Taiwan is a beautiful country offering nice sceneries and delectable foods. I traveled to Taiwan with my family last 2018. This year, my friends decided to have an all-girls-trip to Taiwan with only a month of preparation (for tours and budget!).
As I was able to visit Taiwan, 5 years back and has visited most of the attractions during that travel, I do not have a specific place that I want to visit this time around. I allowed by friends to choose the places they want to visit and did the itinerary as carefree as possible. Our itinerary for 6 days and 5 nights is very laidback and these attractions can be visited in 4 days and 3 nights if you want to.
Here’s our itinerary for 6 days and 5 nights.
Day 1
7AM – Flight to Taiwan via Cebu Pacific
9AM – Arrival at Taoyuan Airport
10AM – Taiwan Immigration, Claiming Pocket Wifi, Exchanging PHP to NTD, and playing Taiwan Lucky Land (one of us won!!!)
11AM – Airport Train to Taipei City
12PM – Left luggage at Hotel as hotel check-in is at 4PM
1PM – Lunch
4PM – National Palace Museum Taipei
6PM – Shilin Night Market for dinner
9PM – Check-in at Shanger Hotel and rest
Day 2
8AM – Breakfast
9AM – Chiang Kai Shek Memorial (waited for 10AM for the “changing of the guards”)
11AM – Taipei 101 Lunch
1PM – Taipei 101 Observatory
4PM – Maokong Gondola
7PM – Travel back to hotel and dinner
Day 3
8AM – Breakfast
10AM – Longshan Temple
12PM – Lunch at Taipei Main Station
2PM – Travel to Shifen Old Street
4PM – Shifen Old Street (sky lantern)
6PM – Travel back to Taipei
8PM – Raohe Night Market for dinner
9PM – Travel back to hotel and rest
Day 4
My friends traveled to Taichung for this day. I was sick and stayed at our hotel in Taipei
Day 5
My friends toured Miyahara, Zhong She Flower Farm, and Chun Sui Tang restaurant (origin of boba milk tea) in Taichung while I explored Ximending for 4 hours, went to Shilin Night Market for last minute pasalubong.
Day 6
10AM – Check-out of our hotel
12PM – Taipei 101 for lunch and just lounged in the area
6PM – Travel to Taoyuan Airport
10PM – checked in for our 2AM flight the next day
Now, to the budget. I spent Php 22,000 for this travel and here’s the breakdown. Conversion is at NTD 1 = PHP 1.89.
Airfare – Php 8,030 + Php 550. We planned the trip for 1 month, and thus our airfare is not cheap. Our Cebu Pacific airfare cost Php 8,030 with baggage allowance. We just added another 20kgs when we flew back to the Philippines as we know we will have extra kilos due to pasalubong.
Accommodation – Php 5,052. We stayed at Shanger Hotel in Taipei and the room costed me Php 5,052 for 5 nights. One room is good for 2 adults. We booked 2 rooms for 5 days and just divided that cost. Shanger Hotel is an old motel. Room is clean, complete in amenities (toiletries, television, mini-ref, kettle, superb air-conditioning, and towels), and has huge bathroom with bathtub. The hotel my friends booked in Taichung is called Chance Hotel – I was not able to view hotel but they said it was new and nice and cost around Php 2,400 per night for 4 pax. The hotel in Taichung is nicer and cheaper, they said.
Food – Php 3,500. Food is cheap in Taiwan. We ate at convenience stores (7/11 and Family Mart), night markets, Shifen Old street, and the food court at Taipei 101. Food tastes good in Taipei (except for the stinking tofu).
Transportation – Php1,890. We use Easy Card for our transportation in Taipei. I loaded NTD 1000 in my Easy Card and I was able to consume everything. We mainly use the train and buses for transportation.
Entrance Fees – N/A. I included the National Palace Museum and the Taipei 101 Observatory in our itinerary, however, I did not enter both attractions. I am no fan of museums and it gives me no thrill to see the views on observatories as I think they offer the same sight for all.
Miscellaneous – Php 2,879. Here are my miscellaneous expenses: Php 1620 for travel tax; Php 798 for insurance; Php 284 for pocket wifi (very cheap for 6 days divided by 4 people); Php 120 for Shifen Lantern (we divided this as well); Php 57 for conversion charges.
I did not include the pasalubong shopping and some incidentals (like the hotel booked in Taichung that I was not able to use).
TIPS:
- This trip was planned for just 1 month. If you could plan it for longer, then it would be better. You can save more during the planning.
- If you have USD with you, exchange it to NTD. It has better exchange rates than PHP to NTD. You can exchange a small amount in the airport (airport money changers have conversion charges). You can then exchange in Taipei 101, they do not fees and offer good exchange rates.
- I honestly bought a lot of pasalubong. You can buy it cheap at groceries, night markets, and Ximending. If you don’t want to spend so much on souvenirs, you can look for train stamps in train stations. It’s exciting to look for the train stamps and these stamps make nice souvenir from your Taiwan trip.
- ENJOY! This is my first ever all-girls-trip and it was a very delightful experience. I love traveling with my family, but doing this trip gave me a different feeling and it is something I would love to do again (oh, we are planning again, yes hahaha)
