Taiwan 2026

From 1994 to 1999, I went to Taiwan 13 times, with most of them being business trips.  Not sure why there was a 27 year lapse before I went again, but I think life just got very busy with a job change that didn't bring me again to Taiwan on business, and a hectic life with two young sons while simultaneously working on my MBA.

Anyway, fast forward 27 years later, and when Jana asked if I'd be interested in going back to Taiwan for a trip, yes, of course!  And here is my 2026 Taiwan travel story:

Wednesday, January 14:  Home to Seattle

The flight was cheaper if you opted for an overnight layover, and cheaper by several hundred dollars, which more than covered the hotel cost, so it made sense for us to break up the trip this way.  Took the short Amtrak trip up to Boston, enjoyed lunch in Chinatown, and still had plenty of time to catch the 5:20pm 6-hour flight to Seattle.

Dim Sum lunch at the China Pearl, Boston

Thursday, January 15 / Friday, January 16:  Seattle to Taipei

AM:  Stayed at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Seattle Tacoma International Airport.  Yeah, that's a mouthful, but it was a pretty nice reasonably priced ($160?) hotel close to the airport, with breakfast included, and a plentiful and hearty breakfast at that.

Mapped out a 12-mile route, had it ready on my watch, and got up at 6:30am only to find it pitch black outside.  I didn't even think to check sunrise.  Did so now and was truly shocked to find sunrise won't be until just a few minutes before 8am!  Well, I'm here in Washington State for just a few hours more, so I'm getting in my run "come hell or high water".  Fortunately, the first half dozen miles were on a bike path literally just outside our hotel, as I set out in dark clothes and sans headlamp.  Within the first mile, I came upon 3 homeless people who had set up camp right on the side of the path.  They didn't bother me, and I never saw any more.  I had a little trouble adjusting to and reading the unfamiliar dark mode on the navigation screen of my Garmin watch but fortunately I stayed on course.  Mostly, that is, and quickly corrected when my watch beeped that I went off course.

The first half was quiet in the dark on bike paths, and the second half a mix of paths through parks and roads, with it very busy at the end.  Just in the final mile, I made a couple of navigational errors that cost me time and caused me to almost miss breakfast.  Jana had the staff make me an omelet in case I missed breakfast, but I entered the hotel and breakfast with just a few minutes to spare.

Running in the dark for the first six miles.
You can barely make out the bike path and bridge that I ran on,
along the Green River Trail.

On the way back, in North SeaTac Park

Nice of the City of SeaTac to provide these flags at crosswalk crossings.
Reminded me of the similar flags to cross Route 108 at Sprague Park in
Narragansett, except that the flags here were at so many more road intersections.

Back at the hotel just in the nick of time to get breakfast

And a pretty nice one at that.  Fresh fruit,
made to order omelets, real juice,
and real place settings instead of paper or plastic.

PM:  Flight to Taipei.  14 hours.  For a flight of this duration, I am glad I sprung for just a few hundred extra dollars and booked seats in a class called "Delta Premium Select".  Business class (or "Delta One") with lie-flat beds was pretty far out of each at $3,800 extra, but at least this class gave us some extra room and amenities, including real utensils and plates instead of the paper/plastic ones.

Heading to the other side of the world,
via a northerly arc through Alaska and Japan

About 10,000 kilometers and close to 14 hours on this
single flight.  Monitoring updates in time remaining probably
didn't help!  By the end of this flight, I was really stiff.

Can't remember the last time I had a menu on a flight!

The manicotti wasn't bad.  And I also can't remember the last
time I had real cutlery, glassware, and plates/bowls on a plane.

Decent amenities, including good quality headphones,
slippers, blanket, and pillow

Landed Taipei late Friday night, and just took public
transportation to our hotel and crashed.
---
Taipei's metro and train systems are so clean, and so well labeled.
Generally very easy and convenient to get around.

Saturday, January 17:  Taipei to Taichung

We would only be in Taipei until Noon, and really only as a hotel stopover, so I was excited to get out to run and see something.  I had researched places to run in Taipei, and based on recommendations to avoid busy streets and run on the many river parkways, I had originally planned on taking the metro (subway) out to where I could run exclusively on the parkways.  But it wasn't to be, as unbeknownst to me and unlike last night at the airport metro station, credit cards weren't accepted and it was cash only (which I did not have on me).

Went back to the hotel, as I knew Jana had some Taiwanese cash, but by then, I had lost too much time and recreated a route to/from the hotel.  The first and last mile on city streets were not really enjoyable, but not scary either.  The worst was simply that I had to stop at road crossings and wait for lights to change.

When I did get to the river parkways, the rest of the run was wonderful!  Clean, quiet, and well maintained paved pathways, with bathrooms along the path and plenty of signage.

Great path for running!

Post-run, in the Hilton rooftop pool

Before departing, we had a wonderful breakfast buffet at our hotel, the Hilton Taipei Sinban.

Just one section of the massive buffet

And then it was off for our train ride to Taichung.  When I was last in Taiwan, there was no high speed rail, but there has been since 2007, and it was launched as part of a French / German rail collaboration.  I seem to remember it taking about 2 hours by either bus or private car to make the route, but today the train took us in just 40 minutes!

Very clear signage, alternating in Chinese and English.  The "6" is designating the car that we
were to be sitting in, so we lined up under the "6".  And much like European trains, the 12:59
on the board is indicating the train will depart on time at 12:59, not 12:57 and not 13:01.
Very efficient and punctual!

And here on the platform is indicating where to stand to board
based on both your assigned car number and seat number.
And this lined up perfectly where the train would stop and
the doors would open.  I marveled at this, as it's quite
different from trains in our own country.

And here is the train!
About to whisk us off at 300 km/h
(186 mph)!

Checked into Stay Hotel Zhongqing, where we would be staying for the next six nights.  Kind of a middle of the road hotel without a lot of amenities, but the primary attractions were proximity to Jana's sister, and a much needed washer and dryer.  There was a buffet breakfast each morning as well.  Not the elaborate buffet as Hilton Taipei of course, but decent.

Sunday, January 18:  Taichung, Xitou Forest Recreation Area

This morning's run was an 8-mile city run through Taichung.  I planned it out to use "paths", but unfortunately the paths involved a lot of cement and a lot of stopping for lights.

This bridge in Taichung Park was pretty cool!
And lots of koi!

Today after running and breakfast, we met up with Jana's twin sister and family, and spent much of the day at Xitou Forest Recreation Area, about 1.5 hour drive south from Taichung.  Jana said she and I had gone there about 30 years ago, but honestly my recollection of the place was hazy.  Really neat place and great to be out of the city and outdoors in nature.

My delight here is that the trees in this "experimental
forest" date to the same ancient year I do:  1964

Foggy mountains.  Very pretty, kind of surreal.

Cherry blossoms!  In January.

Froggy!

I don't think I had previously ever
seen poinsettias in the wild at all,
never mind in 20' high bushes like this!

Not sure why I appear to be frowning,
but I do like this place!

Really cool bridge that we traversed.

---

Dinner that night was from a night market
food vendor.  Salmon, vegetables,
rice, soup, drink, all for about US$4 total.

Monday, January 19:  Taichung, Sun Moon Lake

 

Ran on Taichung roads

and through a botanical garden this morning

But the highlight of the day was post-breakfast, going to Sun Moon Lake for most of the rest of the day.  This is listed as a top highlight in the area, and would be my first visit ever.

Jana with Sun Moon Lake in background
(the Chinese characters are literally Sun Moon Lake)

Enjoying an iced Starbucks latte along the lake,
before boarding the boat

Onboard the boat taking us to a couple of different places across
the lake  (and no, I'm not constipated)

Perhaps my favorite photo of the entire trip

As with many places in Taiwan,
great signage with distance and in
both Chinese and English

Xuanzang Temple, named for a 7th century Buddhist monk, scholar, and world traveler

Inside the temple.  You had to remove your shoes
and generally be respectful and quiet.

Tuesday, January 20:  Taichung

Took an Uber out to Taichung Central Park.
For NT$215 (US$7) each way, it was worth it
to get out of the city.

Smallish park, but really nice to run on these paths
instead of city streets

Today was kind of a down day, after two busy days of excursions.  Highlight today was going to a late afternoon buffet that Jana's sister Stephanie had invited us to and graciously paid for.  A few highlights:

Chocolate lava fountain!

Lots of seafood choices!

Shrimp was a very popular option,
and unlike in the US, both the head
and tail are attached.

Sushi!

I didn't have the beef of course,
but the jumbo prawns (left) were succulent!

And of course Piggy loaded up on desserts!

Wednesday, January 21:  Taichung

Back to Taichung Central Park for a morning run.  This time I got in 13 miles.  Not much overlap, but a number of different loops.

Don't know what this setup was for, but pretty
interesting along the path.

Nice to have many bathrooms along the route,
along with drinking fountains.

Really a pretty park, and very well maintained.

In the afternoon, we spent a few hours at the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung:

And closed out the day with a having a "hot pot" dinner:

For the unfamiliar, the concept is that seafood (or your choice of
meats, vegetables, etc) is brought to you raw, and then you cook it
in the "hot pot" with your choice of broth / seasonings

Thursday, January 22:  Taichung

Final full day in Taichung.  For something different for running, I took an Uber a little further north today, to the Tanyashen Greenway.  It cost NT$400 (US$13) each way, but again was worth it.  This was my best run location in Taichung, as this was a largely uninterrupted 14km rail-to-trail path.  It was  built in 2004 on an old military train line, with the tracks and platforms still kept in place.

With my Uber driver saying so many times that he thought this was so far out in the middle of nowhere (in reality only 25 minutes from Taichung downtown), and he was concerned about leaving me "way out here", my biggest concern during my run was that I wasn't going to be able to hail a return ride.

Just a great path for running.

Continued great signage!

US M48 Patton tanks built in the 1950s.

Attractive and clean pathway.  Didn't see any garbage.

Finished the run, hailed a driver via Uber, and he was there in 3 minutes!

In the afternoon, Jana and I took an Uber out to Dakeng Scenic Area, with great hiking trails:

Unfortunately many of the trails were closed for maintenance,
so my planned loop did not work out, but made the best out of
an OAB.

Lots of these wooden steps on our hike!

Friday, January 23:  Taichung to Kinmen Island

Final run in Taichung, and went back to Taichung Central Park for a 7-miler there.  Just a good place to run.  And somehow I actually managed to run through a section of the park I hadn't seen before, including this bird:

After saying farewell to Jana's sister, we took an Uber to Taichung Airport.  My first time ever there.  It's a small, primarily domestic airport, but they did have flights to other east Asian destinations, including Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan.  There was only one real restaurant there, but for an airport, it exceeded my expectations:

Everything was good, from the soup to the curry to the bubble tea.
And I can't remember the last time I had lima beans.  I hated them
as a kid, but like them now.

I think the flight from Taichung to Kinmen was only about 40 minutes.  Definitely more time preparing at the airport than the flight itself!  But it's not like there are other ways to get to Kinmen Island.

Kinmen Islands, despite being part of Taiwan, are much closer to mainland China,
with its closest point to Xiamen, China being just 2 km apart, while being 187 miles west of 
mainland Taiwan.  The only way to get there from mainland China is via plane.

We rented a car in Kinmen, which came with its own unforeseen headaches, including their insistence to retain my US passport and then later in the weekend, the car breaking down with a dead battery.  We drove the short distance to our bed and breakfast "Frank's Hostel" in downtown Jinning, paid the equivalent of US$1 per day for parking, and then ventured out for dinner.

The food in Kinmen was really good,
including the Japanese style curry I had.

Just outside where we had dinner, and close to our
B&B.  There were lots of Kinmen Marathon posters
around, and that told me the local towns were
welcoming the runners!

Saturday, January 24:  Kinmen Island

Short and easy 5-mile run ahead of tomorrow's half marathon.  I intentionally ran a few miles of the beginning and end of the half marathon course.  I was looking to run easy, and as the streets were quiet here and there was no fitness center at the hotel, Jana joined for the run and that worked out great to have the company!

Along our running route this morning

Very quiet country roads!

The start / finish of tomorrow's run!

Another great meal!

Sunday, January 25:  Kinmen Island to Taipei

Final full day in Taiwan.  We were getting notification from Delta Airlines that we may run into flight issues (tomorrow) due to impending snow storm on the east coast of USA and that we could change flights for no cost, but absent any specific flight cancellations or delays, we stayed the course.  I've got a half marathon to run!

Got up early and spent much of the day on the half marathon and follow-up awards ceremony.  My full write up of the half marathon (which went very well!) can be found here:  Kinmen Half Marathon

We had an evening flight off the island, so tried to make the most of the afternoon, by driving our rental car to different recommended spots to visit:

Zhaishan Tunnel:
Now part of a national park, the tunnel was built was in the early 1960s after bombardment from China, and served as a safe haven for Taiwanese naval vessels. Beautiful coastline!

First we walked through the tunnels themselves.
Pretty impressive!

From there it was a short walk to the water,
with very nice views!

So many old tanks (most are US made) all over the island
here, reminiscent of the conflicts and threats from China,
both historical and ongoing today.

Taiwu Mountain:

Unfortunately this was a disappointment.  Our plan to hike Taiwu Mountain, the highest point on the Kinmen Islands, was a double failure:

1) the main trail was closed for construction.

2) our rental car had a dead battery and wouldn't start.

Supposedly there are nice views from the top and even a pagoda, but it was not to be visited by us today, unfortunately.  After the car rental company sent out someone out to rectify the dead car battery issue, we learned that there are alternate trails we could take to the summit to bypass the main route closed for construction, but by then we had lost too much time and it was advised that we skip the hike so as not to jeopardize getting to the airport in time.

Mashan Observatory:

We had just enough time to get in one more sightseeing visit before heading to the airport.  This is the closest point in Taiwan to China, at just 2km separating the two. We walked through the military tunnels constructed in the 1950s, which brought us to an observatory with telescopes overlooking the Chinese coast.

Jana in front of the entrance.  The red inscription in the rock
behind her reads (top to bottom) "Mashan"

One of the tunnel entrances.  OK for me,
but probably not great for tall people!  I wonder how many
hit their head here over the years.

Pretty narrow as well!

Historical timelines along the way.

And just outside the entrance, with China in the far distance.

Drove back to the airport, where we were happy to get rid of the less than optimal rental car and get my passport back.  Had a quick bite to eat before the short flight to Taipei.

Monday, January 26:  Taiwan to USA

Both Chinese and western breakfast buffet options.
Sheraton Taoyuan Hotel, chosen for its proximity to airport.

Made for another fantastic breakfast.

Hotel included complimentary shuttle to airport.  The Taipei airport is very modern, and very, very clean:

For your free water bottle refill, do you want cold, warm,
or medium temperature water?  What temperature?

Current availability of spots available in both male and
female bathrooms!

Yes, this is inside the airport!

Not your typical waiting areas!  Colorful and comfortable.

Sparkling clean floors.  And now it's time to board for the 
long flights back to east coast USA.

Taiwan trip reflections:

• Amazingly clean!  This is a big change from what I recall from the 1990s, at least where I worked in Taichung.
• Very safe.  Reportedly the 4th safest country in the world, and I certainly felt comfortable at all times day and night, no matter whether in a city or remote island.
• Taipei:  that might have been the first time I spent the night in Taipei, and I'd like to come back to see more.  There appeared to be many running paths along the rivers, and I'd also like to see Taipei 101, the Palace Museum, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, a night market, Yangmingshan National Park, etc.
• Kinmen Island:  as opposed to the rest of the places in Taiwan, we really only travelled to Kinmen because of the half marathon I ran there, but I'm really glad we went!  It's a very different slice of Taiwan, not only because it's about 300 kilometers away from the main island of Taiwan, but the history, culture, and everyday pace is just very different.  I really enjoyed the restaurants and coffee shop in the small downtown, we were very close to the sea, there was very little traffic anywhere and thus you could comfortably run on any streets.  Finally, there were quite a few attractions on the island, many of them part of the Kinmen National Park, and I believe all of them are absolutely free!
• International flights:  they were much longer and uncomfortable than I recall.  I was very very stiff at the end of both trans-Pacific flights.  Is that because I'm older and less flexible now, don't remember the details from decades ago, or because it was much more comfortable traveling in business class for work?
• Transportation:  very easy to get around, especially with more modern transportation options such as Taiwan High Speed Rail, the subway system (MRT), and the prevalence of Uber seemingly everywhere.  Convenient, clean, easy to use, and punctual!  (Note modern public transportation doesn't really exist on Kinmen Island, but it's not surprising that a remote island is an exception, as that's why we rented a car there.)
• Cash:  was surprised and disappointed that Taiwan is still very much a cash society.  While some places take credit cards, it's far from as ubiquitous as it is in Europe, or even the USA for that matter.
• Running venues:  in Taipei, there seemed to be a lot of riverside parks and paths, but I didn't really get chance to see many of them.  On Kinmen Island, pretty easy to run just about anywhere.  However, in Taichung, much of it is a big crowded city with little room for running safely, and many of the designated paths were cement.  Taichung Park was nice although a little small, and Tanyashen was a very nice rail trail, but not sure of other good options.
• Running events:  Well, I only have experience with one event, the Kinmen Marathon, and overall I was really impressed with the organization of the event and so glad that I ran in it.

So glad we made it back to Taiwan!  Let's hope the next visit will not be another 27 years away!