I’ve spent over six years living in Taiwan and have called this island nation home during most of my time in Asia, but I haven’t traveled to that many places here. However, I have visited all the big cities, all the counties in the north, and most of the counties in Taiwan. Here’s a photo tour of Taiwan, featuring the cities and counties I have visited.

The capital Taipei is in the north, surrounded by New Taipei City, which formerly used to be Taipei County and is still more of a collection of large towns and villages than an actual city. On the north coast is the port city of Keelung, which as a “provincial city,” means it is its own administrative entity.
Taipei and its most famous landmark, Taipei 101

Sanxia, one of New Taipei City’s many districts

Harborfront, Keelung

Taiwan’s other big cities include Taichung, in the central, and Kaohsiung, in the south. Tainan is Taiwan’s oldest city (and perhaps most interesting), and is also in the south. All three of these cities, like Taipei, are located along the west coast.

Rainforest conservatory, National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung

Tainan

Love River, Kaohsiung

The central and eastern parts of Taiwan are very mountainous, with small slivers of the east coast flatland which feature towns. Nantou is Taiwan’s heart, located smack in the center of the island, and is the only landlocked county. It features Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan’s largest lake and a favorite for local and mainland Chinese visitors.

Sun Moon Lake, Nantou

Yilan County is the most northernmost of Taiwan’s three eastern counties, and features decent beaches, a fantastic county museum, and even whale-watching. Hualien also has a beautiful coastline but is more famous for Taroko National Park, whose 19-km-long canyon allows for great hiking, while Taitung is Taiwan’s most unspoilt and scenic county. Unfortunately I haven’t been to the latter two yet.

Caoling trail, Yilan

Outside of New Taipei City are Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli counties. The former is where the country’s main airport is located and gets almost no love from travelers or travel writers, Hsinchu is known more for its science and technology park than for travel, while Miaoli is heavily agricultural and rural. Both Hsinchu and Miaoli are mountainous and feature decent scenery.

Jiaobanshan, Taoyuan

Hsinchu

Miaoli

Last, but not least, among all the places I’ve visited, Chiayi County, located in the region between Taichung and Tainan, is also famous for its Alishan mountain park. However, I went to Chiayi to visit the new Southern branch of the National Palace. Near Chiayi are Changhua and Yunlin counties, the former which boasts one of Taiwan’s most historic towns Lugang, while the latter is known more for its peanut and coffee crops. I haven’t been to these last two counties.

Pingtung County occupies the southern tip of Taiwan and its Kenting National Park is very popular. While Taiwan is an island, it also has several small islets and archipelagoes that belong to it. These include Kinmen, Matsu, and Penghu/Pescadores, all individual counties, as well as Green and Orchid Islands, both tiny islands off of the southeastern coast that are part of Taitung County. I also haven’t been to any of these. Yes, I know, I’m a bad Taiwan traveler!

Southern branch of the National Palace Museum, Chiayi