The three hours that make the city click

Taipei is a city that makes sense from a hillside at night. Not the observation deck of the tallest building, which is fine but obvious, and not from a tour bus. From one of the low hills ringing the basin, with the whole city laid out below you and the mountains behind, you understand the shape of the place: a bowl of lights between two mountain ranges.

I have been to Taipei a dozen times and this is the thing I do on every visit. Here is how to do it properly, plus what to pair it with.

The four viewpoints worth the climb

Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan)

The classic. The trailhead is a ten-minute walk from Xiangshan MRT station at the southern end of the red line. The climb is 600 steps and takes 20 to 30 minutes at a steady pace, steeper than people expect but short.

At the top there are several rock outcrops with the postcard view: the tall tower in the middle, city to the horizon, mountains behind. There are six well-known photo spots along the ridge; the first two are the busiest.

Go 45 minutes before sunset. You will catch the daylight, the sunset, and the blue hour when the lights come on but the sky is still coloured. Then walk down in the dark with a phone torch. There are no lights on the lower sections.

Bring water. There is nothing up there.

Jiantan Mountain

Shorter, quieter, and closer to the city centre. Thirty minutes of walking from Jiantan MRT. The view pairs well with the night market below, and you can be up and down in an hour.

Neihu's Baishihu area

On the east side. The trails here are easier and there is a small lake with a temple. Fewer people, and you get the city from a different angle. Good if you want a walk rather than a climb.

Wuzhishan and the hills above Beitou

North of the city, combined naturally with a hot spring soak. You can hike in the afternoon and be in a steaming pool by early evening. This is my favourite full-day structure in Taipei.

What to expect when you get up there

Elephant Mountain at sunset is popular, and I mean genuinely popular. On a clear weekend evening there can be fifty people on the main outcrops, some of them with tripods set up an hour before sunset.

Do not let that put you off, but plan around it. Weekday evenings are much quieter. If you go on a weekend, go to the outcrops further along the ridge past the main one, where it thins out enormously.

Weather matters. Taipei is humid and hazy in summer, and the clarity is often poor. Autumn and winter, roughly October to March, give the sharpest views. A day after rain and a cold front is the best possible condition.

Pairing it with the rest of the day

The hills are one part of a Taipei day. Here is a structure I give people.

• Morning: a temple. Longshan is the oldest and most atmospheric, with fortune tellers in the surrounding lanes. Twenty minutes by metro from central Taipei.
• Late morning: a market or the old streets of Dadaocheng, along the river, for the 19th-century shophouse architecture.
• Lunch: beef noodle soup, which is the city's signature dish. A good bowl is 150 to 250 TWD.
• Afternoon: a cafe. Taipei's coffee culture is genuinely excellent and the city runs on it.
• Late afternoon to evening: hike Elephant Mountain for sunset.
• Dinner: a night market. Shilin is the biggest, Raohe is the best for food, Ningxia is the most manageable.

Night markets, briefly

Everyone goes to Shilin. It is enormous and has everything, and it is also the most tourist-heavy. Raohe, near Songshan station, is smaller and has better food per square metre. Ningxia is the most civilised if you want to actually eat rather than queue.

What to order: oyster omelette, pepper pork buns, stinky tofu (try it once), grilled squid, and shaved ice with mango if it is the season. Prices are low; you can eat a serious dinner for 300 TWD.

Go hungry and eat standing up. That is how it works.

Practical notes

Getting around

The MRT is excellent, cheap, clean and easy to navigate in English. Get an EasyCard at any station and top it up as you go. It also works on buses and in convenience stores.

Money and cards

Cash still matters more here than in Hong Kong or mainland China. Many small restaurants and night market stalls are cash only. Carry a few thousand TWD.

When to come

October to April is the best window: cooler, drier, clearer. Summer is hot, humid and prone to afternoon thunderstorms and occasional typhoons. If you come in summer, plan indoor things for the middle of the day and do your hiking early or late.

Beyond the city

If you have a spare day, the north coast and the old mining towns in the hills are genuinely worth it, and the hot spring area to the north makes an easy overnight. The east coast of the island and the gorge country are extraordinary but need three days minimum.

The honest case for Taipei

Taipei does not have a single monument that justifies the flight the way some cities do. What it has is a quality of daily life that is unusually easy to slot into: excellent food at low prices, a metro system that makes everything simple, mountains twenty minutes from the centre, and people who are consistently kind to visitors.

The hillside at dusk is where that becomes visible. Go up before sunset, stay for the lights, and walk down hungry. That is the city in one evening.

Originally published on 71Asia Tours blog.