The gleaming modern downtown around Taipei 101 — department stores, malls, the city's best bars and clubs, and the trailhead up Elephant Mountain for the classic skyline view. Polished, upmarket and well-connected, with smart hotels; the easiest, if priciest, base for a first visit, putting the tower and the nightlife on your doorstep.
A look around
What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.
€120–260
typical per night in Taiwan
You pay for the postcode
One of the pricier addresses in Taipei.
Where it sits
The circle is Xinyi and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.
How far is everything?
From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.
- Xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung12 min taxi3.8 km
- Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall14 min taxi4.6 km
- Ximending18 min taxi6.1 km
- Dihua Street & Dadaocheng19 min taxi6.3 km
- Longshan Temple21 min taxi6.9 km
- Shilin Night Market22 min taxi7.3 km
- National Palace Museum23 min taxi7.6 km
- Beitou hot springs38 min taxi12.8 km
On your doorstep
What you’re living next to if you stay here.
- 1.Taipei 101 — The soaring, bamboo-shaped tower that defined the skyline — once the world's tallest, still dazzling, with one of the fastest lifts on earth whisking you to an observation deck and a giant golden damper that steadies it against typhoons. Go up for the view, or admire it from Elephant Mountain; the food hall and mall at its base are a destination in themselves.
- 7.Elephant Mountain — The short, steep hike everyone does for the postcard shot — twenty sweaty minutes up stone steps from the Xinyi metro to a series of viewpoints staring straight at Taipei 101 and the whole city. Magic at sunset and blue hour, when the tower lights up; bring water, go early or late to beat the heat and the crowds on the famous rock platforms.
- 12.Bubble tea — Taiwan gave the world bubble tea, and Taipei is its home — chewy tapioca pearls in sweet iced milk tea, now in a hundred variations from brown-sugar to fruit. Sip the original at a famous chain or a tiny local stand; it's cheap, ubiquitous and a genuine slice of the culture. Pair it with a night-market crawl for the full Taipei sugar rush.
- 15.Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall — A grand hall honouring the founding father of modern China, set in a park that offers one of the best free views of Taipei 101 framed above its sweeping roof. Come on the hour for the precision changing of the honour guard, and at dusk to watch locals dance and fly kites on the plaza with the tower glowing behind. A calm, photogenic corner of Xinyi.
When are you staying?
Booking.com & Airbnb open searched to Xinyi; flights via Google Flights.