Taipei Travel

We were pleasantly surprised how attractive a city Taipei is and how enjoyable our week was. While this is a large city it is very easy to get around given the cities extensive public tranportion systems and very reasonable taxi and Uber services. Most people just take the taxi rather than Uber as taxi prices are very similar and in some cases cheaper than Uber. Key places to see are the observation deck of Taipei 101, Elephant mountain hike up the granite stairway to beautiful views of the city on one day, a street walking tour through Dan Forest Park, the Chang Kai Shek Memorial (amazing size), Peace Park (beatuiful) and then over to the Lungshan Temple (very active traditional temple). Another day take a taxi to the Dalongdong Baoan and Confucius Temple before a taxi ride over to the National Revolutionary Martyrs'Shrine. We stayed at the Les Suites da An hotel which was close to the multi-story Sogo shopping mall on Fuxing South Road with both high end stores and multi level department store. Then at night in one of the available nighttime tour of an old street and the many food kiosks. Or hop on the city bus to Jioufen to tour their famous old street market for the day.

If you visit Taipei, you will sure have plenty of opportunities to eat, shop and walk; however, DaAn Park is the few places you can enjoy with less crowd, plenty of fresh air and see the nature and bird watching. In my opinion, best time to do so is early in the mornings before 10am and late afternoon before dinner time... Enjoy!

Daan Forest Park is, by Taipei standards, a very large area devoted solely to recreation. Trees are found everywhere, and the large lake hosts a variety of native water birds, including egrets and ibises. For the ankle biters, there's a big playground and an extensive sand pit, which is well used. Apart from several basketball courts, the park has an open-air stadium, which hosts concerts from time to time. The roller skating rink is bound to keep children amused for hours. Underground parking is available. This is a very popular park, especially on the weekends.. Pick-up basketball is always popular, just turn up if you want a game on the weekends..

Walking around ore running around the park outside. Good time to get out from the street and you need to recover yourself. A lot of people and on the weekend is a good place.

Without meaning to be too critical...Daan Forest Park didn't quite live up to expectations. My take was that this was a very urban like park, with jogging trails, paths, exercise areas and other facilities. The trees were mostly short (young?) and unspectacular, and although restful to the eyes, it didn't quite compare to other more impressive urban parks. To be fair, I always look for large impressive woodland areas rather than gently manicured shrubbery, so in this respect, Daan Forest Park was a disappointment.