Taiwan's oldest city and former capital: Dutch-era forts, hundreds of temples, Japanese-era buildings and narrow lanes. 'Taiwan's food capital' — beef soup, danzai noodles and 'coffin bread'. For families there is the Chimei Museum, the Anping Tree House and a mangrove boat ride. Winters are warm and dry. No direct flights from UB — land at Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) and take the HSR for ~1.5 hours, or fly to Kaohsiung (KHH) via Seoul. Mongolian citizens need a visa.
🛂 Visa: Visa required✈ Flight: 9h☀ Best months: January, February, March, October
Orange — daytime average, blue — night, grey bars — rainfall, green — sea temperature. Best months: January, February, March, October, November, December.
Things to see (12)
🧸 for kids
Anping Old Fort (Fort Zeelandia)★ 4.1 (40,000)
CultureNT$708:30–17:30
Taiwan's first fort, built by the Dutch in 1624 — red-brick wall remains, a lookout tower and a small museum. Around it are Anping's old streets, shrimp crackers and 'coffin bread'.
An old salt warehouse whose walls and roof have been swallowed by giant banyan roots, with a walkway above — almost magical. Children love it; pair it with the Old Fort.
Travel guide
Like a well-travelled friend for a first-timer: before you go, landing, SIM, transport, money, food, safety, manners, apps, leaving — step by step.
🧳Before you goMongolians need a visa for Taiwan and there is no eVisa — get the visa first, then buy the ticket.+
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Visitor visa — Taipei office in UB
Mongolian ordinary passport holders are on neither Taiwan's visa-exempt list nor its eVisa list. Apply in person for a visitor visa at the Taipei Trade and Economic Representative Office in Ulaanbaatar: BOCA fee $50 single entry, $100 multiple entry. Applications are taken on weekday mornings; the permitted stay is printed on the visa.
Tip: Prepare a passport valid for over 6 months, return ticket, hotel booking, bank statement and employment letter; confirm the document list by phone.
Paper arrival cards were abolished on 1 October 2025: fill in the Taiwan Arrival Card online, free, before you arrive. It reads your details from a passport photo, and one person can submit the cards for the rest of the family.
There is no direct flight, so you connect in Seoul, Beijing or Hong Kong. For Tainan, both Taipei Taoyuan (TPE) and Kaohsiung (KHH, with direct flights from Seoul) work. Through Beijing, check your bag through and stay airside — Mongolia is not covered by China's visa-free transit schemes.
Tip: Transiting in Hong Kong is visa-free for Mongolians and the easiest option.
🛬Landing and getting to TainanFrom Taoyuan (TPE): Airport MRT → HSR → Shalun line. A little over 2 hours in total.+
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Airport MRT to HSR Taoyuan
From the Airport MRT station under both terminals to HSR Taoyuan Station (A18) takes ~16–19 minutes and costs NT$35. Tap your EasyCard or buy a token from the machine.
Taoyuan–Tainan on the HSR: reserved standard-car seat NT$1,190, non-reserved NT$1,150, children half price. The ride takes from 1 hour 12 minutes to about 1.5 hours. Discounted tickets and the THSR Pass for foreign visitors are sold online; book in the T Express app and board with a QR code.
HSR Tainan station is south of the city in Guiren. The Shalun line local train reaches Tainan main station in ~22 minutes for NT$25, roughly every 30 minutes. With an HSR ticket the H31 bus is free. If you land at Kaohsiung (KHH), bus 111 reaches Tainan in ~70 minutes.
📶Phone and internet+
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Tourist SIM at the airport
Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile counters in the Taoyuan arrivals hall are open 24 hours. Chunghwa's unlimited 4G data: 5 days NT$300, 10 days NT$500 (with a little call credit). They may ask for your passport plus a second ID (e.g. a driving licence).
Tip: Bring a second ID — Taiwan asks for two documents for a SIM.
If your phone supports eSIM, buy a Taiwan plan from Airalo, Ubigi or similar before you fly and it works the moment you land. No queue, but no Taiwanese number — LINE is enough for booking taxis and restaurants.
🚇Getting aroundTainan has no metro: explore the old town on foot and by YouBike; use buses, taxis or Uber for Anping, Chimei and Sicao.+
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EasyCard — one card for everything
An EasyCard or iPASS pays for city buses, YouBike, local trains and convenience stores. On buses tap both when boarding and when getting off. The old-town sights (Chihkan, Mazu Temple, Shennong, Hayashi) are close together, so walking is easiest.
Taiwan Tourist Shuttle buses run from Tainan main station towards Anping, Sicao and Qigu, with more departures at weekends. In the city unlock YouBike with an EasyCard — there is a cycle path to Anping.
Public transport to Qigu Salt Mountain and Sicao is sparse and slow. Use Uber or taxis, or hire a car with driver for a day covering two or three places — the easiest option with children. For the Chimei Museum, a local train to Bao'an station works.
Night markets and small eateries take cash only. Withdraw New Taiwan dollars (TWD) with a foreign card at ATMs inside 7-Eleven and at Chinatrust or Bank of Taiwan machines. Department stores, hotels and the HSR accept cards.
Spend NT$2,000 or more in one TRS-labelled shop on one day and you can claim the VAT back — show your passport in the shop for the refund form. Small refunds are paid on the spot in the shop, the rest at the airport.
🍜FoodTainan is Taiwan's 'food capital': early-morning beef soup, danzai noodles, 'coffin bread' and night markets.+
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Garden Night Market (Huayuan)
The city's biggest night market runs only on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 17:00 until midnight; on other days the Dadong and Wusheng night markets take turns. It may close in rain.
Tip: Go early — easier with children; sort your rubbish at the collection points.
Beef soup (牛肉湯) — fresh raw beef cooked by hot broth, eaten early in the morning; danzai noodles (擔仔麵) — Du Hsiao Yueh since 1895; 'coffin bread' (棺材板) — a fried toast box filled with thick chowder; shrimp rolls and Anping oysters. Most dishes are cheap, about NT$60–120 a bowl.
Tip: No tipping; famous spots sell out early, so go in the morning or at lunch.
Ready meals, onigiri and tea eggs from 7-Eleven and FamilyMart make an easy breakfast. Taiwanese breakfast shops (早餐店) serve sandwiches, turnip cake and soy milk cheaply and fast.
🛡️Safety and health+
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Emergency numbers
Police 110, ambulance and fire 119 — free, 24 hours. The 24-hour toll-free travel information line 0800-011-765 (English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean) and the International Community Service Hotline 0800-024-111.
During summer and autumn typhoons the HSR, flights and buses may stop — follow the Central Weather Administration's warnings. Earthquake alerts sound loudly on your phone. The old town's narrow lanes are full of scooters with few pavements, so hold children's hands.
National Cheng Kung University Hospital and Chi Mei Medical Center offer international patient services with English-speaking doctors. Pharmacies (藥局) are everywhere. Call your insurer's assistance line first.
Eating, drinking and chewing gum on Taiwan's metro and buses are banned and fined. Young people leave the dark-blue priority seats empty. Stand on the right on escalators.
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Temples and people
Photos are fine in Taoist and Buddhist temples, but don't walk in front of worshippers or step on the main door's threshold. Taiwanese are polite and helpful — loud arguments or public anger are frowned on. Hand over money and gifts with both hands.
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Sorting rubbish
Street bins are rare: put rubbish in your hotel's or a shop's bin. Sorting is strict — recyclables, food waste and general rubbish go separately. Rubbish trucks announce themselves with music.
📱Useful apps+
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Routes and tickets
Google Maps shows Tainan bus and train times. Book HSR tickets in the T Express app and board with a QR code. Uber works in Tainan; unlock YouBike with an EasyCard.
Google Translate's camera mode translates Traditional Chinese menus on the spot; download the offline pack. LINE is Taiwan's main chat app — hotels and tour companies reply on LINE.
Tainan–Taoyuan on the HSR takes 1 hour 12 minutes to about 1.5 hours, plus ~22 minutes on the Shalun line and ~16–19 minutes on the Airport MRT. Plan to reach the airport 3 hours before an international flight and book the HSR ahead — it fills up at weekends and holidays.
At the airport, before customs, show your passport, receipts and goods at the tax-refund kiosk or counter. Spend the EasyCard balance in a shop or keep it for your next trip.
Twin Chinese pavilions on the foundations of the Dutch Fort Provintia, with stone tablets on turtle-like bixi. Best in the evening when lit — open until 21:30.
Taiwan's first Confucius temple, founded in 1665 and known as 'Taiwan's first school'. A calm courtyard of red walls and old shade trees; Fuzhong Street's cafés and cake shops are opposite.
A narrow Qing-era lane of two-storey wooden houses — lanterns, cafés, small galleries and cocktail bars. Most photogenic in the evening when the lanterns are lit.
A 1932 Japanese-era five-storey department store restored as a shop for Tainan products and souvenirs. Original dial lift indicator, a Shinto shrine on the roof and wartime bullet marks.
Taiwan's first officially built temple to the sea goddess Mazu, in the former palace of the Prince of Ningjing. Incense, worshippers, carvings and fortune sticks give a close look at Taiwanese folk religion.
KidsNT$200 (ages 7–22 NT$150, under 7 free)9:30–17:30, closed Wednesdays
A European palace-style building with Western paintings, one of the world's great violin collections, a huge natural-history hall of animals and arms. Half a day with children; the gardens and Olympian bridge outside are free.
FoodFree (snacks NT$50–150)Thu, Sat, Sun ≈17:00–24:00 (may close in rain)
Tainan's biggest night market with 400+ stalls: grilled sausage, seafood, sausage-in-rice and game tents. It only runs three evenings a week, so pick the right day.
A 30-minute boat ride along a canal where mangrove branches meet overhead in a 'green tunnel': crabs, fish and birds. Few sailings on weekdays, many at weekends — come early.
Climb a white 'mountain' of salt at an old saltworks while children play in the salt; salt museum and salty ice cream. 40 minutes from the city by car; pair it with Sicao in one day.
Former judges' dormitories turned into an art park with blueprint-style murals, small design shops and cafés. A 10-minute walk from Hayashi; lit up in the evening.
