Taipei Real-World Travel Guide: Ximending vs. Zhongshan, Night Market Cash & Jiufen Rain Gear

Most Taipei visitors weigh lively Ximending against calmer Zhongshan or Taipei Main Station. Ximending puts midnight braised snacks, Carrefour Guilin souvenir aisles, and Airport MRT transfers close by, yet many budget-to-midrange hotels occupy single floors inside older commercial buildings where entry-level rates are "Windowless (No Window)" interior rooms—in Taipei’s subtropical humidity, those rooms can smell musty, so spending $10–$15 extra for an exterior-window room or staying along leafy Zhongshan North Road / Chifeng Street cafes pays off fast.

Adding a sulfur hot spring soak up in Beitou (30 minutes north on the Red MRT line)? Know the two completely different bath styles before packing: outdoor co-ed public thermal spas ("dazhongchi" like Spring City or Beitou Outdoor Spa) enforce a strict swimsuit AND swimming cap rule, whereas private couple/family stone rooms ("tangwu") and Japanese-style gender-separated indoor "luotang" baths are used completely nude with zero swimwear allowed.

Skip sprawling tourist-trap basement stalls and head straight to Taipei’s two best food night markets: Raohe Street Night Market (start right under the ornate Ciyou Temple gate with a piping-hot Fuzhou clay-oven black pepper pork bun) and Ningxia Night Market (a compact gourmet strip near Zhongshan famed for crispy taro balls with salted egg yolk and oyster omelets). Nearly every street cart is strictly cash-only—break crisp NT$1,000 ATM bills inside a 7-Eleven over a bottle of tea first so you hand vendors NT$100 notes and NT$50/NT$10 coins smoothly.

After midnight, follow the luggage-toting crowd into 24-hour Carrefour Guilin Store between Ximending and Longshan Temple for Kavalan pocket whisky tins, ChiaTe/SunnyHills-style pineapple cakes, 3:15pm milk tea bags, and nougat crackers (tax refund counter sits right inside for purchases over NT$2,000 with your physical passport!). Also save every printed store receipt ("tongyi fapiao")—every Taiwan receipt prints an 8-digit lottery number eligible for government cash prizes!