Taiwan Travel with Children - 7D6N Free & Easy Itinerary & Accommodation (December 2015)

Do you notice that your social media platforms were flooded with Taiwan travel photos during last December? I contributed to the spam too! Indeed, Taiwan is a nice place to visit!

The Flight Between Singapore and Taipei

There is direct flight from Singapore to Taipei, which takes about 4++ hours. But we took a slightly longer route - we took Cathay Pacific airline with 1 hour of transit in Hong Kong. This was the cheaper alternative as compared to other full service flights, and the price was comparable to budget airlines during our dates of travel. 

Our 7D6N Free & Easy Itinerary

Remember - plan but don't over-plan! (Read our other tips on Planning a Trip to Taiwan with Children). Our modes of transportation include train, metro, taxi and bus.

Some of you asked how we settled our luggage as we moved from one place to the other. We deposited our big luggage at the hotel in Taipei (York Design Hotel) when we travelled out of Taipei, and brought along 2 backpacks to Yilan and Miaoli. Do check with the hotel before you make your booking, to check whether it can help you to keep your luggage while you travel to other places. 

Here is our 7D6N free and easy itinerary for our Taiwan trip:

Day 1 Taipei

Singapore -> Taipei -> York Design Hotel

Thanks to the free gifts that we redeemed from Taiwan Visitors Association - one-way bus vouchers between Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei, we took Kuo-Kuang Bus 1819 (國光客運) to Taipei Main Station without spending a single cent! The bus ride took about 1 hour.

Day 2 Shifen & Yilan

Taipei -> (train) -> Shifen (to release sky lantern) -> (train & taxi) -> Yilan (宜蘭): 自然捲北歐風格旅店 homestay with slide in the room

We sent our wishes to the sky at Shifen! It was a pity that we didn't manage to visit Shifen Waterfall due to the rain.

It rained the whole day, but it didn't dampen our mood, because we had great fun at our homestay in Yilan - 自然捲北歐風格旅店! It was probably one of the most memorable accommodations that I have ever stayed!

Day 3 Yilan & Taipei

Homestay -> (taxi) -> Yilan Train Station (幾米廣場 & 丟丟噹森林) ->  (free shuttle bus) -> Free factory tour (亞典蛋糕密碼館觀光工廠) -> Themed restaurant (宜蘭窯烤山寨村) -> (free shuttle bus & train) -> Jiaoxi Hot Spring Yunoyado Onsen (東旅湯宿) -> (bus) -> Taipei York Design Hotel

We didn't include Yilan in our itinerary initially. Fortunately we visited there eventually! There are so many interesting things to do in Yilan!

Day 4 Miaoli

Taipei -> (train & taxi) -> Flying Cow Ranch (飛牛牧場)

A close touch to the nature! The children had fun feeding the animals in the farm!

Day 5 Miaoli & Taipei

Flying Cow Ranch –> (taxi) -> Dahu Strawberry farm -> Miaoli Railway Museum -> (taxi & High Speed Rail)  -> Taipei Main Station -> (metro) -> Rilakkuma Cafe (拉拉熊咖啡廳) -> (metro) -> York Design Hotel

It was quite an eventful day! We picked strawberries at Dahu, saw many old trains under one roof, took high speed rail from Miaoli to Taipei, and had dinner at Rilakkuma cafe which took me 50 minutes to make an online reservation!

Day 6 Taipei

York Design Hotel -> (metro) -> BabyBoss -> (metro) ->  Raohe Street Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) -> (metro) -> Taipei Main Station -> York Design Hotel

The children enjoyed themselves very much "working" in BabyBoss, and then we had Taiwanese street food for dinner at Raohe Street Night Market.

Taipei Main Station is not just a place to take Metro, train and high speed rail, it is also a place to shop for souvenirs!

Day 7 Taipei

Taipei -> Taoyuan International Airport -> Home sweet home

We took Kuo-Kuang Bus 1819 (國光客運) from Taipei Main Station to Taoyuan International Airport, and did last minute shopping of souvenirs for family and friends.

Accommodation in Taiwan

We experienced 3 types of accommodations during our stay.

Home stay - 自然捲北歐風格旅店 at Yilan - read our review here
For more choices of home stay, read our Taiwan Child-friendly Accommodation with Slides

Farm stay - Flying Cow Ranch at Miaoli - read our review here

Hotel - York Design Hotel (約克設計旅店) at Taipei - read our detailed review here

York Design Hotel is located near Taipei Main Station, along Nanyang Street (which is also known as "tuition street", because there are many language learning centres and tuition centres). It is just a few minutes walk from Taipei Main Station. There are many eateries and a few convenient stores in the area, so you won't get hungry! There are also many places for shopping, including Uniqlo, Daiso as well as 光南大批發 which sells a lot of stationery, toiletries, CDs and other stuffs!

The hotel itself occupies level 4 of an old building, if not for the flashing LED signboard, we may have missed the entrance! Don't be too upset when you see the old building, you will be surprised when the lift door opens at level 4! The modern-looking counter brings you to another world! The corridor looks so nice!

We booked Nordic Warm Quad Room (北歐溫馨4人房), which does not have window, but we didn't really mind about it.

As the name implies, the design of the room gives a feeling that we are in Northern Europe! Very cozy! The sockets in the room are international sockets, so travel adapter is not required. However, the bathroom was a bit too small. Anyway, it was still quite enjoyable to shower as the shower head was very good. Don't worry about drinking water, as there is water dispenser along the corridor.

As our first night stay was in late November, they had a promotion - free breakfast just by joining as a friend of their Line circle. The cafe that they collaborated with is just across the street!

As I mentioned, the location of this hotel is very convenient, we had different types of breakfast for the few days when we were there!

Rice balls - the filling is very generous! There are pork floss, youtiao and vegetables!

Egg omelette (蛋餅), 燒餅, youtiao and warm soya bean milk.

Oh, yes, McDonald's! They have toast breakfast set!

York Design Hotel (約克設計旅店)

Website: http://www.yorkhotel.com.tw

Address: 10047 台北市中正區南陽街13號4樓 (4F., No.13, Nanyang St., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City 10047, Taiwan)

How to get there:

From Taipei Main Station, take Exit M6, walk through Basement 1 of Caesar Park Hotel Taipei, then walk straight along Nanyang Street

Our Thoughts about Our Taiwan Trip

Our objective is to have experiential learning as a family. During the long train or bus rides, we looked at the beautiful scenery together, and talked about things that we saw - the windmills, the sea, the cars and so on.

We appreciate the kindness of some Taiwanese people. We were thankful to the gentleman from strawberry farm who offered to give us a ride to the train station. When we were trying to figure out our way at a Metro station, a nice person offered help. During our taxi rides, most drivers were very warm and chatted with us, and along the way, they introduced the places of interest and nice food, even though we didn't ask them.

Well, while many places are quite child-friendly, there are also places that are not. There is no pedestrian pavement in some places like Yilan, so we were very cautious as we walked along the road. We had to raise alert on the scooters too, as they came in all directions!

Remember to bring notebooks to Taiwan! There are many places where you can stamp on the notebook with nice rubber stamps!

If you ask me what to buy in Taiwan, I would say - snacks! Pork paper (豬肉紙), pineapple cakes (鳳梨酥), sun cakes (太陽餅), brown sugar (黑糖) and so on!

Pork paper is very tasty!

If you are fans of cute stationery, you can find interesting items from 光南大批發 or other stationery / gift shops.

There are many more interesting places in Taiwan! We hope to go there again!

Our Taiwan Travelogue 2017:

• Taiwan Family Travel 8D7N Free & Easy Itinerary (December 2017)
• 10 Tips for Planning a Trip to Taiwan with Children + Elderly Parents
• How to Get from Taipei台北 to Taichung台中
• Accommodation in Taichung: 53 Hotel 寶島53行館
• Accommodation in Taipei 台北: York Design Hotel
• Taipei 台北 – Shilin Night Market 士林夜市
• Taipei 台北 – Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 中正紀念堂
• Taipei 台北 – Kao Chi @ Yong Kang Street 永康街高記
• Jiufen 九份
• Changhua 彰化 – Changhua Roundhouse
• Taichung 台中 – 玩One Pizza (DIY pizza buffet with indoor play area)
• Taichung 台中 – Taichung Second Market 台中第二市場
• Taichung 台中 – Miyahara 宮原眼科 & Fourth Credit Union 第四信用合作社
• Taichung 台中 – Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市
• Taichung 台中 – Rainbow Village 彩虹眷村
• Taichung 台中 – A Liang Mushroom 阿亮香菇園 and Master of Mushrooms Restaurant 菇神
• Taichung 台中 – Lavender Cottage 薰衣草森林
• Taichung 台中 – Chung-She Flower Garden 中社觀光花市
• Taichung 台中 – Gaomei Wetlands 高美濕地
• Nantou 南投 – Cingjing Farm Green Green Grassland 清境農場青青草原
• Nantou 南投 – Puli 埔里 – Guangxing Paper Mill 廣興紙寮, King Garden 元首館

Our Taiwan Travelogue 2015:

• Taiwan with Children 7D6N Free & Easy Itinerary and Accommodation (December 2015)
• 8 Tips for Planning a Trip to Taiwan with Children
• Taiwan Child-friendly Accommodations with Slides
• Free Gifts for Travellers @ Taiwan Visitors Association(Singapore Office)
• Shifen 十分 – Sky Lantern
• Yilan 宜蘭 – Child-friendly Accommodation with Slide自然捲北歐風格旅店
• Yilan 宜蘭 – Jimmy Square, Free Factory Tour, Themed Restaurants, Hot Spring
• Miaoli 苗栗 – Flying Cow Ranch 飛牛牧場
• Miaoli 苗栗 – Strawberry farm, Railway Museum, High Speed Rail
• Taipei 台北– Rilakkuma Cafe 拉拉熊咖啡廳
• Taipei 台北– BabyBoss 職業體驗任意城
• Taipei 台北– Raohe Street Night Market 饒河街觀光夜市
• Download our printable Taiwan 7D6N Free & Easy Itinerary

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