Name: Taiwan Travel Tips
Uploaded: 2019-04-23T13:50:24.000Z
Duration: 10 min 5 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Before visiting Taiwan for the first time, I heard it referred to as the 'heart of Asia'

What I didn't expect is how this unique country would make its way into my own heart.

I found lots of reasons to love and appreciate Taiwan

and, in this video, I'm going to share some of my top travel tips for visiting.

If you'd like to see more, check out the rest of our Taiwan series

with plenty more videos about where to go,

Let's start with some advice about when to visit Taiwan.

As you've seen in some of our other videos, it can get really, REALLY hot in the summertime.

I'm freezing. -I feel like I should've brought a sweater.

The average summer temperature is about 30 degrees Celsius, plus humidity.

When we visited, it was much hotter than that, however, that was atypical and record breaking.

I asked lots of locals about when they think is the perfect time to visit

and pretty much everyone said around October to April

when weather is mild to moderately cool, depending on where you are in the country.

The coldest winter temperatures are around 15 degrees.

I personally prefer weather on the cooler side like that, might just be the Canadian in me,

but if you're good with heat and humidity I just wanted to give you fair warning.

Here's something really cool offered at Taoyuan International Airport in Taipei.

If you have a layover that's between 7 and 24 hours long,

and I'll link more information about this option in the description box below.

If you're able to stay longer than a stopover in Taiwan

If you're able to stay longer than a stopover in Taiwan then lucky you

and I recommend getting a SIM card at the airport.

There's plenty of free public wifi around Taiwan

but we found the mobile plans were great value.

There are different options but the company we used is called Far EasTone

and they have a Taoyuan airport location outside the baggage claim.

We got a prepaid SIM card with unlimited data for 10 days for 550 Taiwan Dollars.

Speaking of buying things as soon as you arrive at the airport,

I wanted to mention something about currency in Taiwan.

You can pay with credit card sometimes but cash is king

and you'll always want to have some on hand so you don't get stuck.

There are banks at Taoyuan Airport that provide a 24 hour exchange service

so you can either bring some cash from home to exchange or hit up an ATM like we did.

One of the ways to make your money last is taking public transportation.

In Taipei, the subway is known as the MRT

and you can take it straight from the airport into the city.

Tickets are 160 Taiwan Dollars and you can pay with cash at the ticket machines

Take note of which train you get on, by the way,

because there's a faster express that's about 30 minutes

There's Commuter and Express and you want to get on the Express 'cause it's a lot faster.

Once you're in Taipei, I think the MRT is the best way to get around.

It's safe, reliable, efficient, and affordable.

The trains run from about 6am to 12 midnight

and there are plenty of easy to use ticket machines.

I'm gonna get our tickets to ride the MRT here in Taipei

and there's, thankfully, an English option.

We are here so then we know we wanna go down the brown line to here and end up here

so then we need to press 2 because I need two of them for Marc and I

And it takes hundred dollar bills so I'm going to put the money in -

Once you get your token, you scan it on the sensor to get through the gate

or you can also buy refillable cards  instead of buying tokens each time.

As you can see on the map, the price is calculated based on distance

but generally around the city centre you pay 20 Taiwan Dollars.

Eating and drinking are prohibited on the MRT which keeps it clean and odour-free

Many stations we saw have escalators and/or elevators as well,

There are lines on the ground to show you where to line up to enter the train.

and every time I see this safety feature I wonder why it doesn't exist everywhere

There are lots of signs in English which makes navigating easier

and a lot of the MRT track is elevated above street level

which makes it a great way to get a view of the city as you ride.

Stations often have places to get food - like everyone's favourite boyfriend, Mister Donut -

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Taiwan Travel Tips

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