Kathy Cheng of Tricky Taipei has an excellent list of “best” things to do in Taipei with little kids. I so agree with her that “Taipei is an absolutely great city for little kids”. So here is my list of some more “best” things to do!
Taipei Children’s Amusement Park
It is not Disneyland, but there is plenty of entertainment for toddlers and elementary schoolers alike at the (new) Taipei Children’s Amusement Park. All the rides you expect are there: carousel, pirate ship, Ferris wheel, mini rollercoaster. There is also a free outdoor sandpit and an indoor ball pit (which you should reserve in advance if you can).
All in all, Taipei Children’s Amusement Park offers great cost-performance value—as we Taiwanese would say. The entrance fee is only NT$30/15, and each ride costs only NT$20–30. You can pay for everything with a touch of your EasyCard (because, strangely as it may seem, the park is operated by the Taipei Metro corporation).
Also nearby are National Taiwan Science Education Center (NT$60/30) and Taipei Astronomical Museum (NT$40/20), which are more suitable for elementary-school-aged kids and/or rainy days. And between all three is Meilun Park, which has a few “science-themed” playgrounds.
Taipei Expo Park
Taiwanese people are so unenthusiastic about soccer that we permanently closed down the only international-competition-eligible stadium at the time to host a flora expo. Taipei Expo Park is the “urban recreation area” that remained afterwards. It is now full of open spaces for kids to run around and watch planes descend toward Songshan Airport. Nearby Maji Maji Square offers options for eating and shopping for adults. The area is also a popular hangout spot for high school breaking clubs and migrant workers alike.
Also nearby are Taipei Confucius Temple and Baoan Temple Garden, which have turtles and carps for kids to watch and rocks and bridges for kids to explore. Taipei Fine Arts Museum and Taipei Story House are also in the same area, but I think they are more of interest for older kids or adults. In the former soccer stadium is the Zhongshan District Parent-Child Center—there is one in every district for kids 6 and under, and it’s free and great for a rainy day, but you do need a Taiwanese ID to get in.
228 Peace Park
Like many other public spaces in Taipei, 228 Peace Park has plenty of garden landscaping, a couple of playgrounds and a sandpit, and many outdoor exercise machines. But it is also the home of National Taiwan Museum, a natural history museum, which also includes Land Bank Exhibition Hall, featuring dinosaurs (NT$30/15).
But you might also casually stroll with your kids to the National 228 Memorial Museum (NT$30/often free) in the same park to make them watch a 15 minute video (available in Mandarin, Hokkien, Japanese, and English) so that they learn a little bit about the February 28 Incident and the White Terror period that followed.
Parks, Parks, and more Parks
It will be no surprise if you’ve read this far, but there is a theme to all the places I’ve recommended. Taipei City is a great place for kids because of the many public and quasi-public spaces that are available. There are parks everywhere, from small neighborhood ones to significant landmarks.
But going back five years or so, the parks in Taipei were not as amazing as they are now. Sure, there are a few first-generation stone slides around, but for the most part the playgrounds were occupied by the second-generation cookie-cutter “safe” plastic equipments. (It was really hard to find swings because they are often deemed unsafe.)
We have the Parks And Playgrounds For Children By Children alliance (還我特色公園行動聯盟) to thank for the vast improvement. Thanks to their lobbying efforts, in the last few years, city governments have invested significantly to remake parks that have their own unique features and are challenging enough to be fun for kids. Unfortunately, I cannot find an English page that lists them all, but here is one in Traditional Chinese. But you don’t need a list; just go out and explore. You might find a unique park under an overpass, or you might find a unique park on top of a sewage treatment plant.
Indeed, there is also now a children’s book (《遊戲場發生什麼事？》; in Traditional Chinese) that tells a story of a park created for children by children, which also nicely serves as an ode to the public resources available in Taipei (and elsewhere in Taiwan too). Explore, and enjoy!
