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Currently US citizens (and probably citizens from other countries) do not need a visa if they plan to stay for 14 days or less. They can get a visa on arrival at a window just before the immigration section at CKS Airport. However, this visa is non-extendable. I planned to stay for three weeks and at first the official at the window told me I was limited to 14 days, but she gave me a month when I produced my return ticket. Upshot: you can get a visa for a least a month at the airport if you can show a return ticket. The visa is free, believe it or not - you just have to provide one passport photo.
William Page, Thailand (May 00)

Although I told customs that I was staying for three weeks, they still stamped my passport for 14 days. I went to the Foreign Affairs Police mentioned on p128 of the guide. Although the address is 96 Yenping 5 Rd and an entrance exists there, you cannot walk all the way along Yenping Rd there. The map says it goes straight through to Jung Shiau Rd, but it doesn’t. It actually stops at the police department. From Yenping, you won’t see any English language sign on that side - only Chinese and some flying red banners. But if you walk south along Chung Hua Rd you'll see a modern (and relatively attractive) 12-storey building on your left. Outside it states in English that it is the ‘Taipei Municipal Police Headquarters Service Centre’. This is where you go to fix visa and passport problems. Step inside, take a number and wait your turn. Everyone seems to speak good English, but desk 10 takes care of visa overstays.
By the way, the mailing address for the Taipei Municipal Police Department is:
PO Box 39-561
Taipei, Taiwan
Republic of China
Tel: 331 9218; fax: 375 7855
It's open Monday to Friday from 8.30 am to noon and 1.30 to 5 pm; Saturday, 8.30 am to noon.
Those wanting to stay in Taiwan longer than 14 days should get a visa abroad.
James Hitselberger, USA (Jun 99)

Visas: rules and waiting times vary from office to office. Tokyo will insist you have an air ticket leaving Taiwan before they give you a visa. Kuala Lumpur does not. But Tokyo waiting time is one day, KL, three.
Ian Lamont, USA (Jun 99)

As mentioned by others, you can get a landing visa for 30 days now that costs NT$1500, is not extendable, not open to every nationality and can only be issued at CKS International Airport (at Kaohsiung International Airport they will only give you a 'temporary entry permit' that will have to be transferred into a visa at the Bureau of Consular Affairs).
Katrin Ottersbach, Scotland (Jan 99)
 
 

Airport tourist service: there is a booth at the airport that dispenses information about how to get into town, hotels etc. The staff are very helpful and the girl I talked to spoke excellent English. They have a list of hotels with their prices and it's not just the big five-star hotels either. The girl telephoned a hotel for me, made a reservation and I was all set. She also gave me a free map of Taipei which proved invaluable.
William Page, Thailand (May 00)
 

A tip for women travelling in Taiwan: bring tampons. They can be very difficult to find in some of the smaller cities, and I even had difficulty finding any in some large cities.
Jenny Lundberg, Taiwan (Nov 99)

In taxis the mandatory tip to be paid over the metered amount is now NT$20.
Lucinda Cawley, UK (Aug 99)

There is a free Internet kiosk across from Taipei Main Station, on the third floor of the Nova building. Because it is free there is usually a queue. There is also a fifteen minute time limit per person.
Angela Ngan (Aug 99)

Baggage storage at Taipei’s Changkaishek International Airport closes at 8 pm. After that, there are only coin lockers (which weren’t big enough for my luggage). But for NT$210 it’s possible to leave baggage at the airport, call the next day and have it delivered. This baggage delivery service closes at 9 pm. There’s also an exchanger open 24 hours. Shuttle buses run to the train station in Taipei - 28km away - every 20 minutes, until 1 am.

There is no longer free Internet access on the computers in the train station. Instead, go to ‘TT Station’ across the street in the basement (by the Hilton). With an NT$50 purchase of coffee, you can use the Internet computers for one hour. It is crowded in the afternoons and evenings, but not too bad at 11 am.
James Hitselberger, USA (Jun 99)

It is possible to hike all the way from Songshan Nature Reserve to Shenkeng in Taipei County, where you can try the local tofu and get a bus back to town.
There is a bus from Ilan City up to the Datuling on the Central Cross Island Highway. It leaves at 7 am and takes four hours. From there you get another bus in other directions, or hike up to Hehuanshan and spend the night at the hostel. From there the next morning, it’s a beautiful six hour hike south to the next public bus stop.
After public outcry, the fences, docks and other structures built by hotels to partition the beach and keep out the public in Kenting National Park have been ordered destroyed. Hotels will fight it though.
Ian Lamont, USA (Jun 99)

Locally based Forward Press has recently released an extremely useful book in English entitled A Hiking Guide to Taiwan. The first half of the book details hikes which can be done rather close to Taipei city - great for all of us who have gazed longingly at the nearby mountains through the gaps between skyscrapers - and the second half takes adventurers to the eastern and southern parts of Taiwan. I’ve ‘trail-tested’ a few of the hikes and I’ve found the maps and the descriptions of the paths to be very accurate. A few photos in the middle also help to make it an enjoyable work. I got a copy of this book at an Eslite bookstore, and I’ve been told it’s available at Caves and Grandma Nitty's as well. Highly recommanded.
Brian Kleinsmith, Taiwan (Apr 99)
 
 

The Taipei Metro is up and running and a spiffy little number it is. Very convenient! But bringing food or drink into the cars is punishable by a 1500NT fine. A one-day pass is 150NT - you show it to the guy at the gate and he opens the gate for you. The Chinese term for 'Metro station', if you have to ask directions to one, is 'jye yun jan' ('jie yun zhan' if you like pinyin).
William Page, Thailand (May 00)
We found the MRT excellent. The maps at all the stations were particularly useful. At the Taipei train station, if you follow the signs for exit 9, you'll come out almost at the airport bus terminal. Initially the exit 9 sign only has 'Shingkong Mitsukoshi' written on it, but as you get nearer to the exit (it's quite a long walk), the airport bus terminal also appears.
Kathleen Berg, Australia (Feb 00)

At Taichung, the airport bus has been re-numbered to the (not inappropriate) 747. Alternatively, the green bus 105 and red bus 6 pass the airport on route 1. At CKS airport, there is now a free shuttle bus to the air museum, with departures hourly from 9.30 am until 3.30 pm.
Chris Taylor, UK (Jan 00)

Exciting news for those travellers to Taipei: the third MRT line interlinking the two old lines started running on 24 December 1999. This line runs along Chung Hsiao Rd, in front of the train station, and is very important for the MRT network and the public transport.
Based on the map in the LP guide on p171, the full Tamsui and Hsintein lines are in operation. There is also a branch line from Kuting (H4) up to Nanshih Chiao, with four stations in between. The Panchiao line and the Nankang line are currently running between Lung Shan Temple (P3) and Taipei City Hall (N7); the other stations are under construction. A branch line interlinking Hsimen (P2, correct name) and CKS Memorial Hall (H3) is also under construction. There are also unfixed plans to extend the Mucha Line from Chung Shan Middle School towards the Sung Shan Airport direction.
One important thing to note, most city buses and the MRT network have their last departure between 10.30 and 11 pm. It is difficult to expect when the bus will arrive at an intermediate stop where you want to get on. So be prepared to take a taxi or get home early.
For all major Taiwan cities, all bus routes have their stops printed on the sign board of all bus stops, the current bus stop is also marked. If you can read Chinese, it is very useful.
Antony Wong, Hong Kong (Jan 00)

Green Island: the island may be a mere 17km around the perimeter, but during the summer heat, walking is definitely not a realistic means of transportation. Renting a scooter, on the other hand, is the perfect way to get around: the light traffic on the island doesn't present much of a threat, everything is accessible by road and nothing beats feeling the cool breeze on your face. The scooters have automatic transmission (hardly more difficult than riding a bicycle) and fleets of them are available for rent around Nanliao. We rented a nice scooter for 500NT/day.
Tracy Chu & Robert Yu, USA (Sep 99)

There is no bus between Alishan and Shuili any more.
Lucinda Cawley, UK (Aug 99)

At the train station in Taipei we bought a round-the-island-trip ticket. It is valid for seven days and you can use seven trains. It’s a lot cheaper than buying those tickets separately. Going around the island in seven days is not really an option because you’d miss too much, but this ticket is definitely a good start.
Wouter van Amerongen, The Netherlands (Jul 99)

The best map I found in English is the ‘Taipei Street Map’ costing NT$80 and published by Da Yu Publish Co. It is available in most book stores carrying English titles. It’s relatively expensive but gives a good perspective of the city and its outlying areas. I use it in conjunction with ‘The Bus Guide to Taipei’, which costs NT$100. It has 13 fairly detailed maps on pp 7-22 and with the individual bus route maps, these and the ‘Da Yu’ map, a visitor can figure out how to get around a little better by bus. The bus guide also lists places of interest in Taipei on p4 and which bus lines to take.

New address for Eva Air:
First floor, 117 Chang An East Rd
Section 2, Taipei 104, Taiwan
The telephone numbers remain the same.
James Hitselberger, USA (Jun 99)

For years, before taking a taxi in Taitung, you’ve had to bargain with the driver. But now, to improve the development of tourism in Taitung, the local government has made a law about taxi fares. The new fares took effect on 15 May 1999. Before you get in the taxi, make sure the meter is set; because the law is relatively new, a few taxi drivers don’t do this yet. The first kilometre should cost NT$80; every 230 metres after that, NT$5.
Chuang Pei Rung, Taiwan (May 99)

The 'car revolution' that is mentioned in the Taiwan guidebook is gradually killing all rural bus lines and for the east coast and mountain areas I would seriously consider renting a car. Driving in these areas seems to be no problem - none of the frantic idiocy of the large cities.

There seems to no longer be a bus between Tahsi and Sanhsia. Also, the bus from Taoyuan to Tahsi does not leave from either of the indicated bus stations in Taoyuan. People pointed us in the opposite direction from those two bus stations, but we couldn't find it.

There seems to no longer be a bus between Suao and Hualien (the scenic coastal route). The link has been erased from the signs in the Suao bus station and everyone kept referring us to the railway station.

If you want to cross the mountains using the Southern Cross Island Highway, be aware that the two bus companies involved do not have any contact with each other, and that they do not know in advance whether the other bus will come all the way to the top (Tienchih). We wanted to go to Tainan from Taitung and were left stranded at the top. Luckily there were many Taiwanese (car) tourists including some rare ones that spoke English. They organised a lift for us 'to the next village', but as there was no bus there either, we ended up with a lift all the way to Tainan, and were not allowed to express our thanks other than by saying than you. We found out that the connecting bus should be there by 1 pm. If it isn't, it won't come and you should start making other arrangements.

In Touliu, the bus to Chushan (for Hsitou Forest) now leaves from *behind* the railway station. There is a tunnel underneath the station. At the end of it, keep right and stay parallel to the railway line for a short distance. There seem to be no buses that go straight to Hsitou.

In Shuili, buses to Sun Moon Lake leave from neither of the indicated bus stations. Instead, they leave a few houses down from the bus station where the buses from Chushan arrive (continue in the same direction, it's on your right hand side).

There are no buses around Sun Moon Lake any longer. Taxis do a tour for a fixed price, indicated on a sign.
Hans van der Veen, The Thorn Tree (Jan 99)

They still hadn't repaired the train from Chiayi to Alishan in December 1998 and there are no direct buses to Alishan from Kaohsiung or Taichung (at least not during the week). Instead you will have to take the bus from Chiayi for NT$156.
Buses from Taichung to Hualien no longer depart from Gancheng bus terminal as stated in the guide, but instead leave from the station of the Feng-Yuan bus company opposite the railway station at 7 am and 8 am. It's NT$519 to Hualien and NT$427 to Tienhsiang. The local buses in Taipei seem to change every year, so it's worth asking at the tourist information centre in the main railway station (where they speak good English) about how to get to the National Palace Museum.
Katrin Ottersbach, Scotland (Jan 99)
 
 

Here in Chaiyi, some of my colleagues from abroad have lived in Taiwan for ten years or longer. Their impression is that over the past decade Taiwan has become more dangerous for non-natives. Taiwan used to have a reputation as being a safe place to live and work where random anti-foreigner violence was almost unheard of. I wonder if Taiwan is becomign more like the Philippines or Korea, where any guy with white or black skin has to be on his guard if he is out late.
Dylan Collins, Taiwan (Jul 00)
 
 

One of Taipei’s best kept secrets is located in the Botanical Gardens: the National Museum of History. It houses a collection of Bronze Age artifacts and is small enough to take in during one visit.
Thomas Fergo, Taiwan (Oct 99)
The Wufeng Temple houses a jade mural that is breathtakingly gorgeous, stretching for approximately 100m around the walls. It must be worth a fortune, but there it is in front of you with no apparent security, the most exquisite handiwork you could ever imagine. I have been in some of the world's best museums and art galleries but I’ve never seen anything like this magnificent mural.
Tim Reynolds, Australia (Oct 99)

Kenting National Park, in the South of Taiwan, is a place for nature lovers. Amazing and strange plants, on the edge of the ocean, with fish to feed, beautiful sunsets and a leisurely atmosphere.
Pixy Chen (May 99)

In Chiayi we found some beautiful, well-manicured hiking trails about ten minutes from town. Following Mintzu Rd east into Da-Ya Rd, the reservoir (Lan-Tan) offers a well-organized system of trails that leads into the foothills of the mountains. You can enter them by driving up Da-Ya for about six minutes or so, look for the intersection with Wenya Rd, then keep your eyes peeled for a red gate on your right after the light. It's a temple, so you can just park your vehicle and follow the families to the trails which begin from the back of the exercise field. It's a nice place to wander where you can't get too lost, but is challenging and seems very far from the city just outside - a nice place we thought you should know about.
Mary Ann & Spencer Hall, Taiwan (Oct 98)

For travellers staying in Taipei who wish for a taste of more traditional Taiwan without spending hours driving or riding down-island, Tanshui retains many small town qualities. As such, the town is a centre for frequent weekend worship festivals, particularly in the summer, when streets may be suddenly blocked off and people swarm around a particular temple. The temple's chief idol is loaded on a litter, and parades of worshippers join the procession through the streets playing traditional instruments, wearing elaborate god or immortal costumes, and setting off firecrackers. You might even come across a public pig roast as part of one of the festivals, but they are something to watch for if you are spending a Saturday of Sunday in Tanshui. Listen for wailing traditional instruments and immoderate amounts of firecracker explosions, and watch for crowded side streets. There are at least five temples along the main roads and down the side streets and alleys between the river front and the part of Chengshan Rd that parallels Chungcheng Rd. Walk up the hill from the river front, exploring as many side streets as you can for possible temple activity. The parades typically occur around noon to the early afternoon.
Travellers can now visit Tanshui with relative ease due to the arrival of the long-awaited rapid transit system.
Gene Browning, USA (Oct 98)

A great day trip from Chiayi is to a wonderful waterfall located in the mountains about an hour outside the city. To get there, follow Highway 3 to highway marker 334 (about 55km). Upon reaching this marker, look for the clearing at the side of the highway which acts as a parking lot. Walk down the steep driveway where a lovely Taiwanese man lives and sells cold drinks out of his house. The walk to the waterfall is just behind his house. Just follow the cleared path to the falls. The walk is about 1 km and is very scenic. There's a hanging bridge that crosses the water providing a terrific photo opportunity. When you reach the waterfall, you can swim in the pool there, but if you feel adventurous climb the ladder that is bolted to the rock wall to the left of the falls and swim in the secluded pools that go on for about a kilometer. It is unlikely that you will come across anyone else and it is a wonderful change of pace from the city.

One small town not mentioned in the guide, but a highlight of my trip, was Jofen. It was fabulous! Jofen is nestled in a small valley between two mountains. It borders an old copper mine and has a great ocean view. There is a lovely winding road that one can walk or drive through and around the town. The old copper mine is a great photo opportunity and the town is pretty and quiet. There is a caf? on the road leading into the town that serves great coffee (hot and cold). I didn't see any hotels in Jofen, but it is close enough to Keelung that you could do a day trip there (buses are frequent).
Suzanne Zyla, Taiwan (Aug 98)