Disclaimer: This blog post is not sponsored. I’m just writing from experience. 🙂
Hello!
The weather in the Philippines lately reminded me that I had a long overdue blog post that I wanted to write. It’s been raining everyday, and we’re in between storms, and this was the weather that I experienced during my trip to Taipei. Sad, I know, since we planned the trip on a supposedly good-weather month.
It’s okay though. One thing I learned from this is to appreciate arranged tours more. Since I’m more of a DIY traveler, I usually get to places on my own. However, for this trip, I decided to book a tour instead. I’m very thankful that I did so I’m sharing my experience here.
KKDay tour? I’m telling you to just book it.
You are probably here because you’re looking for a Taipei itinerary. Maybe you are already considering the KKDay tour for this but still looking if it’s worth it or not. Maybe you are a DIY traveller you can commute there and do a tour on your own, but just in case, you still want to check details. Here’s my verdict: YES. JUST BOOK IT.
I first considered this after my sister told me about it. She took a solo tour in Taipei and have gone through different online packages that time. This is the one she bought because it has the stops she wanted to visit. Though my sister has a similar travel style to me (DIYs), she opts to pay premium sometimes for convenience. And this was the reason she booked this.
Ultimately, I followed her advice. I did look into the commuting route for North Taiwan. It’s doable. A little complicated, but doable. However, my problem is, I don’t know Chinese. This never stopped me in Korea though, even if I didn’t know Korean. But I stayed in train routes there so it was still easy. So, against my belief of DIYs, I did book this tour with my friend. Convenience was the main reason.
It’s a good thing we did. During our trip, there was a typhoon in the Philippines, naturally, surrounding countries are also affected. So Taiwan had light-heavy rains and strong winds as well. A lot of the schedules in our DIY itinerary were cancelled or moved. We were trying to do so much on days when the sun was out. This tour ONLY pushed through for me because it was on a bus.
While doing this blog, I checked the prices. We booked on a peak season (November – Autumn), I think, so the price was a bit higher (Php 1,190/ 23.16 USD per head). I checked just now it’s Php 920/ 17.90 USD per head. I read somewhere before that November was the right month to go because of the good weather (but I was unlucky). If you’re going around June -September, you might experience the same weather that I did.
Important Info:
・Meeting Time: 8:45am
・Meeting Point: South Gate 1, Taipei Main Station
・Duration: 9 hrs
・Returning Time: 5:30pm – 6:30pm
・Returning Point: Taipei Main Station
・Vehicle Type: dependent on the number of travelers
・Same pricing for adults and children.
・Wear comfortable shoes for hiking.
・Actual itinerary is dependent on the on-site traffic condition.
・In the event that the trip lands on a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday, the Shifen Waterfall visit will be canceled and time spent at other attractions will be extended.
1st Stop: Yehliu Geopark
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: The entrance fee for Yehliu Geopark is not included in the KKDay tour. You have to buy your own ticket. I bought mine on Klook. BTW, the line for the ticket buying is a bit long. I suggest to buy this online. We were able to enter the park first vs our tour-mates who bought on-site, and we had more time to explore.
Here are some photos taken. I wore thermal clothes because it was really cold.
2nd Stop: Shifen Waterfall
The tour guide has the freedom to suggest the order of the tour. Our guide suggested we go to Shifen Waterfall first so we’d have more time to eat and sample food at Shifen Old Street. We were okay with this, of course. There’s a bit of trekking involved, so wear sneakers/rubber shoes. It’s a bit slippery when it rains, so please be extra careful as well.
In the bus, our guide mentioned that there’s a good lemon-jelly drink sold at a concessionaire near the waterfall. Try it. It’s awesome. 😀
3rd Stop: Shifen Old Street
During the bus ride, the tour guide recommended to try a Chicken BBQ stuffed wings at Shifen Old Street for lunch. He took orders of those who were interested in the bus so we can just claim it at the store when we arrive at the area. It was good, you can try if you like. My friends ordered a 2nd one. One was enough for me since I wanted to try other food in the area.
Anyway, Shifen Old Street.. This is popular for it’s lantern tradition where you can write your wishes on big paper lanterns and send them off to the skies. I did try this for experience, but might not do it anymore at in any location/festival since it’s better for the environment. Note that the lantern costs 150 NTD and it’s not part of the tour package.
4th Stop: Jiufen Old Street
Shifen Old Street is popular for being the inspiration for Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. Who doesn’t know Kaonashi? :p
Anyway, I found out tour batches handle visits here a little different as well. In my sister’s tour, the easier route was not taught by the guide. All of them had to take the stairs going up. But my tour had senior citizens in it so they mentioned that we can take any bus going up and alight at the 7-11 entrance. Our route would be from above back to the parking area below. The people who took the stairs would need to go up, tour the area, and go down to the parking lot again.
(Source: chantc.blogspot.com)
I basically ate a lot during the Jiufen stop. It was the longest stop but I wanted more time. Maybe because of the bad weather, I didn’t get to experience much. I don’t have a photo with the tea house from Spirited Away. haha. Anyway, what I like about the tour is that they will give you a food map. You can basically look for the suggested places and food which helps a lot in deciding where to go and what to eat. What’s notable for me is that the mochi here is cheap.
Final Thoughts
I think the itinerary KKDay prepared was condensed and complete. I would have enjoyed more with sunny weather. I didn’t take much photos because it was dark and gloomy. Rest assured, even with the gloomy weather, I can still feel the vibrance of the places I visited. I wish there was more time in Jiufen. Even if it was the longest time. I got lost enjoying my food trip around the street but I haven’t eaten everything I wanted to eat. All in all, this arranged tour was great and convenient!
P.S.
Post-trip, I found this interesting blog by thetravelintern about must-dos and must-eats. I’ve done a few of them. Check out her post! 🙂 https://thetravelintern.com/taipei-day-trip-to-jiufen-shifen/
Also, this blog by misstamchiak because of the photos and stories behind Jiufen. Check it out! https://www.misstamchiak.com/jiu-fen-old-street/
Dreams and Doodles 