What Are the Top 3 Cities in Taiwan?

Taipei is the capital and the gateway most international flights land at. Kaohsiung is the big southern port city, the island's second metropolis and the natural base for the south. Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan, its capital for more than two centuries until the late nineteenth century, and the place nearly every food writer on the island points to first. Those three names, Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan, are what the question usually means, and the honest answer is that the order depends entirely on what you travel for.

This site is, unapologetically, a Tainan site, written by an editorial desk that researches official sources rather than a blogger recounting a trip. So the ranking below is sourced reporting: what the Tainan City Government Tourism Bureau's pages state, what the Central Weather Administration's climate normals show, what transport operators publish. Where a number is not on an official page, it does not appear here at all.

What Are the Top 3 Cities in Taiwan?

The top three cities in Taiwan for a first visit are Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan. Taipei is the capital and the main international gateway. Kaohsiung is the southern metropolis and port. Tainan is the island's oldest city, its former capital for more than two centuries, and the one travelers most consistently name for food, temples and history. Taichung has its advocates, but these three cover the island north, center-south and south.

Notice what that list actually is: a transport chain. Taipei sits at the north end of the High Speed Rail line, Kaohsiung (the HSR station is at Zuoying) at the south end, and Tainan between them, closer to Kaohsiung than to Taipei. Taiwan High Speed Rail's own fare table lists Taipei to Tainan at NT$1,350 for a reserved standard seat, and Zuoying, which serves Kaohsiung, to Tainan at just NT$140. The whole three-city spine is a day of easy rail travel, which is why the "top three" question is really a route-planning question.

A useful comparison, built only from what official sources state:

Why Does Tainan Belong on Any Top-Three List?

Tainan belongs on the list because it is the oldest city in Taiwan and was its capital for more than two centuries, until the late nineteenth century. The Dutch East India Company established Fort Zeelandia at Anping in 1624, completed in 1634, and the city's temples, forts and food traditions predate everything else on the island. For history and food, no other Taiwanese city competes on depth.

The Tainan City Government Tourism Bureau's own page for Anping Old Fort records the spine: the Dutch occupied what is now Anping in 1624 and finished Fort Zeelandia in 1634; Koxinga took the fort in 1662 and renamed the place Anping. Fort Provintia, at what is now Chihkan Tower, went up in the early 1650s. Most of what a visitor photographs at Anping Old Fort today is Japanese-era reconstruction and 1975 city renovation work, the Bureau's page notes, with only the brick walls of the south outer rampart surviving from the Dutch period. That honesty matters: the site is genuinely old, and the city says so plainly.

The food reputation is not a marketing line either. Tainan is the city travelers describe as Taiwan's food capital, the place where beef soup is a breakfast, danzai noodles and coffin bread originated, and the night markets rotate by day of week. The visitor numbers also upend the usual assumption: the Tourism Administration's 2023 dataset shows Tainan's peak months are January and February, driven by temple pilgrimage and Lunar New Year, not summer. Nankunshen Daitian Temple drew 6,583,100 visitors in 2023 against Chihkan Tower's 443,622, which tells you the city's real center of gravity is its temples, not its forts.

If Tainan is the city that most rewards slowing down, the experiences that fit it are the calm ones: a tea ceremony, a museum that explains the island's whole history, a walking food tour through the old streets. The three options above are the ones this site points at most often for exactly that.

Why Is Taipei Almost Always Number One?

Taipei is almost always ranked first because it is the capital and the island's main international gateway, so most visitors arrive there whether they planned to or not. It holds the national museums, the largest metro network in Taiwan, and the northern day-trip options, which together make it the default first stop. For a first trip to Taiwan, it is the practical entry point.

The practical case is hard to argue with. Most long-haul flights land at Taoyuan, which connects to Taipei and also to the HSR line south. Taipei to Tainan on the High Speed Rail is NT$1,350 reserved standard, and the fare table's grid hides a trap worth knowing: the upper-right triangle of that grid is Business Car pricing, and a careless read returns NT$2,230 for Taipei to Tainan, overstating the standard fare by 65 percent. Read the legend before quoting any HSR price.

What Taipei does not have is age. It grew into the island's administrative center in the late nineteenth century, precisely when Tainan lost that role, and its attractions are largely modern or curated: museums, memorials, night markets, the hot-spring towns reachable by metro and branch rail. If your list of interests is "museums and transit convenience," Taipei wins. If it is "temples and street food at the source," it does not.

What Makes Kaohsiung the Third Name on the List?

Kaohsiung earns its place as Taiwan's second city and the natural southern base: it has the main southern port, a metro system, and the HSR connection at Zuoying, from which Tainan is only NT$140 away. It pairs a modern harbor city with easy access to the south coast, and it is the logical place to sleep if you are splitting time between the two southern cities.

Kaohsiung's strength is scale and infrastructure. It is the island's biggest southern metropolis, with the container port, a subway, and the HSR terminus at Zuoying. Its weakness, for history-focused travelers, is the mirror of Taipei's: it is a modern city, and its old districts are smaller and quieter than Tainan's. Many visitors solve this by sleeping in Kaohsiung, where hotel stock is larger, and riding the HSR north to Tainan for the day, since the fare each way is NT$140 standard class.

The pairing question comes up constantly, and this site has a dedicated answer on Tainan versus Kaohsiung that goes deeper. The short version: Kaohsiung for the harbor, the metro and the southern day trips; Tainan for everything that happened before the twentieth century and everything you eat after dark.

How Many Days Should Each City Get?

A sensible first split is three to four days in Taipei, two in Kaohsiung and two to three in Tainan. Taipei rewards the extra day because its day trips, including the north coast and hot-spring towns, each eat a full day. Tainan rewards two to three because its night markets rotate by day of week, so the day you give it determines what you see. Kaohsiung works as a two-day base or even a stopover.

The night-market rotation is the detail that decides Tainan itineraries, and it is verified market by market from the Tourism Bureau's own pages:

Friday is the only night on which all three big outdoor markets run; Wednesday is the thinnest, with Wusheng alone. Siaobei is indoors and open daily, which makes it the wrong-night and wet-weather answer. The city updates these pages, so check before you go.

Timing the whole trip matters as much as the split. The Central Weather Administration's 1991 to 2020 normals for Tainan show that nearly three-quarters of the annual 1,761 mm of rain falls between May and September, with August alone bringing 466 mm across about 16 wet days, while October to March is dry and warm. October averages fewer wet days than any other month, 2.8, while still averaging 30.8C maxima. That is why the visitor data peaks in January and February: winter is Taiwan's comfortable half.

Should You Visit All Three on One Trip?

Yes, and the High Speed Rail makes it straightforward: Taipei at one end, Kaohsiung at the other, Tainan in between, with the standard reserved fare from Taipei to Tainan at NT$1,350 and Zuoying to Tainan at NT$140. Ten days covers all three comfortably; seven is possible if you drop one. Most travelers who drop a city drop Kaohsiung, and most who regret it do so because they underestimated Tainan.

One structural fact changes every Tainan leg of that route: the HSR station is not in Tainan. It sits at Shalun in Guiren District, outside the old city, and reaching the center means a transfer, either the TRA Shalun Line, which is a paid railway ticket, or the H31 shuttle bus. That shuttle is free for HSR passengers on production of a ticket stub, with no card tap needed; other passengers pay NT$18 for one section or NT$36 for two, and the section break falls at the Chimei Museum, which puts the museum on the shuttle route. The city's buses are also free for the first 8 km with an electronic card, provided you tap on and tap off, and the scheme runs for the 2026 calendar year, so treat it as current policy rather than a permanent one.

For readers planning the Tainan share of the trip, the deeper planning pages are here: how to split your time in Tainan, what to do with a single day in the city, and whether Tainan is worth visiting at all (spoiler: this site's answer is yes, with receipts).

The tea ceremony is the one this site names as its related pick for a reason: Tainan's old-city rhythm is slow, and a 90-minute oolong ceremony is the most efficient way to feel it without burning half a day. It pairs well with a morning at the Confucius Temple, which the city lists with free entry, and an evening at whichever night market your chosen day allows.

Common Questions About Taiwan's Top Three Cities

What Are The Top 3 Cities In Taiwan?

Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan. Taipei is the capital and gateway, Kaohsiung the southern port metropolis, and Tainan the oldest city and the island's food capital. Taichung is the other name that comes up, but for a first visit these three cover the island's north and south with easy High Speed Rail links between them.

Which Of The Three Cities Is Best For Food?

Tainan. It is the city most consistently described as Taiwan's food capital, the birthplace of danzai noodles and coffin bread, and the place where beef soup is a breakfast dish. Its night markets rotate by day of week, so plan which nights you are there.

Which City Is Best For History And Temples?

Tainan again. It was Taiwan's capital for more than two centuries, until the late nineteenth century, and holds Fort Zeelandia's site at Anping Old Fort, Chihkan Tower on the Dutch Fort Provintia site, the Confucius Temple and dozens of working temples, several with free entry.

How Do You Travel Between The Three Cities?

The High Speed Rail links all three. Taiwan High Speed Rail's fare table lists Taipei to Tainan at NT$1,350 for a reserved standard seat and Zuoying, serving Kaohsiung, to Tainan at NT$140. Tainan's HSR station is at Shalun in Guiren District, outside the old city, so budget a transfer at the Tainan end.

When Is The Best Time To Visit These Cities?

October to March. The Central Weather Administration's normals for Tainan show the rain concentrated from May to September, with August the wettest month, while October averages fewer wet days than any other month and winter is dry and warm. Visitor numbers peak in January and February around Lunar New Year.

Can You See All Three Cities In One Week?

Yes, tightly. A seven-day trip could give Taipei three days, Tainan two and Kaohsiung two, riding the HSR between them. Ten days is more comfortable and lets you add day trips, such as the north coast from Taipei or the Qigu lagoon coast from Tainan.

The honest closing note is that the ranking is the least interesting part. Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan are three different answers to the same question, and the High Speed Rail thread that joins them costs less than most travelers expect. Pick the city whose answer matches yours, give it the most days, and let the other two fill the gaps around it. If the answer is food and four hundred years of it, the choice is Tainan, and Tainan Travel Guide exists to plan exactly that.