Getting around Taipei: the EasyCard, the MRT, and the trains out

Short answer: Taipei is one of the easiest cities in Asia to get around. Get an EasyCard, tap it onto the MRT, buses, the bike-share and convenience stores alike, and you're set. The MRT is world-class — clean, fast, and signed in English — and the Airport MRT brings you in from the airport for about the price of a coffee. For the rest of Taiwan, the high-speed rail links the west coast. The one thing to remember is the no-eating rule, below.

Step one: get an EasyCard

The EasyCard (悠遊卡) is Taiwan's tap-for-everything card — the MRT, city buses, the YouBike bikes, some local trains, and convenience stores.

• Where: any convenience store (7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, OK Mart — one on every corner) or the machines and counters in any MRT station. Both airports sell them in arrivals.
• Cost: about NT$100 (~US$3) for the card itself, then load whatever you like on top. Top up with cash at any station machine or convenience store. (iPass is an interchangeable alternative — either works.)
• Why bother: it saves fishing for change, works on almost everything, and cuts about 20% off every MRT fare versus a single-journey token.

Tap in, tap out, the fare sorts itself. A typical MRT ride is NT$20–65 (~US$0.65–2) by distance.

The MRT is the backbone

The Taipei Metro (MRT) is the easy way around the city: clean, frequent, and every line, station and exit is signed and announced in English as well as Chinese. Lines are both colour-named and lettered — so "take the Red line" or "R10" is all you need — and your phone's map does the rest once you've tapped in.

Taipei Main Station is the giant interchange where the MRT, Airport MRT, high-speed rail and regular trains all meet. It's easy to get briefly lost in, so follow the coloured line signs.

The one rule: no eating or drinking on the MRT

This is the Taipei catch to plan for. Eating and drinking are banned inside the paid area of the MRT — and that includes water, sweets and chewing gum. It's not a token rule: fines run NT$1,500–7,500 (~US$47–235), and locals observe it to the letter. Finish your drink before you tap in, and stow the snacks until you're back out. (Stations have plenty of spots outside the gates.)

From the airport: the Airport MRT

From Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), the Airport MRT runs straight to Taipei Main Station, and you pick one of two on the same line:

• Express (直達車) — fewer stops, about 38 minutes for NT$150 (~US$4.70). The one to take with luggage.
• Commuter (普通車) — the all-stop service, about 50 minutes for the same NT$150 (~US$4.70).

Either way, just tap your EasyCard in and out, or buy a single ticket. (Taipei's other airport, Songshan (TSA), is smaller and sits right on the MRT Brown line in the city.)

Taxis, and YouBike for the short hops

Taxis are cheap and everywhere — metered yellow cabs, flag-fall around NT$85 (~US$2.70). Hail one on the street, or book through Uber, LINE Taxi, Yoxi or Taiwan Taxi (all with English apps); cash always works, and most take cards in-app.

For short hops the locals use YouBike (微笑單車) — the city's bike-share, docked on seemingly every block and unlocked with your EasyCard. The first 30 minutes cost about NT$5–10 (~US$0.30), which makes the riverside cycle paths almost free.

Beyond Taipei: the high-speed rail and the trains east

To reach the rest of Taiwan, two railways:

• THSR (the high-speed rail, 高鐵) — the west-coast bullet train. Taipei to Taichung is about 50 minutes, Kaohsiung (Zuoying) about 1 hour 45 — from roughly NT$1,490 (~US$47) one way to the south. Fast and comfortable; book on the THSR app or site, where foreign cards generally work.
• TRA (the regular trains, 台鐵) — the older line, and the way to the east coast the high-speed rail doesn't reach: Hualien for Taroko Gorge, and the Yilan coast. Book on the TRA app or site.

For the budget route, intercity coaches run from Taipei Bus Station beside Taipei Main — slower than the rail, a fraction of the price.

A few etiquette notes

• Leave the priority seats (博愛座) empty — the dark-blue seats are for elderly, pregnant and disabled riders, and locals keep them free even on a packed train.
• Queue for the MRT — stand either side of the door markings and let people off first; Taipei queues, and jumping it is noticed.
• Stand on the right on escalators so people can walk up the left.

Don't fight the map — let the plan draw it

Working out which line, which exit, which train out is exactly the tab-switching we take off your hands. We do about 80% of that research for you, in roughly a minute: tell us your dates and we'll build your Taipei days on the real MRT lines, each kept to one area so you're not criss-crossing the city. A solid first cut you can run with.