i went to tainan for the first time in 2023 and i really fell in love with it. the food is amazing, the people are super super friendly, and the bars are top tier. it’s not a very packed city but i hear the popular spots do get busy on the weekends.

places to stay:

last time i went i stayed at Ho.Me.Easyhouse - the location of this place is super central so I mostly walked everywhere. This place feels more like a hostel but you do get your own room and bathrooms. The owner is super friendly and personable and will personally come to help you check in. There aren’t your typical amenities of free coffee/tea of a traditional hotel but they do have housekeeping and towels/shampoo/conditioner etc.

transportation:

within tainan, you can get anywhere with a combination of walking/bus/uber. downtown tainan feels pretty small so it felt very manageable and easy to get around. there’s a few touristy things a little further outside the main downtown but i felt like there was already enough to see and eat within the 2 days that I was there.

google maps works pretty well here for bus schedules but I have to warn you that the busses are kind of crazy. they drive super fast, you have to wave them down for them to pick you up, and the doors in the back open kind of violently LOL. they’re functional but not the most comfortable.

FOOD:

‼️ **Google Maps List** - this is so you can import to google maps and easily look up the spots as you walk around! it also serves as a TLDR if you don’t want to read 😄

• Shuansen Tainan (milk tea/cold beverage)
  • the mung bean milk here is so good and so refreshing on a hot day. a good friend Maggie recommended it to me and i knew i found the right spot when I saw a line forming 10 minutes before it even opened. it’s the perfect amount of everything - mung bean, ice, milk, sweetness .. just thinking about it makes me salivate
• Zai Fa Hao Hundred Year Old Dumplings (lunch/dinner/snack)
  • “Dumpling” is kind of a misnomer here because what they’re serving isn’t really your typical dumpling. It’s actually a steamed sticky-rice-pyramid wrapped in bamboo leaves called “zong zi” that is common to eat for some Taiwanese holidays. It’s often stuffed with things like mushrooms, meat, egg yolks, small shrimp, and seasoned with soy sauce.
  • This place is a super casual, “order on a menu sheet and bring it to the counter” place. the zong zi is super flavorful, rich and hearty. Even though it might not look like a whole meal it’ll definitely fill you up.
• 阿財牛肉湯安平二店 (lunch/dinner)
  • Tainan is known for its super fresh beef. As opposed to traditional beef noodle soup where the meat is stewed for hours, Tainanese people eat beef noodle soup in a way where the beef is served almost raw, and dipped in boiling hot broth, kind of like Vietnamese pho.
  • This place serves hot-pot style beef with broth, but since I went alone, I got the “niu rou hui fan” which is a rice bowl with beef in kind of a thick broth. It feels super cozy and warm to eat at the end of a long day.
• 鄭記蔥肉餅/彤露おかわり (snack)
  • I’ve had a lot of spring onion pancake in my life, and there’s some damn good ones in Taiwan. This spring onion pancake has a unique twist where I think it has some chicken in the batter and the green onion filling is actually inside the “pocket” as opposed to being mixed in the batter. It’s super crispy, chewy, salty, umami, and within a couple seconds it was absolutely devoured. Enjoy it near the river across the street, if you can make it that far without finishing it and going back for seconds.
• Shi Tea (cafe/teahouse)
  • get a tea set with the rum raisin cookie (or the dried fruit is also really good)
  • this teahouse feels very Japanese and the vibes are immaculate
  • it’s the perfect place to chat, chill, draw, or read
  • it definitely runs on the expensive side but the experience is so worth it

Bars

The bar scene in Tainan is so top-quality, which was really surprising to me. I’ve never really explored the drinking/bar scene in Taiwan since I went as a kid or with my relatives. Apparently one of Asia’s top 50 bars is in Tainan (Bar TCRC).

• Vibe Bar (bar)
  • the mango rum fizz and the clarified piña colada are bangers. this place looks like a small townhouse almost? the seating is on the second and third floor (roof)