Aside from Chiang Kai Shek station, Taipei’s Green Line MRT stations don’t have as many obvious tourist highlights, at least not by name… but when you look a little closer you will realize this line has lots to offer! And if you like night markets, the green line is the line for you!
The Green Line’s – Songshan Station
Songshan Train Station
This MRT station connects with Taiwan’s train line. Of course there IS always Taipei Main, but let’s be honest – Taipei main is a zoo. Songshan on the other hand is a much quieter station and is still a great jumping off point for all sorts of great day trips out of Taipei.
I also particularly love the art in this station. See?! It’s a light-bright ceiling!
Raohe Night Market
Raohe Night MarketIf you do chose Songshan as your day trip launch point, another plus is that when you return tired and hungry in the evening… there’s a night market full of great food waiting for you just out the doors of this station!
Raohe Night Market, is a smaller night market but is a favorite for its food! We have a soft spot in our hearts for it, since it was the first place we ever tried stinky tofu! (See the video here!)
Details: Just a few steps away from exit 5. Open daily from roughly 6pm – Midnight.
The Green Line’s – Taipei Arena
Ice Skating at Taipei Arena
Beat the heat and go ice-skating with the locals at Taipei Arena! This station basically drops you off right at the Arena’s front doors and once you walk inside signs will direct you to “Iceland” where they also have posted plenty of English instructions for how to buy a ticket and rent the equipment, making it a very doable local experience – no Chinese required!
Details: Open daily 10am – 9pm, weekends 9–9. It’s about $330NT for 2 hrs of skate time plus gear. (Detailed price list here) FYI you’re required to wear gloves while skating. So bring some or buy them for 50NT. Then again if you just want to sit in the air conditioning, listen to classical music and watch people fall and twirl, 30NT will get you a 4 hr spectator ticket!
Ikea & Crispy Creme
Ok this is not so much a tourist spot as it is an expat stop of note. Here we have a couple much loved western chain stores waiting to welcome you home – IKEA and Krispy Krème Donuts – conveniently located right next to each other. Check it out if you need to some stuff for your new Taipei apartment or are jonesing for some good ole American sugar-loaded sweets. (There’s also a Starbucks there but those are everywhere in Taipei)
The Green Line’s – Nanjing Fuxing Station
(transfer station for the brown line)
Salsa Night Tuesdays at the Brass Monkey:
Here’s something fun and different! A chance to watch Latin dancing in Taipei. There is a large and diverse dance scene in Taipei. And if you want to see the Latin dance side this one of the best places to observe it. Although you can do more than just watch! The Brass Monkey advertises free beginner salsa lessons at 9pm every Tuesday.
Details: Every once in a while there’s a change to the normal schedule so check their website before making a special trip. The Brass Monkey is just a 2 minute walk from Nanjing Fuxing station. There’s a $200NT cover charge for the salsa night but you get $150 back in the form of a drink voucher. Read our blog post for more details.
Chamkar Cafe
One of my new favorite vegetarian restaurants is also just off this exit a few shops down from the Brass Monkey. This is a vegetarian Cambodian restaurant in Taipei owned by a French expat – ha! There’s lots of vegan options and much if not all of their food is made with local organic produce. The food is great and for a their prices are quite reasonable. Last time Josh and I went we both had soup, a main dish, coffee and dessert and it came out to around $750NT.
Details: Open Mon – Sat, 9am – 8pm. Map here.
The Green Line’s – Songjiang Nanjing
Siping Street AKA woman’s street
From night markets to old streets to wet markets, Taipei is full of curious market streets. Siping Street isn’t particularly large and it’s main product is clothes for middle aged women. So it’s not anywhere near the top ten list. But the multicolored flag lantern canopy over the brick market street is so charming, that I think it’s worth jumping off the MRT to take a few pictures of, if you’re going by. And its not all out of date clothing for sale! There are tea shops, produce stands, dried fruit bins and other interesting little shops along the way here too.
The Green Line’s – Zhongshan Station
Ningxia Night Market
This night market isn’t quite as famous as Shilin or Raohe but that might be half the fun. Usually that means fewer tourists and more locals! We haven’t made it to this one yet but it’s on the list.
*Although we haven’t been here… we feel pretty confident in predicting that they will sell this staple night market drink – Lemon Aiyu Jelly.
The Green Line’s – Beimen Station
(transfer station for the purple line)
mini-museum, Metro mall and Airport transfer station
Here again the green line offers you a work around for Taipei Main Station. The newly constructed Taoyen Airport MRT line (or purple line) can be accessed here. And while its still a bit of a walk to make that transfer its nothing like the trek they take you on from the red line (or heaven forbid the blue line) at Taipei Main. Now its one thing if you are taking a taxi to Taipei main for the purple line, I assume they have a nice convenient entrance. But if you think you are going to just do a normal MRT line transfer there, think again…. and then consider using Beimen station instead. Beimen also offers a interesting little mini archaeological museum of excavated artifacts that they discovered when building this station! And like Taipei main, they also have an interesting underground mall you might have fun exploring
The old City wall North gate
This is the one remaining original gate from back when Taipei was a walled city. It’s over a hundred years old and is a great spot to stop for a picture!
Dihua Street
This historic street is my favorite place to go souvenir shopping in Taipei. But there’s more to do than just shopping. You can explore the old buildings, take in some museums and even go to a Chinese Opera!
The Green Line’s – Ximen
(transfer station for the blue line)
Ximending Night Market
And another night market! And along with Raohe, Ximen is in the top 3 most popular night markets of Taipei. But unlike Raohe, Ximen is a huge sprawling behemoth with TONS of neonlit store fronts. Think food, clothes, street performers, clothes, trinkets, jewlery, clothes, masage parlors, restaurants… and a whole lot of people! It’s quite an experience. And one probably worth having at least once while you’re here.
The Green Line’s – Xionanmen Station
This is a stop you could easily spend at least half a day at at!
The Taipei Botanical Gardens
Just a couple minutes off exit 3 or 4 of this station is Taipei’s free-admission botanical gardens. It’s lovely anytime of year but the Lily Pond is particularly stunning in the summer when it transforms into a field of lotus flowers!
Details: Open 5:30am – 10pm daily.
San-Yun Museum
This small museum is right next to the entrance of the botanical gardens. We didn’t have time to check it out on our first visit but plan to next time!
Details: Open from 10am – 5pm, Tues – Sun, admission costs 50NT
The National Museum of History
Unfortunately, this Museum (located adjacent to the lily pond) is closing in July 2018 for 3 years of renovation. There are some other beautiful buildings around it though that you may enjoy taking pictures of (such as the Nanhai Theater & the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute)
National 228 museum
Just a couple minutes walk from the Botanical Gardens Lilly Pond, is this sobering museum document the period of “white terror” in Taiwan. It’s always heartening though to see a country grappling with its own failures and acknowledging the dark parts of its history. And as someone living in this country, I think its important to take the time to understand the major events and periods of history that shaped the nation and people of the place you’re calling home.
Details: Open Tues – Sun from 10am – 5pm, admission is free.
Postal Museum & Yuyu Yang Art Museum
I haven’t made it to these two museums yet, but these are also within a five minute walk of Botanical Gardens. The yuyu yang art museum is said to be free admission and seems to mostly feature sculptures from this one artist.
Details: Open Tuesdays – Sundays from 9-5 and it costs 10 NT.
The Green Line’s – Chiang Kai-shek Station
(transfer station for the Red Line)
Commuting home from work on the MRT one evening Josh and I missed our stop. Flustered we jumped out at the next stop and ran across to catch our line back…only to discover that in our rush we’d jumped on a completely different MRT line :S. By that time we were hopelessly out of the way from home! So we decided to let it be a true adventure and just get off and explore the next random stop. As luck would have it the next stop was Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Station!
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
This breathtaking memorial park is literally one step off MRT stop. And thanks to the metro naming their stations after the highlights in the area – we knew to go looking for it 🙂 We couldn’t have planned our timing better. Weekday evenings are a great time to wander this beautiful park! Its not as crowded as on the weekend and if you’re lucky and you might just catch a good sunset to compliment the view!
NALA’S BURRITO STAND
One of our favorite Mexican food places in Taiwan (and by far the cheapest) is here right off Chang Kai Shek Memorial station. A good american style Mexican burrito, especially one that’s reasonably pried, is VERY hard to find in Taiwan. So this place is a special find! Get a veggie burrito for just $100NT.
Details: Right of exit 4, to your right. Mon – Sat, 11:30 – 9:30 ( orto 10:30 on Fri & Sat).
Nanmen Market
My other favorite find here is the big dried fruits, meat, nuts and sundries market. I’m always amazed at all the fruits they dry here! Starfruit, cherry tomatoes, hibiscus flowers, guava! And most vendors are more then happy to give you free samples as you debate which one to get!
Details: Open Tues – Sun from 7am – 6pm, admission. Located right off of Exit 2, kiddie corner from Nala’s.
The Green Line’s – Gongguan Station
Located near TaiDa (Taiwan’s top university), Gongguan is essentially the college town of Taipei City. Its a fun area, full of great food and tea stands, not to mention a of couple of great little used-book stores! But the biggest surprise here, is Treasure Hill. It’s an artist village about a 10 minute walk away but you’d NEVER find it if you weren’t looking for it!
Treasure Hill Art Village:
A maze of narrow paths and steps leads you through this old style village on the side of a steep hill overlooking Taipei. While there are still some residences here most of the spaces have been taken up by local artists. My favorite shop is like one curiosities cabinet. It’s part art display part boutique. They create jewelry mixing seeds and other natural items with metal. I’ve seen jewelry using nearly identical seeds in Latin America but never in such an elegant form. Other doors you open lead into mini one room art installations. Or maybe you’ll come upon a cafe dedicated to artisanal pickled foods! You never know what you’ll find in this whimsical place!
Details: Closed Mondays! Open Tuesday – Sundays 11:00 – 6:00 (although a lot of the shops seem to close by 5:00) Use googlemaps to get there. Learn more here.
WHOSE USED BOOK STORE
You’d never guess how large this books store is, as you slip through the narrow street level door and up the stairs. But it actually covers two floors. The first floor is all books in Chinese but the second floor has a large collection of English books as well as well some French, German, Japanese and Korean books. They have a couple cute little reading nooks.Just like used book stores in the states, they also buy used books.
Details: Open daily. Weekdays: 12 – 10 & Weekends: 11 – 10. Find it here.
Taipei Waterpark & Museum of Drinking Water
These are a couple of areas of interest on Josh & I’s radar that we haven’t made it to yet. They aren’t quite within walking distance of Gonguan Station. But this it is the closest station to these two spots and should be easily reached with a short taxi or bus ride. Although the waterpark is more of a kids water play area, not a waterslide park. The museum & waterpark are within walking distance of each other.
The Green Line’s – Xindian Station
Being at the very end of the line a fair ways outside of downtown this is stop is rarely if ever on the way to anything. But it’s worth making a special trip for! Bitan’s riverfront is just a few steps away from this MRT station and is sure to entertain! You can rent swan shaped paddle boats, take pictures from the vantage of the impressive pedestrian suspension bridge and have a meal at one of the cute cafes on the boardwalk On and the street in between the MRT and the riverfront park has a great street market where you can buy and try lots of fun traditional snacks.
Bitan Riverfront
Paddle boats are always fun! This one for 4 peopel cost $600NT for 1 hour. (There are are also motorized ones but I think they would have been an extra $100.) Price varies based on boat size and number of people riding. Also note tjhat on top of that you have to give a $100NT deposot (or around that) for the life jackets. But you get that back when you return them.
The name of this river in Chinese is something like the green jade river. And the water color can be very striking if you hit it on the right day.Across the bridge there are also hiking trails that will take you into the hills which are very popular at night in the spring (April – Mid-May) for firefly watching. Although when we went we were more impressed with how many frogs we heard than the number of fire flies we saw! Meanwhile, back on the other side, along with cute waterfront cafes, the boardwalk also features some fun art to pose with 🙂
