Free Taipei Walking Tour | TourMeAway

Liesl
Apr 9, 2019
4 min read

Updated: Mar 20, 2020

Free Taipei Walking Tour with TourMeAway | Travel Taiwan | A Style Alike

We were invited recently by the friendly folk over at TourMeAway to join in on one of their free English walking tours of Taipei. Now, I know what you might be thinking; "Why would you guys join a walking tour of Taipei if you've already lived here for more than 10 years!?." You're right, we could probably have been the tour guides ourselves, but we were quite curious about what a walking tour in Taipei would be like; we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out for ourselves before recommending it to friends, family, (or even one of you!) visiting Taiwan.

We decided to join the "Old Town Taipei Tour", which is one of their popular historical tours. They also offer a "Longshan Temple Tour", a laid-back "Taipei Chill Out" tour, the "Hunger Game" night market food tour, and one of their most popular tours, a boozy evening "Pub Crawl". You also have the option to arrange a customizable "Private Tour" , or join a full day tour called, "Zen Tour Plus", where you visit Pingxi, waterfalls, and go on a hike in the mountains. Another tour in Taipei worth checking out is "The Vintage Tour", which will take you to one of the coolest traditional areas in Taipei, Daodaocheng.

For more details on each tour, please visit their website.

Meeting the TourMeAway guides at NTU Hospital MRT station exit 4

How to spot the TourMeAway guides: They'll be wearing name tags around their necks, and/or these bright orange backpacks.

It was super easy to arrange our tour (they are very responsive through email and messaging), and we met up with the guides and the rest of the group on a Saturday afternoon right outside exit 4 of NTU Hosptial MRT station. There were almost twenty of us taking the tour, and we were joined by travelers from all over the world, including Germany, USA, England and Israel. It was easy to spot the guides (they wear name tags around their necks, and backpacks with the company's name), and immediately the vibe felt relaxed and comfortable. (Even though we were surrounded by a group of strangers.) A walking tour really is a great way to meet other travelers while exploring Taiwan!

The "Old Town Taipei Tour" starts off with a stroll through the beautiful and historical 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei's Zhongzheng District. Our guides did such a fantastic job with sharing important historical and political facts, but still keeping the mood light-hearted and the group entertained. Taiwan has such a rich and fascinating history, and even though I've called Taiwan my home for such a long time, I still learned a lot.

228 Peace Memorial Park

After taking photos and making our way through the park, we headed to The Presidential Office nearby. All along the way the guides will point out important landmarks and share interesting facts, which means there's never a dull moment in the tour. Even though we didn't enter the office of the president, I learned that it's actually quite a simple process to do so. On weekdays you can tour the building between 9:00 and 11:30, just bring your passport along.

The Presidential Office

We continued our tour to the Inner City Market, which was a new spot for me. In this bustling market you'll find locals selling clothing, shoes, jewelry, snacks and much more. We made our way through the busy stalls, got some local drinks, and ended up at one of Taipei's oldest ice cream shops, Snow King 雪王冰淇淋, where they have over 70 flavors of ice cream (including some not-so-common ones like Pork Floss, Taiwan Beer and Chicken...). Kinda crazy, but they also have the classics like mango, strawberry, coconut and many many more!

Inner City Market

Local drinks at the Inner City Market

Choosing from more than 70 flavors of ice cream at Snow King 雪王冰淇淋

From there we headed towards The Red House, which is the last stop on this tour, past Zhongshan Hall, and got to learn all about Taipei's historical city gates. The Red House is an iconic building (and also one of the spots on our list of 14 Popular Instagram Spots in Taipei) in Ximending, which is such a great area to visit when you're in Taipei. It's perfect that this tour ends there, because then you have plenty of time to explore the bustling neighborhood, buy some souvenirs, and try some good local food.

14 Popular Instagram Spots in Taipei | Taiwan | A Style Alike

Zhongshan Hall

Ximending

The Red House

Meet Violet, one of the awesome TourMeAway guides.

At the end of the tour you can tip the guides (we recommend around 200TWD and up!), and head off to explore the area by yourself, or maybe even with one of your new travel buddies. Check out our Cafe & Restaurant Directory of Taipei, if you need some recommendations for restaurants or cool cafes in the area.

Cafe & Restaurant Directory | Taipei | A Style Alike

For more details on the "Old Town Taipei Tour", please visit their website.

We think it's pretty awesome that a group of local travelers noticed the need for quality free English walking tours in Taipei, and took the initiative to start this company. We obviously love this city too, and support anyone whom also feel passionate about sharing it with other travelers and visitors. They have done a great job creating a professional, informative and user-friendly website in English, and the way the tour was conducted was the perfect mix of laid-back and comfortable, informative and professional, humorous and enjoyable. (Shoutout to our tour guides, James and Violet, for being so friendly and passionate!).

Now that we've experienced one of the tours ourselves, we feel that we can confidently recommend it to friends and family visiting in Taiwan!