Places

Raohe Night Market is one of Taipei's best-loved night markets, a 600-metre stretch of Raohe Street running through the Songshan District in the shadow of the 18th-century Songshan Ciyou Temple. It runs seven nights a week and packs hundreds of street-food stalls into a single lantern-lit lane, making it the easiest big night market to tackle in one evening and the one most locals rate for sheer concentration of good food. The market is famous for a handful of signature stalls. The Black Pepper Pork Bun (福州世祖胡椒餅) at the entrance has a queue most nights and is the dish most visitors remember - a clay-oven baked bun stuffed with peppery pork and scallions. Beyond it, the stalls roll out grilled squid, oyster omelettes, stinky tofu, mochi, and the musical mushroom stall that turns the corner into an impromptu stage. The Michelin Guide has highlighted several Raohe stalls in its Bib Gourmand selection. Raohe is a five-minute walk from Songshan MRT station (Songshan-Xindian line, exit 5), which is also a Taiwan Railway stop - making it the easiest night market in Taipei to reach from outside the city. Come hungry, bring cash, and walk the full length to the temple before doubling back; the stalls at the far end are quieter and often the best.

Taipei 101 is the shopping mall at the base of Taiwan's tallest building - a 508-metre tower in the heart of the Xinyi District. The mall spans six floors of luxury retail, from Chanel and Dior to the first Apple Store to open in Taiwan, with a basement food court anchored by Din Tai Fung that keeps the queues running from late morning to night. It is the most concentrated luxury shopping experience in Taipei, and the one place in Xinyi almost every visitor finds their way to. Beyond the boutiques, the building houses the Taipei 101 Observatory on the 89th floor, the highest cafe in Taipei - Simple Kaffa Sola on the 88th - and饗 A Joy, the city's highest buffet restaurant on the 86th floor. So a visit can easily combine a meal, a look at the city from above, and an afternoon of shopping without ever leaving the building. The tower itself was the tallest in the world from 2004 to 2010, and its tuned mass damper - one of the largest in the world - is open to view on the observatory tour. The mall sits at No. 45 Shifu Road, a two-minute walk from Taipei 101/World Trade Center MRT station on the Tamsui-Xinyi line. Most visitors come for half a day; come early on weekdays for the calmest shopping, and book Din Tai Fung and饗 A Joy well ahead, as both hold long queues through peak hours.

Ningxia Night Market is the night market Taipei locals rate highest for food - a compact 170-metre stretch in the Datong District with around 180 stalls, voted Taipei's best night market in a 2015 public poll. Unlike the bigger tourist markets, Ningxia is almost entirely about eating: two rows of stalls face each other across a narrow lane, and the focus is traditional Taiwanese street food rather than clothing or games. The market has earned more Michelin Bib Gourmand recommendations than any other night market in Taipei, with stalls serving stinky tofu, oyster omelettes, taro balls, mochi and the famous Liu Yu Zhi pork-ball soup. Many of the stalls have been running for two or three generations, and the market has been feeding the Datong neighbourhood since the Japanese colonial era. It is the closest night market to the historic Dadaocheng quarter, so it pairs well with a daytime walk through Dihua Street. Ningxia is a short walk from Zhongshan MRT station (Bannan and Tamsui-Xinyi lines) or from Shuanglian station, and sits just south of the Taipei Confucius Temple. Come early evening to grab a stool at one of the seated stalls before the after-work rush, and pace yourself - the market is small enough to eat your way through several dishes in one visit.