Taiwan, Taipei Itinerary 7 Days 7 Nights

In celebration of my boy's ORD from national service (Singapore) and my graduation (self-claimed at that moment, nevertheless still peacefully graduated) from uni, we planned a trip to Taipei before proceeding to the next stage of our life :( .

I just wanna share my experiences and my itinerary with everyone. I've gotten alot of useful information through readings lots of different blogs, website, and of course the tripadvisor!

Original itinerary

08/12 Day 1 - Reach Taipei, yongji night market
09/12 Day 2 - Jiufen/shifen, pingxi line, shida night market
10/12 Day 3 - Breakfast: si hai dou jiang, miniatures museum, beitou, tamshui, shilin night market
11/12 Day 4 - Breakfast: fuhandoujiang, leo foo village, mala hot pot, dazzling cafe, underground mrt shopping street, SOGO shopping centre
12/12 Day 5 - Yong he dou jiang, zoo, maokong gondola, wufenpu, rao he night market
13/12 Day 6 - din tai fung, ximending, arcade, eslite bookshop, longshan temple, guanzhou/huaxi/wuzhou/xichan night market
14/12 Day 7 - Breakfast: Good cho's, SYS memorial hall, taipei 101, shinkong mitsukoshi, shida night market
15/12 Day 8 - Last minute shoppings, airport

As stated, this is the original itinerary planned by us before we got to Taipei. However, due to laziness some circumstances we changed most of the plans. Just putting it up as a reference.

But, planning was part of the fun ;) !

Actual Itinerary

08/12 Day 1 - Reach Taiwan, dinner: Sushi Express
09/12 Day 2 - Jiufen, Shida night market
10/12 Day 3 - Breakfast: yonghe doujiang, miniature musuem, Lunch: manlai ramen, beitou, danshui, shilin night market
11/12 Day 4 - Lunch: Formosa Chang, wufenpu, zhongxiaodunhua, Sogo, Eslite, Dinner: Mala hotpot
12/12 Day 5 - Taipei zoo, maokong gondola, raohe night market
13/12 Day 6 - Lunch: Niudian beef noodles, Ximending
14/12 Day 7 - Brunch: Dintaifung, Dessert: Shaved ice, SYS memorial hall, Taipei 101 mall, Shinkong mitsukoshi, NOVA, GuangHua Digital Plaza
15/12 Day 8 - Shinkong mitsukoshi, NOVA, back to Singapore

Tips and advices while planning the trip

- Use Airbnb to find cheaper accommodation. 
Airbnb is a website for the locals to list their own place for rent. They are usually cheaper than hotels. We got our place from here as well. Will share about the place in the next few posts.

- Use Google Map, My Places to plan. 
If you have a gmail account, you can save the places on your account. If you don't have an account, create one. It will come in handy. You can list all the places you wan to go on the map and therefore plan from there. Go all the nearby places in one day instead of making the multiple trips and this helps you to estimate the distance and travelling time. You can access it during your trip as well ;)

- Do enough research. 
There's a lot of blogs blogging about trips to Taipei. Read and find the places you want to go, what to eat around, what to shop etc.

- Prioritize your goal.
Think about what you wanna get out of your trip. Set a goal. Eg. Visit all the tourisy place? Sight seeing? Shopping? You can't possibly visit all the place unless you have lotsssss of time. Pick a few places you really wanna visit and spent some time there. Rushing around from places to places can be very tiring.

- Change enough money. Estimate how much you want to spent. Bring extra. 
If you're travelling from Singapore, change your money in Singapore, not in the airport, but money changer in the city, as they provide better rates than airport. Google and search which is the best money changer (gives the best rate). My boy manage to get S$1 to 23NT.

If you're travelling from Malaysia, make sure you have enough money. From what I know, Taiwan, even banks, do not accept RM for currency exchange.