A Trip to Taiwan: Exploring Asia’s Underrated Travel Gem
This trip report covers my visit to Taiwan, one of Asia’s most underrated travel destinations.
A trip to Taiwan
As the autumn weather in Europe grew increasingly colder in November, I longed to take a trip to a sunny destination far away.
With enough frequent flyer miles in my Air France/KLM Flying Blue account for some exciting flight redemptions on a SkyTeam airline, I began searching for award flights to exotic destinations, preferably in Asia.
Having travelled to Asia many times before, I was quite open-minded about which country to visit this time, whether it would be a new destination or a return to an old favourite.
As I had not visited Taiwan before, I initially thought about flying via Taipei to another country in Asia, planning a short two-day stopover in the Taiwanese capital.
However, the more I read about Taiwan, the more intriguing it sounded to make this island state the main travel destination of my trip to Asia.
I discovered so many beautiful and fascinating places to visit in Taiwan that I could easily spend a full month travelling around the island.
As Taiwan is less popular than well-known Asian travel destinations like Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, or Indonesia, it offers the added benefit of being free from the plague of overtourism.
After some dilly-dallying, I finally decided that I was going to visit Taiwan and started searching for flights.
Flying to Taiwan
As I planned to use my frequent flyer miles, it was relatively straightforward to find suitable flights to get to Taiwan.
Unlike most other travellers, I rarely book the most convenient flight available, as I prefer to spend my frequent flyer miles on a new airline I’ve never tried before or on the best quality airline product available, even if that means a one- or two-stop itinerary.
My first choice was to fly with China Airlines in business class, as I had heard good things about it and enjoyed my experience flying with China Airlines in economy class some years back.
Unfortunately, China Airlines is quite stingy when it comes to releasing business class award space to airline partners, and I couldn’t find any available flights around the dates I needed with Flying Blue.
Award space was also elusive with Korean Air and Vietnam Airlines, and I didn’t want to spend my miles on KLM since I had flown with them many times before and was never a great fan of the airline.
This more or less left Air France as the only option, and although I have flown with them many times before, at least it’s an airline I actually enjoy flying with.
Unlike KLM, Air France doesn’t fly to Taipei, but that wasn’t a big issue for me since I could always fly to another city in Asia first, enjoy a stopover, and then book a separate flight to travel to Taiwan.
On my preferred travel date, I found Air France business class flights from Bucharest to Singapore via Paris available for 70,000 Flying Blue miles and €219.88 in taxes, which I quickly booked.
The long-haul flight from Paris to Singapore would be operated by an Air France Boeing 777, which I actually hadn’t flown in business class before, so this meant an opportunity to try out and review a new product.
From Singapore to Taiwan
One added benefit of flying to Singapore first was that I could revisit this fantastic city, which I hadn’t seen in a while since my last visit.
Of course, the downside of flying first to Singapore was that there are still quite a few miles to cover to get from there to Taiwan, as the two aren’t exactly close, with an almost five-hour flight between them.
Fortunately, I still had a stash of orphaned miles in my Aegean Airlines Miles+Bonus account that I could use for another fun flight redemption, this time on a Star Alliance carrier.
Again, I didn’t opt for a direct flight on Singapore Airlines or EVA Air, which would have been the most logical choice, but instead booked a one-stop itinerary via Hong Kong that combined both airlines.
This way, I could fly in Singapore Airlines business class on the Airbus A350 between Singapore and Hong Kong and try out EVA Air in business class on their Airbus A330 between Hong Kong and Taipei.
This business class award booking cost me 32,500 miles from my Aegean Miles+Bonus account, plus €81.84 in taxes.
Flying back home
With my flights to Taiwan sorted, I still needed to plan my journey home.
For my return journey, I decided not to use frequent flyer miles and opted to pay for a cash ticket instead, as I still needed to earn some miles to ensure I would retain my Star Alliance Gold status through Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles for another two years.
I therefore started searching for an economy class flight to Europe that would strike the best balance between price and the amount of miles it would earn me.
This ended up being an Air China economy class ticket from Taipei to London Gatwick via Shanghai, which cost me €493.39 but offered a decent mileage accrual of 50% of the distance flown.
As I had never flown with Air China before, it also gave me the opportunity to review a new airline.
Spoiler alert: As my Air China flight from Taipei to Shanghai ended up being cancelled, I was rebooked on China Eastern Airlines on that leg, so in the end, I even got to review two different Chinese airlines!
That left me with one last flight to book: A simple one-way economy class ticket with British Airways from London Heathrow to Bucharest, which cost only £64.68.
This is what my entire itinerary — with seven flights in total — looks like on the map:
My travel itinerary in Taiwan
I had a total of seven days to travel around Taiwan.
A week is certainly enough to give a good first impression of Taiwan, but not enough to see everything or explore some parts of the country in depth, so I had to choose what I wanted to visit and what would be better left for future trips.
As I would fly into the Taiwanese capital of Taipei and then fly out from the city at the end of my trip, I allocated the first two days and the final day of my itinerary to it.
From Taipei, I would then take the high-speed train to the southern city of Kaohsiung, where I planned to spend a full day.
One activity I really wanted to do while in Taiwan was to take the narrow-gauge Alishan Forest Railway into the deeply forested mountains of the island’s interior and spend some time hiking there.
When I travelled to Taiwan, the Alishan Forest Railway was only operational up to Fenqihu due to typhoon damage on part of the line, so this is where I went for a long day trip out of Kaohsiung.
I also planned to spend a full day around Sun Moon Lake, which I knew very little about but looked absolutely stunning in the pictures I had seen.
With six out of seven days already allocated, there was little time left to visit any sights or natural parks on Taiwan’s mountainous east coast.
Therefore, I decided to use this day to leisurely travel by train from Kaohsiung to Taipei along the island’s scenic Eastern Trunk Line, which would at least provide me with some glimpses of the scenery along the east coast.
Getting around Taiwan
On my trip to Taiwan, I relied exclusively on the public transport network, mainly travelling by train to get around the island.
Rail travel in Taiwan is affordable and comfortable, as well as fast and reliable, and I will detail everything you need to know about the country’s railway network, the different types of trains, and how to book your tickets in a separate article.
To reach Sun Moon Lake, I also needed to use some buses, and I rented a bike to cycle around the lake.
Again, all such transport details will be outlined in the relevant individual chapters of this trip report.
Highlights
In this ‘Trip to Taiwan: Exploring Asia’s Underrated Travel Gem’ trip report, you can look forward to the following highlights:
– Visiting the vibrant Taiwanese capital of Taipei with its bustling night markets.
– Checking out the sunny southern city of Kaohsiung.
– A trip on the Alishan Forest Railway to the town of Fenqihu, nestled in the deep forests of Taiwan’s mountainous interior.
– Cycling around the shores of picturesque Sun Moon Lake with its many temples.
– A full day exploring the sights of Singapore and eating delicious hawker food.
– Reviews of business class flights on Air France, Singapore Airlines, and EVA Air, along with economy class flights on China Eastern and Air China.
– An in-depth look at Taiwan’s railway system, featuring reviews of high-speed and regular trains.
Trip report index
This ‘Trip to Taiwan: Exploring Asia’s Underrated Travel Gem’ trip report consists of the following chapters:
1. Review: Air France Intra-Europe Business Class Bucharest to Paris
2. Review: Air France Business Class Boeing 777 Paris CDG to Singapore
3. One Day in Singapore
** rest of the chapters to follow soon **
