Where Should You Go Outside Taipei for a Day?
10 Day Trips Everyone Should Try

The day trip that has topped every Taipei itinerary for two decades — and for good reason. Start at Shifen to write your wish on a sky lantern and release it over the old railway tracks, then wind your way up the mountain to Jiufen in the late afternoon. As the light fades and hundreds of red lanterns glow against the mist, you'll understand exactly why this village became world-famous.

A narrow cape jutting into the Pacific where millennia of wind and sea erosion have carved sandstone into otherworldly shapes — mushroom rocks, sea candles, and the park's undisputed star, the Queen's Head, whose elegantly long neck makes it one of the most-photographed geological formations in all of Asia. A half-day trip that pairs beautifully with Jiufen in the afternoon.

Board the narrow-gauge Pingxi Line into a valley of old coal-mining villages, and make a stop at Houtong — where the resident cat population outnumbers the human one, and where every alley has been turned into a feline paradise for very good social-media reasons. Continue on to Shifen for lantern releasing, then finish in Pingxi itself for the full experience.

Taipei's own national park sits right on the city's northern edge — close enough to reach without leaving the city bus network, yet wild enough to feel genuinely remote. The turquoise sulphur vents at Xiaoyoukeng are extraordinary. The Qingtiangang grassland plateau is alive with water buffalo in the mist. And in spring the whole mountain turns pink with cherry blossoms; in autumn it glows gold with silver pampas grass.

Just one hour south of the city, Wulai feels worlds away. An 80-metre waterfall thunders into the Nanshi River, a century-old logging railway trundles up to a viewpoint, and Wulai Old Street is lined with Atayal indigenous food and souvenirs unlike anything you'll find in central Taipei. End the afternoon soaking in sulphur hot springs beside the river — the perfect reset before heading back.

At the northern terminus of the MRT Red Line lies one of Taiwan's most beloved sunset destinations — a historic riverside port where Spanish fortifications, Japanese-era architecture, and a lively street-food promenade all come together in easy walking distance. Come in the mid-afternoon, eat your way along the old street, and claim a spot by the riverbank before the sky turns gold and purple over the estuary.

You don't need to fly to Japan for an onsen experience — Beitou delivers one within the Taipei city limits. The star attraction is the Thermal Valley (Diyu Gu), a jade-green pool of boiling sulphur water that glows surreally in the mist. Nearby are a beautifully preserved Japanese-era hot-spring museum, an award-winning public library built over the hillside stream, and a range of public and private spring baths to suit every budget.

Board Taipei's only gondola and glide over terraced oolong tea farms with the whole city spread below you. The top station at Maokong village is dotted with traditional Taiwanese teahouses perched on the hillside — pull up a seat, order a pot of locally grown tea, and watch the city lights emerge as evening falls. The night view from up here is one of Taipei's finest, and most visitors never make it here.

Taroko is Taiwan's most visited national park for a reason — the Liwu River has carved a cathedral of grey-and-white marble hundreds of metres deep, with suspension bridges clinging to cliff faces and the water running an impossible shade of jade-green below. This is the one trip on this list that demands a full day and some advance planning. It's technically doable as a day trip, but an overnight in Hualien gives you far more time to breathe.

Taiwan's largest natural lake, ~2.5 hours from Taipei — this is the mountain day trip that actually works in one day (unlike Taroko or Alishan, which need an overnight). Boat tours, the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway, cycling the famous lakeside trail, and Wenwu Temple with the best lake view.

Mountain forest park at 2,200m in Chiayi, famous for sunrise + sea of clouds + the Alishan Forest Railway · ~5 hours from Taipei one-way = 10 hours travel · 1-day tours don't catch sunrise (impossible to arrive before dawn from Taipei) — overnight strongly recommended.

This southwest-of-Taipei pairing is the most crowd-free classic day trip on the list. Yingge is Taiwan's ceramics capital, with an entire district of craftspeople's studios and a superb ceramics museum. A short hop away, Sanxia's Minquan Street is widely considered the finest preserved old street in Taiwan — 260 metres of red-brick Baroque shophouses dating back over a century, anchored by the intricately carved Zushi Temple at one end.