Taoyuan

Taoyuan City (桃園) is a special municipality in Northern Taiwan, adjacent to New Taipei in the north and Hsinchu County in the south. It is the home of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which serves Taipei.

Understand
Often considered an industrial region, Taoyuan City has more foreign laborers working there than any other region of Taiwan. Though it is the second most populated district in Taiwan, it is usually not a major destination for travelers except for those with an overnight stopover at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Taoyuan and Jhongli are the two largest cities in the district. Away from the crowded plains, in the mountainous area, there is still natural beauty and aboriginal culture to be seen.

Taoyuan district is primarily an industrial district and has few distinctive features. However, if you get stranded at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport overnight and don't want to pay for the airport hotel or travel the extra kilometers into Taipei, you might consider spending the night here. Despite lacking tourist sites, the district does have several large shopping malls, good coffee shops and, due to a large number of overseas workers employed at local factories, also has several cheap South Asian eateries.

Get in

 * Taoyuan is about a 25-minute taxi ride from the international airport and around 30 to 40 minutes from Taipei.
 * There's also a NT$60 bus that leaves from the bus terminal of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE). It is clearly marked with English and traditional Chinese characters.

By plane
Everyone arriving at (台灣桃園國際機場)  begins their journey in Taoyuan City. The Taoyuan Airport MRT rail is the fastest travel option to/from the airport. You can reach the Taipei railway station or Taoyuan high-speed railway station by that.

There are 2 local bus routes, one for Taoyuan and one for Jhongli. The buses depart once or twice an hour. They don't have a separate luggage space so it's quite a hassle if you are traveling with bulky luggage. The bus trip takes about 50 minutes, so travelers who are in a hurry or don't like local bus services are advised to take taxi instead.

By train
TRA (台鐵) has a few stations in Taoyuan District. Every local train and most (but not all) express train stops at the district's two largest train stations: Taoyuan and Jhongli. Train is a convenient method to visit Taoyuan City when coming from other parts of Taiwan.

Taoyuan City also has a High Speed Rail station. The station is remote from major settlements, but has free shuttle services to Taoyuan and Jhongli. Estimated travel time is 45 minutes to Taoyuan and 25 minutes to Jhongli.

By bus
Inter-city buses are available at Taoyuan and Jhongli. Some other cities can also be reached by express buses from Taipei. Traveling by bus in Taiwan is usually much cheaper than trains, but this may not be the case if you are coming from Taipei—they are too close to each other.

Get around
Like many other places in Taiwan, every city and town in Taoyuan can be reached by bus. However, English bus information almost doesn't exist. If you don't understand any Chinese, hiring a cab or renting a car may be your best bet.


 * The downtown area is small enough to cover on foot.
 * Taxi cabs are relatively cheap, starting at around NT$80 plus $5 per 0.3 km.
 * The district has its own bus system which is decent and covers the major parts of town, but no where near as convenient as Taipei's MRT/bus system.
 * The train station is in the downtown, and fares are more than affordable.
 * The new High Speed Railway (HSR) has a stop near the outskirts of town and can shuttle people from Taoyuan to Taipei in around 12 minutes for around NT$120. The HSR covers almost the entire length of Taiwan, but a trip spanning the entire length will cost around NT$2200.
 * Buses run to other districts as well. A bus trip to Taipei will cost NT$65.

Zhongli can be accessed by a number of options. A number of bus companies service the city and there is a train station as well. Travelers can also get to Zhongli via the high-speed rail (HSR). This train provides very fast, very convenient access to and from most larger cities from the north in Taipei along the west coast to the south in Kaohsiung. The Taoyuan station is positioned very close to Zhongli and is connected to the airport by a subway system.

To get to Longtan from Taipei Main Station, follow these steps: Go to the Taipei Main Bus station. Find a TV screen that shows departures. Look for one that either is directly to Longtan or passes through the community - this will be in both English and Chinese. The main operator will be King Bus. Go to the appropriate company's window and say "Longtan" - they'll understand. A one way fare should be NT$82 with King Bus. Ascend to the second floor waiting area and find your company's booth. Look for the "Long Tan" departure gate. Wait in line. The buses run frequently (every 15 minutes during peak periods), but are often quite late (sometimes 20 minutes late). Seating is first come, first served, usually with no assigned seats. The bus trip from Taipei to Longtan is almost exactly an hour. Once you pass the toll plaza (included in your ticket, the bus won't stop), it will be another 10 to 20 minutes. The bus will pull over in front of the company's ticketing office in Longtan along the main drag. Disembark. King Bus' stop is across the street from the main terminal. On King Bus there are approximately 3 stops prior to Longtan, but if unsure, your fellow bus riders can help.

Longtan is a small town. You'll be hoofing it unless you possess or rent a scooter. Everything you'll want to see is within a reasonable walking distance, so hailing a taxi is unnecessary.

See


Longtan's main attraction is the Tourist pond, a former irrigation pond that the city built a temple island in and surrounded with trees. It is quite a nice spot to people watch, grab a coffee or beer, and relax. Also worth seeing is the Crazy House near the bus depot. There are a 1001 stories about it and its history, but they all involve love won and lost, life blessed and lives destroyed. It was to be a decidedly eccentric mansion, but was stopped 90% through and abandoned. Entry is not permitted, but apparently it is structurally sound for the most part. Don't visit to see it, but see it if you visit. The day market. Nothing special, but the place to pick up food for a walking excursion. Best from 10:00-14:00.

Do
for two days trip: D1:Visiting Dashi Old street D1:The Culture Resort of The Jiang D1:stay at Lalashan B&B D2:Lalashan natural protection zone D2:back to Taoyuan district Biking trails. Surrounded by rice fields and forests, Longtan has made a strong push to develop a network of walking and cycling trails radiating out from the community. Rent a bike (or walk), meander alongside streams filled with fish and turtles, and look out across fields of terraced rice and taro. Especially nice just prior to the rice ripening. Longtan is a nice place to spend a Sunday escaping from Taipei. You won't need more than 5 hours for it though.



Buy

 * The town also has a large IKEA store.
 * Off of NanKan road is Taimall, one of the biggest malls in Taiwan.
 * shopping - the Taoyuan District has some good department stores.

Eat

 * Dried bean curd
 * Popcorn chicken is a local speciality sold from street corner stalls.

Drink

 * Tea shops. You can barely walk 100 m in Taoyuan without running into a tea shop. Ching xin, Coco and 85 degrees are some of the biggest brands. Ask for green tea (lu cha) or oolong tea. They'll ask how much sugar and ice you want, and shake up your tea like a martini before handing it to you in a sealed cup in a scooter-friendly bag. If you're feeling adventurous, you can add pudding (bu ding), pearls (zhen zhu) or yogurt (duo duo).

Go next

 * Yuankuang. Founded in 1917, it is the earliest Buddhist academy in Taiwan. Yuankuang is in the country-side near Taoyuan.
 * Yingge. Between Taipei and Taoyuan is the interesting pottery town of Yingge. 'Old Street' is lined with stores selling the works of local potters and is a pleasant place to pass a few hours.

桃園市