Taiwan, one bite at a time

In most cases, yes: Indian passport holders apply for a visitor visa through a Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India. If you already hold a valid visa or residence card from the United States, Canada, the UK, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand or an EU or Schengen country, you can apply online for a Travel Authorization Certificate (TAC) instead. It allows a 14-day stay, is valid for 90 days with multiple entries, and needs a passport valid for six months plus an onward ticket.

Every traveller also fills in Taiwan's online arrival card before landing. We plan the entry step with you from the start; check the official TECC page before you fly, as the rules change.

October to December is the easiest stretch, though a late typhoon can still arrive. Typhoons are most likely from July to October. From November to March the north and east see steady rain while the centre and south stay mostly sunny, so we set the order of the route by the season.

Partly. The April 2024 earthquake closed the park. The visitor centre, the Taroko Terrace, Tiansiang and Dacingshui areas and the Chongde and Dali-Datong trails have reopened, but the Shakadang and Swallow Grotto trails are not expected back before 2031 (reported March 2026). We check what is open the week you travel and plan the Hualien days around it.

Start at a night market: Raohe Street is one of Taipei's oldest, with stinky tofu and oyster vermicelli. In Taipei, try beef noodle soup and xiaolongbao; in Jiufen, taro balls; in Hualien, bamboo-tube rice and mochi; in Tainan, the city of snacks, danzai noodles, milkfish soup and coffin toast. Bubble tea was invented in Taichung, and pineapple cake is the souvenir everyone takes home. Money is the New Taiwan dollar, and an EasyCard pays for metro, buses and trains.

In Taipei, a hot-spring hotel in Beitou gives you steaming mineral baths and a quieter base, a short metro ride from the centre. For Taroko Gorge, stay in Hualien, about two and a half hours from Taipei by train, so mornings in the gorge start early and calm. In Tainan, a small hotel in the old city keeps the temples and snack streets on foot.