If you ask me what are the best things to do in Taipei, I'd say first is cycling. Taiwan in general is a very cyclist-friendly country. You'll see people of all ages who are cycling anywhere here. In fact, you can go around Taiwan by bicycle! They call it Taiwan Loop, an 1100 km ride around the whole island for at least 7 days. I haven't done it yet but it is on my list!
I love cycling, so every weekend I try to find time to go to places with great scenery, a good food, or sometimes to challenge myself to go for an extreme ride. Last weekend, I got invited by a friend of mine to go for a chill ride around Taipei City and look for the planes that were about to take off and land on the runway. We just rented a U-bike to go around. Yes! you can rent a bicycle almost anywhere in Taiwan and return it to any place where you can find another station.
The picture above is the Keelung Riverside cycling route. This is a very beautiful cycling route in Taipei and I think this could be a gem for tourists. Another fact, this route extends all the way around Taiwan. So if you continuously follow this path, maybe after 10 days you'll end up at the same place haha!
Here you will see cool bridges like in the picture below. And look at that, they even paved a cycling path on the bridge! That is Taiwan for you ha!
The bridge I am showing below is Dazhi Bridge located here.
On the other side of this bridge is a park where there are playgrounds, trees, a fountain, and a few snack bars. I really like to stop here and lie down under the tree to take a nap.
And when it is about time for the sunset, we head straight to the plane viewing street just right after the airport. You can see the amazing rays of sunset below during the golden hour. This is the exact point where you can witness the planes passing by over your head for landing. I watched 5 planes pass over me. I think the plane lands here every 10 minutes, or am I just lucky that I arrived at the right time? You may check the planes using Flightradar24!
Imagine you are here with your loved ones, isn't it romantic to watch? haha! I don't know, I don't have one lmao!
Look at that, I never imagined watching a landing plane up close overhead would be so scary! While recording this video I am actually crouched and in a ready position to run when the plane ever suddenly falls. lol!
And so, that's it! I hope you enjoy whatever I shared. You can ask me anything about cycling in Taipei or anywhere in Taiwan. If you plan to come here, let me know then let's find time to cycle around and drink when the day is about to end.
ciao!
