From a small walled town in 1884, Taipei has mushroomed into an international high-tech business centre capped by one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, Taipei 101. While in Taipei, visit the Wufenpu garment wholesale area, night markets, museums, monuments, temples, outlying hot springs, white sand beaches, and several golf courses. Experience local life to the fullest and enjoy more space than a luxury hotel with your money-saving Taipei holiday rental apartment.

Enjoy easy access to the Taipei International Convention Centre (TICC) and Taipei World Trade Centre complex from your money-saving Taipei holiday rental apartment. Take the kids to the Taipei Zoo, conveniently next door to the Convention Centre. Check the Taipei 101 views from the 85th floor restaurants and indoor and outdoor observatories. Wander modern malls and big department stores. Take the whole family to Discovery Centre of Taipei, which details the city’s history and explores the future. Watch the hourly changing of the guard at the palatial National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, near City Hall and the Puppetry Art Centre of Taipei.

Wanhua is packed with temples, restaurants, and shops. The family will enjoy the unusual birdcages, macaws, toucans, cockatoos, and parrots on Bird Street. Admire the bronze dragons at Longshan Temple. Marvel at the variety of Chinese medicines in Herb Alley. Pray for less suffering at Dizang Wang Temple. In Datong, shop along Nanjing Road and at Dihua Street’s shop-houses. At Dadaocheng Wharf, rent bicycles and check for boat tours and Danshui River ferries heading north to Danshui and the white sand beaches of the golden coast.

From Zhu Wei Wharf, bicycle Danshui’s riverside parkway. Play carnival games and snack alongside locals on yu su (fish crisps), tieh dan (iron eggs), and yuwan tang (fish ball soup) en route to Teng-Feng Fish Ball Museum. Visit the old European colonial and missionary outpost at Fort San Domingo. The riverside bicycle trail passes the Mangrove (Hungshulin) Conservation Area, where egrets, snipes, and 30 crab species live. Learn swamp ecology at Hungshulin Station’s Mangrove Swamp Exhibition Centre. Park your bicycle at the foot of Guanyin Mountain and cross the Bridge of Time at Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology.

North of the Keelung River on Zhongshan Road, Shilin Night Market is Taipei’s oldest and largest. View priceless Imperial art and Chinese history at the National Palace Museum. The Shezi Island Bicycle Trail from the Keelung and Danshui River confluence leads past rice paddies and vegetable fields to the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines. Enjoy a mug at Taipei Brewery. Let the kids eat shaved mango ice and play at Hisashi Yasushi park while you do last-minute gift shopping on Yongkang Street.