Taiwan Layover - Transportation into Taipei
 

Hi All,

I have a seven hour layover in Taiwan en route to BKK. I am hoping to get out and at least get a quick look around the National Museum. Can anyone recommend the best way for me to get out of the airport to the museum? Is taxi the best way or is there any kind of rail system? Approximate costs?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Anna

Lonely Planet recommends the bus, which will take you to the main train station - or at least to the bus terminal next door. You could take a shuttle bus to the high speed rail station at Taoyuan and take the high speed train, but you'd wind up in the same place. Transport on Taiwan is cheap. It will be a very quick look, though, since you have to allow a couple of hours for checking in, and I think it was about an hour on the bus one way.

Thanks Thursday. I know it'll be a quick look, but I can't pass up the chance to see their collection, even if very briefly. Appreciate your response :)

A private mercedes is 1200-1400NT (~$40? USD) to Taipei each way. Not sure about a cab. TPE should be pretty quick to check in. My driver forgot about me last week and I got there 1 hr ahead of my flight and was at the gate in 15min. You'll already have checked your luggage so all you have to do is get through screening.

FYI, don't expect to hail a cab at main station and say "National Museum". Bring a map with you showing the exact location. Even if you think you learned the Chinese name, assuming you don't speak a tonal language, you will not be able to say it (effectively) to the driver. And when you bring a map, expect him to whip out a magnifying glass to be able to see it, then he'll watch soap operas on TV while driving.

This is a tight squeeze. Take a taxi (about NT$1000 - you'll have to exchange some money) and give the driver the name of the Palace Museum WRITTEN IN CHINESE. Your driver may speak English, but don't count on it. Of course, this means you must have the name of the airport in Chinese for your return trip!!

Travel time will be at least an hour.

There are free English tours every day at 10:00 and 3:00, and there is an English audio guide to rent.

Trip has come and gone. I was able to enjoy the museum for about 2 hours (the Jade Cabbage was stunning!). I ended up taking an express bus (#1819 toward Taipei Main Station) to the rail station and the rail to the museum. It was really not difficult at all. There are helpful English speaking people at the information desk in the airport who were able to direct me to the correct express bus and provided me with maps showing where I needed to exit and what to do from there. The maps were absolutely essential. Admittedly, the look around the museum was truncated, but the little journey ate up my 8 hour layover in no time. I felt like I didn't have a layover at all, which was great because from what I observed of the airport, had I not gone into the city I would have been incredibly bored. Thank you again for the replies.

Glad it worked out so well. The Taipei airport is really dull; you were wise to see the Jade Cabbage.

"the Jade Cabbage was stunning", funny you write that I hadn't seen this thread earlier and as I was reading the replies, the Jade Cabbage immediately came to mind. Glad it worked out.

Hi Anna - Glad you were able to accomplish your goal!

I also have a long Taipei layover coming up. 23 hrs, in fact, so EVA Airlines is providing a room at the transit hotel within the airport. I intend to get out into the city to see something during my time.

What was the process for you to exit and re-enter the airport? Did you have to pay a departure tax? I’ve read some comments elsewhere suggesting that should be the case. I presume you had to go through other normal Immigration and Customs queues on the way out and just normal security queues on the way back in. Any insight you can gave is appreciated. Thanks!

Sorry I didn't respond to this sooner... have you gone on your trip yet? Customs/immigration was a breeze. I don't recall if there was a departure tax - if so, it had to have been small. Let's hear how it went if you've already gone. So glad I got out and explored for the short time I had :)

Hi AnnaMc - It's been a long time since I've longed on...but, no, I still haven't gone on the trip. IIRC, I was told by EVA Airlines there is a departure tax to leave the airport. As you said, small, maybe 300TD. I still have to look into what we might like to do for our layover...the trickiest thing will be arriving semi late at night...to leave or not to leave for dinner?