Getting Around Taiwan

The MRT in Taipei is safe, convenient, fast and economical to get around places in different close-by districts in Taipei.
You can get free bus rides to Taipei 101 if you are at the right bus stop at Taipei city center.

To try the Alishan Forest Train, take the High Speed Rail from Taipei to Chiayi, and take a shuttle bus from Chiayi Station to Chiayi Railway Station. Note: There is no need to go to BeiMen, you can get the ticket in Chiayi Railway Station (It is the FIRST Station of Alishan Forest Train).

In case of full booking (in my case), they allow passengers to stand. Due to the typhoon in Oct 07, the train will stop at "Shizi Lu" (Junction) and shuttle bus will be arranged by the Alishan Forest Train Company to reach Alishan Forest.

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I used to fly by Singapore Airlines to USA with a short stopover at the airport in Taipei.

There is no direct flight from Mainland China to Taiwan except on charter flights during certain agreed festival dates. So flights from Taipei need to stopover over at Macao or Hong Kong before proceeding to Mainland China and vice versa.

From Malaysia, there is no problem flying driectly to Taiwan by China Airlines or Eva Air.

The airport of Taipei "Chiang Kai Shek" (CKS) has been renamed as Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Airport code = TPE.

There is a free skytrain between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The airport is about 40 km or 50 minutes drive to downtown Taipei.

if u are in taipei,the MRT system is really a good choise that u can take to visit the Taipei (the City and the County ),reallyyyyyyy fast and cheap,on the other hand,it's convenient,but sure,if u want to see how terrible and amazing taiwan traffic is,then get rid of it :P
( most of the texi drivers in Taipei are trained to speak some english,so it is usually no problem communicating with them,well...if u can understand what they are talking about )

The Taipei metro is very clean, realible and safe.
My first recommendation is to buy an Easy Card (their version of an oyster card in London and an octopus card in Hong Kong), its easy to use you just flash in infront of the card reader and go through. You can use the Easy card for the Mangkong gondola system if you have enough credit on the card.
Each Metro station has lot of facilities such as card machines, toilets etc.
Each train and sation are amazingly clean throughout the day.
The Taiwanese metro has a bi-lingural system, where both their tannoys and signs are both in chinese and then in english.
When you first arrive at the station you have to decide on which line to go for then when you arrive at the platform you have to deicide which way you are travelling, above the platform they have the route the train is travelling in.
Also above the platform they have a tv screen telling how long you have to wait for the next train, with international news and a cartoon safety video.
At every platform they have marked out where the waiting passengers have to wait, to allow the departing passengers to get off, please obey the rules. The have platform marshells with a whistle and mutil coloured baton, telling you what you are doing wrong.
Every station on both the metro and railway station has a seperate part of the station that is deadicated to woman travelling late at night with extra seecurity.
I had no difficulties on the metro system at all, its a very easy system to use and the people are very happy to help you out if you are lost. Each exit has a yellow sign showing the hotels, attractions and bulidings close to that exit.
You have to remeber the chinese love being told what to do and where to stand, either at a metro station or outside.

The High Speed Railway service from Taipei to Tanain is very very good. The staff seemed to be able to speak a little english.
Even though you dont travel the whole distance at 200 odd kph its still faster the British trains.
The trains are always on time and at each final destination they are cleaned throughout by an army of cleaners before you are allowed to get on to the train.
The only downside is that I thought that their was a free bus shuttle from Tainan high speed train station to the city centre, but their is not one. Luckly the local train station is attached to the high speed train station and I caught the local train instead into the city centre.
I travelled up and down Taiwan by train and I can whole heartdly say that they are all realible, clean and on time, its what British Rail should have been before privisation.
I had to change my high speed rail ticket to an earlier time in Tanain to Taipei and instead of asking charging you for changing your ticket and asking if its an on or off peak ticket, like in the UK, the member of staff changed my ticket within 5 mins. Its so refreshing travelling by train when these train compaines make life so easy for the traveller, pity more train companies cannot do this.

Hi everybody,
Do you consider about your trip to Taiwan? Are you worried about transportation in Taiwan? If you travel from North to South of Taiwan, don't worry about this. Transportation here is very convenient and comfortable. Following is a tip for you from/to Taipei airport to/from Kaohsiung.
There are 2 ways for you to go to/from Taoyuan International Airport (Taipei airport) from.to Kaohsiung.
1- By Air. It spends you around 2hrs to fly from/to Kaohsiung, but the flight is not available everyday For more details, visit this site: http://www.kia.gov.tw/english/e_content/einformation-3-1.asp?fly=TSA

2- By HSR.
This is more convenient for you.You can take HSR to/from Taoyuan Station from/to Zuoying, (Taipei airport is about 7km far from HSR station). For more information about HSR schedule, online booking and stations, visit following site. http://www.thsrc.com.tw/en/index.asp

In my opinion, HSR is advisable. Have a nice trip ^_^

There is a great working train system that you can take all around Taiwan as well as to and from many cities. No train goes through the mountains though, only a loop and many routes around cities.

Trains are fairly quick, and cheap most places. If you are coming in Chinese New Year, train is THE BEST way to travel. every road seems to be going turtle speed, so avoiding buses/cars is a good idea!

Another advantage is with many trains you can see many things. The train that goes up/down the east coast is really pretty. Try taking a train from Kaohsiung or Pingtung to Taidong or Hualien, really beauty area there.