After our 12 great days in the South Seas paradise Palau we had 3 days to explore the capital of Taiwan.
Table of contents
Entry into Taiwan
Our flight from Palau to Taipei with China Airlines took about 3 3/4 hours and literally passed as if in flight. Shortly before 10 p.m. we landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei. Entry into Taiwan is easy for German citizens, as you do not need a visa for visits of up to 90 days when presenting a passport. Even though many fliers had just arrived, it was relatively fast, as the people were well distributed among the different queues (resident, tourist, etc.).
How to get from Taipei Airport to the city centre?
After we had our suitcases in our hands, we had to hurry, because to get the last Express Metro in the direction of Taipei (22.44 o’clock), we had exactly 5 minutes left. So we took a small sprint, got tickets at the vending machine (per person 160 TWD = 4.80 Euro), went down the escalator with the suitcases in hand and made it into the train of the Taoyuan Airport MRT. What luck. However, there would have been other ways (such as the bus that runs 24 hours) to get to the city, but the Express Metro is the fastest option with 35 minutes. The MRI route (coloured purple on the map) is completely new and was only opened in March 2017.
In Taipei, Taoyuan Airport MRT runs to Main Station. From here we walked another 10 minutes to our hotel, which we had selected especially according to the good location.
The Taipei M Hotel
Taipei M Hotel is a 3-star hotel with 283 rooms and is very well located in the centre. From here you can walk to some of Taipei’s sights, shopping malls, Central Station and many other things. Around the hotel there are many small kiosks (7-Eleven), restaurants, local snack bars, fast food shops etc. – so we are not starved.
Our room was on the 8th floor and was located right next to the maids’ utility room. This could be very loud, especially in the morning from 6/7 o’clock. But the room was very, very bright anyway. If our room neighbour showered at 7 o’clock in the morning, we almost showered at least from the background of noise. In the room there were two bottles of water free of charge every day and in the corridors there were extra water dispensers. The free WIFI in the room was very good and fast.
The breakfast was already included in our room rate, so that you could start the day well strengthened. We thought, because the food was really very Asian. Well, with 95 Asian guests also no wonder. For the European/Western stomachs there was actually only toast, butter and jam. The big quiz question every morning was: How do I get butter on my toast when there are no knives? A really good question – but with a spoon and fork you can get it halfway there.
Starbucks Global Icon City Mug of Taipeh
We are collecting the Starbucks Mugs from the cities and islands we visit on our travels. Unfortunately, not every city that has a Starbucks store with an own mug. But if the city has an own mug we like to collect them as a souvenir. We only collect city mugs from the "Global Icon Series", which was released in 2008. You can see our complete collection here: Starbucks - Our collection of Mugs from the Global Icon SeriesTaipei has several Starbucks stores and also has its own cup 🙂
Starbucks Global Icon City Mug of Taipeh