Guest Contributor: Falling in Love with Taiwan Again and Again, by Emese Balla
My very first time in Taiwan was in 1996, when I lived in Taipei for a year and a half as a scholarship student studying Mandarin Chinese at NTNU. After leaving Taiwan in late 1997, I didn’t return for 27 years (!!!)—until finally visiting again for the first time in this century in October 2023.
Traveling across Taiwan and spending extended periods on the island has become a bit of an obsession of mine in recent years—and over multiple trips, I have now stayed all around the island, traveling with family, friends, and also solo. I was therefore very happy to oblige when my favorite ‘Fun Taiwan with Kids’ team asked me to write a blog post sharing my experiences and tips on this beloved topic of mine
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When I made the trip in 2023, it was originally meant to be a one-time, 10-day trip to visit old friends and walk down memory lane, ended up being extended by an additional week because I was having such a fantastic time—and it ultimately sparked a full-blown obsession with Taiwan. Now, four more trips later (ranging from four weeks to two months at a time), I’m already planning the next epic journey for October 2026 from our current hometown, Cologne in Germany.
At the request of Fun Taiwan Kids team, I’ll be sharing with you my travel tips, favorite spots and pocket list of must dos and must sees on the island. This is not meant to be a travel guide—there are fantastic trip-planning resources from long-time Taiwan travel experts that I also rely on every time, and I’ll link them at the end of this post. What follows are my personal experiences, shared from the perspective of a middle-aged female traveler with both U.S. and European background.
The ‘evolution’ of my recent Taiwan journeys:
🇹🇼 October 2023 – 2 weeks based in Taipei and Taichung to visit friends and rediscover Taipei
🇯🇵🇹🇼 October–November 2024 – a “combo trip” with Tokyo and Osaka first, followed by three weeks in Taiwan with a Taipei home base
🇯🇵🇹🇼 March 2025 – a four-week combo trip with beautiful Okinawa: flying to Taipei first, then five days around Okinawa, back to Taiwan next and finally “bravely” venturing far outside of Taipei 🙂 with a Kaohsiung home base, finishing with three nights in Tamsui
🇹🇼🇰🇷🇹🇼 September–October 2025 – two full months in Taiwan: the first few weeks in Kaohsiung, a direct flight to Seoul, South Korea for six days, then back to Taiwan for a two-week road trip around the entire island, and finally another three weeks in Taipei
🩵 Why I keep coming back to Taiwan
If you’ve made it this far, you may be asking yourself: OK, this is a lot of time spent in Taiwan—why would someone without family ties keep coming back to the same place, all the way from Europe, when there are so many destinations in the world?
My answer is simple: for a small island, Taiwan offers an extraordinary amount of variety! Dramatic coastal scenery, high mountains, bustling modern cities, smaller traditional towns, stunning temples, hot springs, beaches, and so much more. The food alone is reason enough to return. During our most recent two-month stay, I made a point of eating something different every single day—and still didn’t get through my ever-growing list. Taiwan truly is heaven for foodies.
Beyond food, there are endless fun, easy-to-organize, and convenient activities for adults and kids alike: hiking trails ranging from very easy to extremely challenging, fruit picking at beautiful tropical farms, swimming with turtles, scuba diving, and more. I’ll share about these experiences in future posts. 🙂
Add to that the exceptionally high level of hospitality, convenience, safety, and the ease of getting around via public transportation, and Taiwan becomes an incredibly easy choice for repeat visits. Lastly, it is still affordable and makes an excellent home base for nearby trips to places like South Korea (with several direct flights daily), Japan, and beyond. Fun fact: Naha, Okinawa is only about a one-hour flight from Taipei!)
This post is just the beginning. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing more of my Taiwan stories, along with practical tips, favorite places, and little details I’ve picked up from spending extended time on the island over many years. These posts are not meant to tell you how to travel, but to inspire you to explore Taiwan in a way that feels right for you and your family. I hope you’ll follow along as new posts go live weekly, and that my experiences spark ideas and excitement for your own next trip to Taiwan.
– Emese Balla, guest contributor
