21 Dec 2025 - 11 Days Taiwan (Taipei/KaoHsiung/Tainan/TaiChung) Year End Holiday

It's the time of the year when my family embarked on our year end overseas trip.  This year, we will be going on our second trip to Taiwan.  Our previous visit was about eleven years ago in 2014. You may read about that trip HERE.

The itinerary of this upcoming trip will be quite different from our previous trip.  Jerlene and Javier were 7 and 5 years old at that time but now, they are already 18 and 16. 

When I looked back at the blog post of our previous Taiwan trip, I realized the main decoration at Changi Terminal 3 then and now were both based on Disney theme.

After we entered the transit area, we saw a poster regarding a Changi App promotion, which rewards new users of Changi Pay with a chance to win some prizes by spinning a wheel. Both Tracy and I participated and we won a thermal bottle as well as a Lanyard with charging cables.

After a 4-hours flight, we touched down at Taoyuan International Airport.  We registered our passports for e-gate access and were able to clear immigration via the auto e-gates instead of queueing at the counters. We then walked towards the Airport MRT station to take metro to Taipei City.

After reaching Taipei Main Station, we realized that some of the station exits were temporarily closed due to an unfortunate knife attack incident that happened here few days ago. This incident resulted in 3 fatalities, and the attacker later fell from a building after being pursued by the police. We were aware of this incident prior to the trip and at one moment, we did consider whether to cancel this trip.  However, we decided to proceed because we felt that the Taiwan authority will likely step up their security which in fact will make the place safer during this period.

As usual, I'm sharing my itinerary as follows.

Day 1: Check-in to NYS Loft Hotel, Taipei Animate and Special Theme 7-Eleven Stores, Ximending and Lao Shan Dong Beef noodle, New Taipei City Christmas Land

Day 2: Menya Musashi, Huashan 1914 Creative Park, Syntrend Creative Park, Elephant Mountain, Taipei 101, Pokemon Center Taipei and Xinti Xmas Deco

Day 3: Yong He Dou Jiang, Taipei Zoo, Gondola Ride to Maokong, Maokong and Sunset, NingXia Night Market, Taipei Main Station

Day 4: XinZhongShan Linear Park, ZhongShan Underground Book Street, ZhongShan Station, Ding Tai Fung, Taking HSR to Kaohsiung, Check-in to Gwawa Hotel, Earthquake Experience, Kaohsiung Central Park and Ba Fang Yun Ji Dinner, Weibird Mini Concert, Formosa Boulevard Station (Dome of Light), LiuHe Night Market

Day 5: Ferry to Cijin Island, Cijin Old Street, Cijin Tunnel of Stars, Coral Reef Cliff, Kaohsiung Lighthouse, Cihou Fort, Cijin Beach and Rainbow Church, Cijin Shell Museum and Cijin Pearl, Return Ferry and Railway Art District, Pier-2 Art Center, Dream Mall

Day 6: Ciaotou Sugar Refinery, R23 Sugar Warehouse Convention Center, Qiaotou Tai Chen Meat Buns, Pokemon Theme 7-Eleven, Lotus Pond, Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, Hanshin Arena Shopping Plaza, Ruifeng Night Market

Day 7: TRA Train to Tainan, Exploring Tainan City, Wu's Garden, Chihkan Tower, Tainan Grand Mazu Temple, Shennong Street, Asakusa Shopping Center, Tainan Confucius Temple, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, Hayashi Department Store, Check-in to Yoshi Hotel and Felt Tremors Again

Day 8: Bus 98 Ride to Qigu, Qigu Salt Mountain, Anping Old Street, Anping Fort, Anping Tree House, Eternal Golden Castle, Tainan Garden Night Market

Day 9: TRA Train to Taichung, First Impression of Taichung City, Taichung Second Market, Liuchuan Riverside Walk and Taichung Animate Store, Yizhong Street Night Market, Taichung Park, Green River Waterfront, Check-in to 53 Hotel, Night Stroll to Taichung Train Station, Taroko Mall,

Day 10: Miyahara and Qianyue Building, Train to Xinwuri Station, Rainbow Village, Long Drive to Gaomei District, Gaomei Wetland, Fengchia Night Market

Day 11: Miyahara Ice Cream, Flight Home

Stay tune for details of each of above POIs.....

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