Taiwan in 7 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
Two cheap days in Taipei, then a west-coast HSR run to three more cities
Taiwan’s capital is Taipei, and its money is the New Taiwan Dollar (TWD, NT$), not the Chinese yuan. Most passports, including the US, UK, EU, Canada, and Australia, enter visa-free for up to 90 days, but every foreign visitor must also file the free TWAC arrival card online at the official twac.immigration.gov.tw within 7 days of arrival, a rule that only started on 1 October 2025. Load an EasyCard, book the High Speed Rail early, and this is a genuinely cheap week: night-market dinners run under NT$200, the US State Department rates Taiwan Level 1 for safety, and the only real weather risks are summer typhoons and the occasional earthquake, not crime.
This route spends two days in Taipei, then rides the HSR down the west coast to Taichung, Sun Moon Lake, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, finishing with a cheap beach day in Kenting. Want a shorter version first? The 3-day plan is Taipei plus one train day trip, and the 5-day plan adds Sun Moon Lake or Tainan without the full west-coast run.
Book these before you go:
- A Jiufen, Shifen, and Yehliu day tour from Taipei: check options on GetYourGuide , useful if you would rather skip the local train and bus transfers on day two.
- A Sun Moon Lake day tour from Taichung: compare options on Viator , a way to add the cable car and a boat ride without piecing together bus transfers yourself.
- A Kaohsiung city and Cijin Island tour: check options on GetYourGuide , a cheap add-on for day six if you would rather not sort the ferry crossing solo.
- A budget guesthouse near Taichung HSR Station: check rates on Booking.com , a cheaper base than a lakeside hotel for the Sun Moon Lake side trip.
Day 1: Longshan Temple, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, and Elephant Mountain
Buy an EasyCard at any MRT station on arrival, NT$100 for the card itself plus whatever balance you load, and use it for the metro, buses, and convenience-store purchases all week. Start at Longshan Temple in the Wanhua district, a working Buddhist and Taoist temple founded in 1738 and free to enter, then MRT over to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Liberty Square, also free and still one of Taipei’s biggest landmarks. In the evening, skip the paid Taipei 101 observation deck and hike Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan) instead for a free sunset view over the same skyline, then head to Shilin Night Market for a cheap dinner of stinky tofu and oyster omelets.
Rough spend: hostel bed (NT$600-900) + EasyCard load and MRT rides (NT$100-150) + night-market dinner (NT$150-250) = roughly NT$850-1,300 (about US$27-40).
Day 2: Jiufen and Shifen by train, Taipei’s cheapest big day out
Take the TRA local train from Taipei Main Station to Ruifang, then a short bus to Jiufen’s lantern-lit old street; the train fare is well under NT$100 each way and the EasyCard covers it. Skip the popular claim that Jiufen inspired Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, Miyazaki has denied it, and just enjoy the hillside alleys and teahouses on their own terms. A short bus onward reaches Shifen, where you can release a sky lantern (roughly NT$150-200 for a small one, split among a group) over the old railway tracks before the train back to Taipei.
Rough spend: train and bus (NT$150-250) + a shared sky lantern (NT$40-60 a person) + food (NT$150-250) + hostel bed (NT$600-900) = roughly NT$940-1,460 (about US$29-45).
Day 3: HSR to Taichung, Taiwan’s bubble-tea city
Book an early-bird HSR ticket at thsrc.com.tw for the Taipei-Taichung run, about 55 minutes and one of the cheapest legs of the whole trip; booking ahead on the early-bird fare tier shaves a real chunk off the walk-up price. Taichung is where bubble tea was invented in the 1980s, with Chun Shui Tang and Tainan’s Hanlin Tea Room both credited, so a proper milk tea here is less a novelty and more a pilgrimage. Spend the afternoon at a museum or art space of your choice, then eat cheap at Fengjia Night Market, one of Taiwan’s biggest and least touristy.
Rough spend: HSR early-bird fare (NT$500-700) + hostel bed (NT$500-800) + night-market dinner (NT$150-250) = roughly NT$1,150-1,750 (about US$36-55).
Day 4: Sun Moon Lake, a lake day without a lakeside hotel bill
From Taichung HSR Station, a connecting bus reaches Sun Moon Lake in roughly 1 hour 20 minutes, the fastest and cheapest realistic route; a direct bus from Taipei exists too but takes about 4 hours each way and eats the whole day. Ride the Ropeway cable car to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, take a boat ride across the lake, or rent a bike for the lakeside cycling path, then bus back to Taichung for the night rather than paying resort prices to sleep by the water. If typhoon season (roughly July-September) brings a wet forecast, the boat rides and cable car are the first things to lose to weather, so build in a spare afternoon if you can.
Rough spend: round-trip bus (NT$400-600) + Ropeway or boat ticket (NT$300-500) + hostel bed (NT$500-800) + food (NT$150-250) = roughly NT$1,350-2,150 (about US$42-67).
Day 5: HSR to Tainan, Taiwan’s oldest city and best street food
The HSR continues down the same line to Tainan, a short further hop from Taichung, and lands you in Taiwan’s former capital and, by most local accounts, its best food city. Visit the Confucius Temple, founded in 1665 and Taiwan’s first, then wander Chihkan Tower and the old Dutch and Qing-era streets before an evening of grazing: Tainan’s night-market and street-stall scene rivals Taipei’s at a noticeably lower price. This is also the honest point to note the alternative: readers drawn to the east coast instead of the west could swap Tainan and Kaohsiung for a TRA detour to Hualien and Taroko Gorge, but Taroko is still only partially reopened since the 2024 earthquake, with the visitor center and Tianxiang open and Swallow’s Grotto and the Shakadang Trail closed until around 2031, so check taroko.gov.tw before building a day around it.
Rough spend: HSR fare (NT$300-500) + hostel bed (NT$500-800) + street-food grazing (NT$200-300) = roughly NT$1,000-1,600 (about US$31-50).
Day 6: HSR to Kaohsiung, Pier-2, Lotus Pond, and Cijin Island
Kaohsiung is a short further HSR hop south of Tainan (arriving at Zuoying station, a quick local transfer from the city center). Spend the day at Pier-2 Art Center, a converted warehouse district of public art and galleries, walk Lotus Pond in Zuoying for its temple-and-pagoda skyline, then take the short ferry to Cijin Island for beach time and seafood before dinner at Liuhe Night Market.
Rough spend: HSR fare (NT$300-500) + hostel bed (NT$500-800) + ferry (NT$50-60) + food (NT$200-350) = roughly NT$1,050-1,710 (about US$33-53).
Day 7: Kenting beach day, then depart from Kaohsiung
The Kenting Express Bus runs from Kaohsiung’s Zuoying Station to Kenting in roughly 2 to 3 hours, making a beach day at Taiwan’s southern tip a realistic add-on before flying home from Kaohsiung International Airport (KHH) rather than backtracking to Taipei. Spend the morning on the beach or snorkeling, grab a last cheap seafood lunch, then bus back in time for an evening flight, or split the day into a half-day if your flight is earlier.
Rough spend: round-trip bus (NT$650-900) + beach-day food (NT$200-300) = roughly NT$850-1,200 (about US$27-38).
What 7 days in Taiwan actually cost
| Day | Focus | Region / Train | Rough Daily TWD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Longshan Temple, CKS Memorial (both free), Elephant Mountain, Shilin Night Market | Taipei | NT$850-1,300 |
| 2 | Jiufen and Shifen day trip by TRA train | Taipei (day trip) | NT$940-1,460 |
| 3 | HSR to Taichung, bubble tea and night market | Taichung (HSR ~55 min) | NT$1,150-1,750 |
| 4 | Sun Moon Lake boat ride and Ropeway | Nantou (bus from Taichung) | NT$1,350-2,150 |
| 5 | HSR to Tainan, Confucius Temple, street food | Tainan (HSR) | NT$1,000-1,600 |
| 6 | HSR to Kaohsiung, Pier-2, Lotus Pond, Cijin Island | Kaohsiung (HSR) | NT$1,050-1,710 |
| 7 | Kenting beach day, depart from KHH | Kenting (bus from Kaohsiung) | NT$850-1,200 |
That is roughly NT$7,190-11,170 (about US$225-350) for seven days of hostel beds, HSR and bus fares, food, and one lantern splurge, before flights. The early-bird HSR fares and the EasyCard, not any single meal, are what keep the west-coast leg of this trip cheap.
Do you need a visa or an arrival card for Taiwan?
Most passports, including the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, enter Taiwan visa-free for up to 90 days with no advance application. Since 1 October 2025, every foreign visitor also has to file the free TWAC digital arrival card at the official twac.immigration.gov.tw within 7 days of arrival; it is not a visa and not a paid service, so ignore any third-party site that charges a fee for it.
Does Taiwan use the Chinese yuan?
No. Taiwan has its own currency, the New Taiwan Dollar (TWD, NT$), its own central bank, and its own entry rules, entirely separate from mainland China’s. Taiwan is a self-governing democracy whose political status is disputed by mainland China, but that dispute changes nothing about how a visitor pays, books, or gets around on this route. Night markets and small vendors still lean on cash, so keep some NT$ on hand even though cards and mobile pay now work in most restaurants and hotels; tipping is not expected anywhere on this itinerary.
Is Taroko Gorge worth adding to a budget week like this?
Only if you are honest about what you will see. Taroko is still recovering from the April 2024 Hualien earthquake and is genuinely partially reopened, not fully open and not fully closed: the visitor center, Tianxiang, and several trails are accessible, while Swallow’s Grotto and the Shakadang Trail are shut until around 2031. Swapping it in means trading a fast, cheap HSR day for a slower TRA trip to Hualien, so this route sticks to the west coast and leaves Taroko as an option for a future trip, not a rushed add-on.
One concrete tip: buy the EasyCard the moment you land at Taoyuan Airport’s MRT counter, and book every HSR leg on the early-bird fare tier at thsrc.com.tw as soon as your dates are fixed, since same-day fares cost more and the early-bird tier is where the real savings on this route sit. Confirm the current TWAC arrival-card window at twac.immigration.gov.tw, general trip planning at eng.taiwan.net.tw, and Taiwan’s visa-free terms at boca.gov.tw before you book flights.