Pre-schoolers' Guide to Travel in Taipei

Considering my last itinerary post to Taiwan has been visited about 1000 times by other readers, I decided I create a more updated and more of an off the beaten track type itinerary for people traveling to Taiwan with young kids. 

Hi, 

This is Hannah and Nathan. Nathan is almost 4.5 years old and Hannah is 2.5 years old. We are going to share with you all the fun things that kids like us like to do in Taipei. I believe mom will also write a post about other day trips that we've made, but we got Taipei covered. 

One of our favorite and cheap things to do is to explore the gardens at the Cheng-Kai Shek Memorial. There are little containers of fish food that you can buy for 10NT  and then you just throw them in to the water to feed all of the giant hungry koi fish.

 And if you explore the park some more, there are cool things that you find like a Rudolph on a see-saw.

 And the view! Just beautiful. We visited at the end of cherry blossom season, so there are just a few pretty flowers left on the trees.

After feeding the fish, a close walk away is a cafe with an amazing playground! It's called Mr. Big Tree's house. There's a playscape, along with an area with wooden kitchen sets where kids can play, and on top of it all, there is someone to watch us, so we don't have mom asking us if we needed to use the potty every 5 minutes. 

 There's kids' stuff going on all the time in Taipei. We stumbled across this Poli event and spent a morning playing in the pop-up amusement park.

Taipei Museum of Art
The thing we liked about the museum of art was that you were able to touch all the kids' exhibits, which were all in a separate (free area) in the basement.

 There was a sound installation where we got to make different types of music by touching different things (a personal favorite for Hannah).

 Special exhibits and we were even encouraged to sit on the indoor swing!

 And then there was a craft room where we got to make our own version of one of the pieces of art that we saw inside.

 Washi tape window mosaics.

Da-an Park

Da-an park is a mega park, like how central park is for NYC. We could easily spend an entire morning or afternoon there, as there were lots of things to climb, 

 A giant sand pit,

 And an actual playground structure with slides and tunnels (which mom didn't get a picture of). It is right next to the MRT station, so super convenient to get to. I'm not sure about restroom facilities, but we just had everyone use the potty at the MRT station before and after we visited the park.

Taipei Zoo
Riding the MRT to the zoo was an adventure in itself. Be sure to get the front car so that you can get a great view of the tracks.

I love the Taipei Zoo. The exhibits are mostly cage free and the animals all have pretty close to natural habitats to hang out in.

 Somehow we got stuck in the monkey cage.

No cages! For the larger animals, you can see them from various vantage points since their habitat space is so large.

There is also a panda house, home to 2 panda cubs.

 Danshui
At the northern most stop of the MRT red line is a fishing port called Danshui. The ride is a bit long (45 minutes) but we always find ways to entertain ourselves.

 Food on a stick is very common here, which is great because we love food on a stick! Just don't feel like you need to buy  food from the first stands that you see. I found that as you walked deeper into the shopping area, the same foods cost less.

 There are lots of things to see, like boats, and yummy food stalls, but there were also lots of arcade games that are only for little kids. It's just for us, adults are not allowed to play.

And you even win a prize! 

Strawberry Picking at BaiShaHu
Even though everything says that places open at 9:30, most of the strawberries orchards were closed by 11 because all the strawberries had been picked. So, if you want to get a good pick without having to walk too far, listen to mommy, get dressed quickly, go potty, so you can arrive early.

 We eventually found one place that was open and got a pretty good supply of strawberries.

 At a price...who knew pick your own strawberries would be so costly. 4 pints of strawberries cost us about 600NT ($20) Oh well, they were very yummy.

Taipei Science and Technology Museum Basement

The regular exhibits are pretty cool for kids to explore, but when we were buying our tickets, the ladies at the counter told us about the basement area for toddlers. We planned on spending about an hour there and then would go upstairs to explore the exhibits...We ended up spending 3.5 hours playing. The toddler's area is open in sessions (like many of the play areas in Taiwan). For 100 NT, I think it was a good deal for an indoor play session. So for a rainy day, visit the basement of the Taipei Science and Technology Museum.

Evergreen Maritime Museum

This place was interesting for both the adults and kids. Each floor had something different, from models of boats starting from early canoes, to the modern warships that are used today. No photos were allowed in there, but we managed to take a few in the more public areas where they were allowed. 

There were also interactive video games where you could steer a sail boat.

And a small blocks area where we spent a good 30 minutes at.

I'd say you could easily spend about 2-3 hours at this place. There's just so much to see.

R.O.C. Armed Forces Museum

This is pretty close to Ximending and we rushed through everything in 45 minutes. I'd say allow yourself about twice that amount if you are interested in military and gun stuff. We saw about 3/4 of the exhibits. This place was free.

Night Markets 

Strollers at a night market will be tough to maneuver, especially in Taipei. However, if you go to night markets in kaoshiung, they are much wider and spaced out. Then, you can bring a stroller. 

There's just so much to see, smell and taste at the night market. Pretty much sensory overload. Mommy and Daddy let us pick out whatever looked yummy to us (regardless of its nutritional value). Just beware if you have peanut allergies like me, because it seems like almost everything can be contaminated or had peanuts as an ingredient. (Even the grilled corn) 

We loved the fishing activity. Mommy didn't let us take the fish home, though.

Stinky tofu is actually not too bad.

 Themed Restaurants
We went to the Modern toilet restaurant one day for lunch. It was so cool!  The food was nothing to write home about, but it wasn't bad. We got to sit on decorated potties and the real potty in the bathroom had water that sprays your butt! It was a silly day.

 For dessert, you get chocolate ice cream.

Fruits 

Taiwan has the most amazing assortment of fruits year round. When you go, just stop by one of the fruit stands and pick up something that looks good. I, Hannah really loved dragon fruit. 

 I love this fruit. It's like eating ice cream.

I, Hannah also discovered that I like sushi. We were walking along the street and I told mommy that "I want to try that!" 

Here's a brief note from mommy:
With nap schedules and transit times, this should be a good list of things for families with young children. There are more places like baby boss and taipei 101, but there are several blogs that write about those. These are just a few of the more off-the-beaten track things to do. Feel free to message below with questions about transportation or any of that sort. I hope this was helpful.

Taking little ones on international travel is not the most convenient thing to do, but you really provide them with such a rich experience. The food, culture, everything...is simply irreplaceable.