Visas and the best time to visit
Taiwan is refreshingly easy to enter: citizens of Poland and other EU countries can stay visa-free for up to 90 days, no paperwork required beyond a valid passport. The climate is subtropical, which means hot, humid summers and mild winters. Typhoon season runs roughly from July to September, so the sweet spot for most travellers is October to April, when skies are clearer and temperatures pleasant. The south of the island stays noticeably warmer than Taipei in winter, so if you visit in January, Kaohsiung and Kenting can still feel like late spring.
Money: the New Taiwan Dollar
The currency is the New Taiwan Dollar, written NT$ or TWD. As a rough mental shortcut, 1 euro is about 35 NT$, so a 100 NT$ bowl of noodles costs under 3 euros. Cash is still king at night markets and small eateries, while cards and mobile payments work fine in chains, hotels and convenience stores. ATMs are everywhere, including inside every 7-Eleven.
EasyCard: one card for everything
Buy an EasyCard at the airport or any metro station the moment you arrive. This contactless card covers the Taipei and Kaohsiung metro, city buses, most local trains, YouBike rental bikes and even payments at 7-Eleven and FamilyMart. You top it up with cash and simply tap your way around the island. It is one of the world's great transport cards and removes almost all friction from daily travel.
Trains: HSR speed and TRA scenery
Two rail systems share the island and complement each other perfectly:
- HSR, the high-speed rail, races down the western corridor at up to 300 km/h. Taipei to Zuoying, the station for Kaohsiung, takes roughly 1.5 to 2 hours. Book early online: early bird tickets are discounted by 10, 20 or even 35 percent, and the T-Express app lets you store tickets on your phone.
- TRA, the conventional railway, is the way to see the spectacular east coast. Puyuma and Taroko express trains sell out fast, so reserve seats as soon as booking opens, especially for weekends.
Within cities, YouBike shared bicycles are cheap and fun, and Uber and regular taxis are inexpensive by European standards. From Taoyuan International Airport, the MRT line gets you to Taipei Main Station in about 35 to 40 minutes.
Local quirks you will grow to love
Some things in Taiwan surprise every first-time visitor. Garbage trucks play classical music, most famously Beethoven's Fur Elise, and when the melody approaches, residents come out and hand their bags directly to the truck; it is oddly charming to watch. Convenience stores function as life hubs where you can eat a hot meal, print documents, pay bills and collect parcels. Tap water is fine for cooking but locals drink it boiled or bottled, so do the same. The power grid runs on 110 V with flat type A plugs, so European travellers need an adapter.
Etiquette, apps and safety
Taiwanese politeness is real and contagious. People queue neatly for buses and metro doors, keep their voices down in carriages and reliably give up priority seats. One rule matters most: no eating or drinking inside the MRT system, and that includes water; fines are actually issued. Google Maps works superbly for public transport routing, and T-Express handles HSR tickets. Taiwan consistently ranks among the safest countries in Asia, with violent crime extremely rare and lost wallets famously handed in to police. Earthquakes are part of everyday life on the island; buildings are engineered for them, locals barely pause their coffee, and the sensible response to a small tremor is simply to stay calm. With a loaded EasyCard, a rail app and an umbrella in your bag, Taiwan may be the easiest destination in Asia to travel independently.