Taiwan.

The 508m bamboo-shoot tower that was the world's tallest until 2010 — ride the ear-popping lift to the observatory and see the tuned mass damper that keeps it steady in typhoons. But the BEST view of it is free: the 20-minute stair climb up Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan) for the classic skyline-at-sunset shot.

Tip: Do Elephant Mountain for sunset (arrive early to grab the famous boulder viewpoint), stay for the city lighting up, then head down into Xinyi for dinner. The tower's own observatory is worth it on a crystal-clear day only.

Taipei's most atmospheric temple (1738) — incense smoke, chanting, and locals tossing divination blocks, right in the old Wanhua district. Combine with the restored Qing-era Bopiliao Historic Block next door, and the raw, old-Taipei Huaxi Street. This is the city's soul.

Tip: Go at dusk when the lanterns glow and the evening prayers start. Free. Dress respectfully; it's a working temple, not a museum. The surrounding Wanhua streets have some of the oldest, cheapest eats in town.

One of the greatest collections of Chinese art on Earth — the treasures the Nationalists shipped over in 1949, from the jade cabbage and the meat-shaped stone to millennia of ceramics, bronzes and calligraphy. Genuinely world-class and endlessly deep.

Tip: Go early or late to dodge the mainland tour groups that swamp the headline pieces mid-morning. It's out in the northern hills — bus from Shilin MRT. Give it half a day.

A whole thermal valley 30 minutes from downtown on the pretty Xinbeitou branch line — steaming Thermal Valley, the historic hot-spring museum, riverside public baths and private-room bathhouses. The easiest onsen-style soak in Asia, no trip to the mountains required.

Tip: Options run from the budget public gender-separated pools (bring a swimsuit for the mixed ones) to private rooms by the hour at the hotels. Millennium Hot Spring is the cheap public pick; the grand Japanese-era hotels are the splurge.

The vast white-and-blue memorial hall with its hourly changing-of-the-guard, framing the National Theater and Concert Hall across a giant plaza — the ceremonial heart of the city and a lesson in Taiwan's complicated 20th century. Pair with the nearby presidential district and Huashan Creative Park.

Tip: Time your visit for the changing of the guard (on the hour). Free. The plaza is a favourite of local dancers + skaters in the evening — a nice slice of everyday Taipei.

A cable car (some cabins with glass 'crystal' floors) that lifts you from the Taipei Zoo over forested hills to Maokong, the city's tea-growing shoulder — hillside teahouses where you brew your own pot of local tieguanyin with the city spread out below. A serene half-day escape.

Tip: Go late afternoon into evening for the sunset + the city lights from a teahouse terrace. Tap EasyCard for the gondola. Weekends are busy; a weekday is blissful.

The connoisseur's pick — a single dense, walkable strip by the beautiful Ciyou Temple in Songshan. Start at the temple end with the black-pepper pork bun (hújiāo bǐng) baked in a tandoor-style oven — the queue is worth it — then graze: pork ribs in medicinal broth, stinky tofu, taro balls, wheel cakes.

Tip: Enter from the Songshan Station (TRA/MRT) end by the temple. Less sprawling and less touristy than Shilin — this is the one locals send you to.

The famous giant — sprawling, chaotic, touristy, and still fun. The move is the underground food court for the classics: giant fried chicken cutlet (bigger than your face), oyster omelette, stinky tofu, and 'small sausage in large sausage' (a rice-sausage hot dog). More clothes-and-games stalls than the foodie markets, but iconic.

Tip: Come hungry, come early-evening before the crush. Hensen and Hot-Star are the fried-chicken names. Prices are a touch higher here than the local markets — it's the tourist one, but worth doing once.

A short, tight, old-Taipei food alley in Dadaocheng with almost no clutter — just legendary stalls, many decades old. This is where you eat rather than shop: taro-ball soup, oyster omelette, sesame-oil chicken, egg yolk taro, and the famous braised pork rice. A local institution.

Tip: Compact enough to do in one pass, so pace yourself. Great for the classic braised pork rice (lu rou fan) and old-school Taiwanese comfort food. Cash.

The Da'an locals' market — no tourists, no gimmicks, just excellent cheap food a few minutes from the Xinyi towers. Home of a Michelin Bib Gourmand stall or two. Come here to eat like a resident rather than a visitor.

Tip: Handy if you're staying in Da'an/Xinyi and want the real thing without the Shilin circus. Best on a normal weeknight.

The hillside former gold-mining town of red lanterns, tea houses and stepped alleys tumbling to the sea — endlessly atmospheric (and often, wrongly, credited as the inspiration for Spirited Away). Sip tea at the A-Mei Teahouse as the lanterns glow, and eat your way up Jiufen Old Street.

Tip: Go LATE afternoon and stay for dusk when the lanterns light and the day-trippers thin out — the middle of the day is a shoulder-to-shoulder crush. Pair with the nearby Jinguashi gold-mine museum + the Teapot Mountain hike.

On the old Pingxi branch railway, Shifen is where you scrawl a wish on a paper sky lantern and release it over the train tracks — plus the wide, thundering Shifen Waterfall nearby. Do-able year-round, but it becomes the mass Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival on the Lantern Festival night (Feb).

Tip: Take the scenic Pingxi branch line (transfer at Ruifang) rather than a car — the train IS the experience. Lanterns are released right on the live tracks between services; follow the crowd's timing.

A surreal cape of wind-and-sea-carved rock formations — the famous 'Queen's Head' among them — on the north coast near Keelich. Combine with the Keelung night market (superb seafood) and the Bitou Cape cliffs for a full north-coast day.

Tip: Yehliu is small and gets tour-bus busy — go early. The Queen's Head has a long photo queue; the wider rock platform is the real draw. Keelung's Miaokou Night Market is the seafood reward afterwards.

Taipei's volcanic backyard — steaming fumaroles at Xiaoyoukeng, the grassy Qixing Main Peak (the city's highest point), sulphur springs, calla-lily and hydrangea fields in spring, and silver-grass slopes in autumn. Proper mountains, 40 minutes from downtown.

Tip: Bus up from Jiantan or Beitou MRT. Check the weather — it's often cloudy/wet up top when the city is clear. Great half-day hike; combine with a Beitou hot-spring soak on the way back down.