks Place Taroko
From $230 USD / night, for 2 people
The only hotel inside Taroko National Park, built into the canyon wall near Tianxiang with a rooftop pool looking straight up at the marble cliffs.
Silks Place Taroko · taroko.silksplace.com
Day 4
Deep Into the Gorge
A full day inside the gorge climbs behind a waterfall through a hand-dug, unlit tunnel, pays respects at a shrine built into the cliff for the road’s fallen workers, and closes on a coastal cliff where the mountains drop straight into the Pacific.
💧 Baiyang Trail & Water Curtain Cave
~2 hours round-trip, self-guided · Free (flashlight rental ~$2 USD at trailhead)
Seven unlit tunnels blasted through the mountain lead to a natural curtain of waterfall spray inside a dripping cave — a flashlight and poncho (or a willingness to get soaked) both help.
⛩ Eternal Spring Shrine (Changchun Shrine)
~30 minutes, self-guided · Free
A pagoda-shrine clings to the cliff face above a spring-fed waterfall that pours directly out of the mountain, built to honor the 226 workers who died carving the cross-island highway through this gorge in the 1950s.
🌊 Qingshui Cliff
~30 minutes, self-guided · Free
Taiwan’s tallest sea cliffs drop more than 800 meters straight into the Pacific along the old Suhua Highway, a short drive north of the park — one of the island’s most photographed coastal viewpoints.
🍜 Dinner — Tianxiang Fanguan
~1 hour · $10–$18 USD / person
A simple noodle-and-rice-bowl restaurant near the Tianxiang trailheads, serving home-style Taiwanese cooking to hikers coming off the day’s trails.
🏨 Overnight — Silks Place Taroko
From $230 USD / night, for 2 people
A second night inside the gorge before tomorrow’s train back to Taipei.
Silks Place Taroko · taroko.silksplace.com
Day 5
Return to Taipei & Departure
A final express train retraces the coastline back to Taipei, connecting straight through to the airport for the flight home.
🚄 Taroko Express Train — Hualien to Taipei
~2 hours · NT$440 (~$14 USD) / person
The return leg retraces yesterday’s coastal route north, connecting at Taipei Main Station to the Airport MRT platform one floor down.
Taiwan Railway Administration · railway.gov.tw
🚆 Airport MRT — Taipei Main Station to Taoyuan Airport
~40 minutes · NT$160 (~$5 USD) / person
The same direct express line that brought you in on Day 1 closes the loop back to the airport.
Taoyuan Airport MRT · tymetro.com.tw
✈ Departure — Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)
Self-guided
Five days that ran from Taipei 101’s observation deck and a night market pepper bun to a sky lantern over Shifen and two days of marble cliffs inside Taroko Gorge.
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