Taiwan with kids

One of the fastest lifts in the world and a giant damper ball children find more interesting than the view.

Pandas and koalas, then a gondola up a tea hill from the same station. The glass-floor cabins have a longer queue and are worth it.

Lantern-lit lanes down a hillside, an hour out. Crowded at weekends and genuinely tight — go on a weekday if you can.

Mushroom-shaped sea rocks on a north-coast headland. Exposed and windy, so take a layer even in summer.

Nine floors of hands-on exhibits in Shilin, with a 3D theatre. Cheap, and next to the children's amusement park.

A Japanese-designed aquarium at Taoyuan, forty minutes out on the airport line. Timed entry, so book the slot rather than turning up.

A small marine park beside the geopark, which is how most families end up there. Dated, and it pairs with the rocks rather than standing alone.

Taiwanese glove puppetry, with a hands-on room. Under two dollars and about an hour, which is exactly right.

A large science museum at Keelung, on the way back from the north coast. Cheap, indoor, and a good pairing with Yehliu.

Waterfalls and a maple valley an hour south of the city, about two dollars in. Steps rather than a trail, and cool in summer.

A short, subtitled programme of Chinese opera and acrobatics staged for visitors. Ninety minutes and no prior knowledge needed.

A small Yilan farm best known for its capybaras, which sit still and let children feed them. Cheap and gentle.

A hands-on Yilan animal park — feeding rather than viewing. Nine dollars and aimed at the under-tens.

The jade cabbage and the meat-shaped stone, which are exactly as small as everyone warns and still worth queueing for. A guide makes the difference with children.

Flat entry, cheap rides and far calmer than a theme park. Half a day, with the science museum next door for the rest.

A large central park with a water play area, an ecological pond and its own metro stop. Free, and where Taipei families actually go.

A theme park with a drive-through safari section attached, an hour and a half south. A full day and a proper outing rather than an afternoon.

An outdoor science playground at Hsinchu built entirely around things children push, pull and pedal. Better than it sounds and cheap.

An indoor park at Taoyuan built around the Chiao-Hu children's character. Aimed squarely at preschoolers and priced like it.

A mall play floor at Nangang, about twelve dollars. The wet-afternoon answer, and Taipei has a great many wet afternoons.

A role-play town where children work as firefighters, vets and shopkeepers. Instructions are in Chinese, but the format carries itself.

The municipal water park beside the old waterworks, and about a dollar fifty. Summer only, and packed at weekends.

Twenty minutes by metro to public and private baths in a wooded valley. Check the age rules — some pools do not take young children.

A small museum where you make a sheet of paper by hand and take it away. Booked sessions, and the making is the whole visit.

A tourist factory where you watch popcorn made and make some. Nine dollars, an hour, and a very easy win with a small child.

A pen and stationery factory with a DIY room. Odd, specific, and the sort of thing a stationery-minded child talks about afterwards.

Make and bake your own at the Kuo Yuan Ye pastry museum. You leave with a box, which solves the souvenir problem too.

The little open railway up to the waterfall, about a dollar sixty each way. Buy this rather than the guided day if you are going under your own steam.

An open-top loop of the main sights for about nine dollars. Mainly useful on day one for working out where everything is.

Traditional dress hired for the old street. Children's sizes are stocked, and the lantern-lit steps do the rest.

A named bathhouse rather than the general Beitou advice — public pools where swimwear is worn, so children are welcome. Bring your own.

A recreated old street in Yilan where the crafts are demonstrated and the DIY voucher is included. An hour by train and worth the day.

Sit at a pond with a rod, catch prawns, grill them there. A national pastime and completely absorbing for a child.

Pull scallions out of a Yilan field, wash them, then fold them into a pancake you eat. Four dollars, and muddy.

Shake your own at a Yilan tea culture centre. Six dollars, half an hour, and the drink is the souvenir.

The day tour that ends at Pingxi, where you write on a paper lantern and let it go over the railway. The bit children remember a year later.

An hour south of Taipei: a little push-trolley railway, a waterfall, an Atayal village and a free hot-spring foot bath. Gentle, and green.

The pottery town where children throw a pot, plus an old street and a vertical lettuce farm. A making-things day rather than a looking-at-things one.

More manageable with children than Shilin: one straight street, pepper buns at the entrance, and arcade stalls between the food.

End of the red metro line for iron eggs, giant ice creams and a lover's bridge at sunset. A whole afternoon for the price of a fare.

Flowing noodles caught from a bamboo chute, plus hand-pulled noodles and a scallion pancake to make. Nine dollars.

The original, and the queue is real. A prepaid voucher does not skip it, but it does remove the ordering.

Standing-room thick noodle soup in Ximending, about two dollars. Every visitor eats here once; go at an odd hour.

The best-known pineapple cakes in the city, delivered to the hotel or the airport instead of queueing at the shop.

A guided run through the stalls at about four dollars, which mainly buys you someone to say what things are. Go hungry and early.

Taipei 101, the zoo, the Maokong gondola and unlimited metro on one card. Worth it only if you will use three or more — add them up first.

One ticket across a choice of Yilan's farms and factories. Sensible if you are basing a whole day out there, pointless for one stop.

The three north-coast stops most people do, with the driving handled and the sky-lantern stop at Shifen. About twenty dollars, which is less than the trains would cost.

The thermal valley, the sulphur vents at Xiaoyoukeng and the grassland, with transport between them. The public-bus version of this day is a lot of waiting.

Three hours each way from Taipei for a boat across the lake and a gondola. Long, and the better version of this trip starts from Taichung.

Marble cliffs and tunnel walkways on the east coast. A very long day out of Taipei — some sections stay closed after the 2024 earthquake, so check what is open.

Enter through the dragon's mouth and leave through the tiger's, which is supposed to turn bad luck into good.

Six floors of hands-on exhibits and one of the largest science museums in Asia. Cheap, air-conditioned and a full wet afternoon.

Eight pagodas leading to a 108-metre seated Buddha, with cartoon murals of the Buddha's life aimed squarely at children. Free.

The best aquarium in Taiwan, down at Kenting: a walk-through polar section and a coral tank you stand inside. Two hours from the city.

A hillside city zoo for a dollar thirty. Small, well kept and steeply laid out — a carrier helps with a toddler.

The old harbour station with rolling stock outside and a large model layout in. Three dollars and next to Pier-2.

A Kenting park where the deer come to be fed. Seven dollars, and the sort of thing that pairs with the aquarium day.

A Tainan museum of instruments, armour and natural history in a building modelled on a European palace. Six dollars.

The Dutch fort at Tainan, two dollars, and the tree house round the corner is the part children remember.

A hands-on Tainan animal park, more petting farm than zoo. Seven dollars and busy at weekends.

Converted warehouses with outdoor sculpture, a small railway and bikes to hire along the waterfront.

A Greek-themed park with proper coasters, attached to a mall and a hotel outside the city. A full day, and quiet on weekdays.

A suspended-seat flight simulator over Taiwan's landscape. Twenty minutes, eight dollars, and a height minimum.

A small Japanese-licensed motoring theme park inside a mall, with junior driving circuits. Aimed at the under-tens.

A large indoor playground with a ball pool and climbing. Sixteen dollars, and it fills a wet morning.

A five-minute ferry with bicycles allowed, then a black-sand beach and a seafood street.

A twenty-five-minute cruise through the middle of the city, best after dark when the bridges are lit.

A narrated boat from the art district around the working harbour. Different water from the Love River, and only slightly dearer.

A glass-hulled boat over the Kenting reef, so nobody has to swim or snorkel. Nine dollars and forty minutes.

A punt down a mangrove channel where the branches close overhead. Three dollars and half an hour.

A drum troupe in a converted sugar factory, then a mountain of salt you can climb. Two odd things that work far better than they sound.

Sand crabbing on the Pingtung coast with a guide, about thirteen dollars. Small, specific and the sort of thing children ask to do again.

A narrated lagoon cruise for about seven dollars. Short, cheap and mostly an excuse to be on the water.

Seafood-heavy and less frantic than the Taipei markets, with somewhere to sit at most stalls.

A raft out over the Tainan oyster beds, then as many grilled oysters as you can eat. Eight dollars.

A buffet at the hotel attached to the theme park, about fourteen dollars. Convenient rather than remarkable, which is the point.

A night on the floor beside the tanks, with a torch-lit tour after closing. Books out well ahead and is the single best thing on this list.

Moon World's badlands, the Lotus Pond pagodas, Pier-2 and the Love River, driven between rather than walked.

The National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium is the best aquarium in Taiwan, and this pairs it with the cape at the island's southern tip.

The old fort at Anping, Chihkan Tower and the tree house. An hour up the coast and the oldest city in Taiwan.

The narrow-gauge railway up into the cloud forest. A long day from Kaohsiung and cold at the top whatever the coast is doing.

Dinosaurs, a botanical greenhouse and a space theatre for about four dollars. The best value museum day in the country.

Tilted rooms and optical tricks, built for photographs. Small, and it holds an older child for an hour.

A park where nearly everything — the furniture, the fairground, the restaurant — is made of cardboard. Genuinely strange and cheap.

A restored nineteenth-century family compound with its own theatre stage. Quiet, and a different register from the theme parks.

Indigenous houses and performances with a small funfair attached, joined to Sun Moon Lake by the ropeway. An odd combination that works.

A raised walkway along a ridge at 1,700 metres above the sheep farm. Under two dollars, and cold — take a layer.

Cedar forest with a canopy walkway and a suspension bridge, an hour and a half from the city. Cool, shaded and four dollars.

A small Nantou animal park built for feeding rather than viewing. Nine dollars and aimed at the young end.

Theme park, water park and a very large ferris wheel on one site. The biggest single day out in central Taiwan.

An indoor play centre with an animatronic dinosaur section. The rainy-day option in a city that gets fewer of them than Taipei.

A small indoor park at about three dollars. Not a destination; a useful hour.

A proper outdoor track beside the theme park, with junior karts. Height minimums apply.

A flat rail-trail through a tunnel and over a river bridge, bikes hired at the end. Under five dollars for the day.

A gondola from the lake up over the ridge, with the boat pass on the same combo. Ten dollars and the best view of the water.

The lakeside path is flat, separated from traffic and about four dollars a day. One of the better cycle routes in Asia for a family.

A chocolate factory with a making session, in a building that is trying hard to be a castle. Seven dollars.

A hotel buffet at about nineteen dollars with a children's rate. The straightforward evening after a theme park.

Two attractions and two DIY workshops chosen from a list, on one ticket. Good value if you are staying more than a day.