“You must try the pepper pork buns at the night market,” said Michelle Knox, an Aussie tourist from Umina Beach.
“The shaved ice peanut and ice cream roll with a dash of coriander — that was a real combo,” she added.
“And the stinky tofu is not as pungent as durian. The fried stuff is quite nice,” she laughed.
Like a lot of Australians, Ms Knox came to Taiwan chasing flavour and wanting to try the best beef noodle soup.
Night markets from Taipei to Hualien are a feast for the eyes. (Supplied: Jessie Goldie)
She tasted wild boar in Taroko Gorge and cracked open a bamboo tube to dig out sticky rice in the east of the island.
“These are local Indigenous dishes I had never even heard of,” she told the ABC.
Food pulls people in.
But by the time she left Taiwan, she was wanting to explore more of its history and nature.
Taiwan is known for its beef noodle soup. (Supplied: Michelle Knox)
Fewer tour buses, more solo travellers
Before COVID, tourism to Taiwan was driven by groups from China, which peaked at around 4 million arrivals a year.
That changed under President Tsai Ing-wen, whose government strengthened ties with the West, prompting Beijing to tighten visa approvals for travel to Taiwan.
As Chinese visitor numbers fell sharply, in their place came independent tourists.
Bamboo and dense forests are in reach from Taiwan’s capital. (Supplied: Michelle Knox)
Taiwan made travel easier for those from more than 60 countries, including Australia, whose citizens can now enter visa-free.
“The composition of tourism has changed,” said Chester Yu, founder of TourMeAway walking tours in Taipei.
Tourism grew by about 10 per cent from 2024 to 2025 with 8.5 million foreign arrivals recorded last year, led by those from Japan.
Similar growth has also been seen in those arriving from Australia, with more than 120,000 visitors last year, according to the Taiwan Tourism Administration.
Although numbers are rising, across the board they remain below pre-pandemic levels.
Tourists learn about Japanese occupation on a walking tour. (Supplied: Chester Yu)
But a recent visit to Beijing by a senior Taiwan opposition figure, Cheng Li-wun, has sparked talk of improved ties.
Following the visit, Beijing said it was aiming to expand economic and cultural exchanges, including restoring flights, and reopening tourism channels.
So far China is allowing tourists from Shanghai to visit Taiwan’s Kinmen and Matsu islands.
But industry experts have low expectations about the overall impact.
“I don’t think Chinese arrival numbers will go back to where they were. But it might open a window,” former travel agent Chi-Chang Tseng said.
“Cheng’s party is not currently in power so I don’t think it will have any significant change … but it does demonstrate a positive possibility.”
Food as an anchor to history
Taiwan’s food doesn’t sit neatly in one box.
It’s Fujianese at the base, layered with Japanese influence, Indigenous traditions and traces of European colonial rule.
Dumplings dot most street corners. (Supplied: Jessie Goldie)
For some travellers, it was the small shifts that stood out.
“Taiwanese food wasn’t just like Chinese food,” said Jessie Goldie, an Aussie who surfed her way along Dulan’s coast, a laid back surf town in the south-east.
After an afternoon swim she enjoyed fish and chips cooked with a tempura Japanese touch.
“The food was really unique, it drew on both Japanese and Chinese traditions and flavours but then makes it its own,” she said.
She enjoyed a variety of mushrooms grilled over coals, oysters and crispy doughnuts, that were a balance of sweet and savoury.
“A soy breakfast was something we ate that I’d never heard of or seen anywhere else,” said her wife and fellow surfing enthusiast, Tina Goldie.
Japanese tempura seafood and oysters are among the night market offerings. (Supplied: Jessie Goldie)
In the south, even savoury food leans sweet.
That goes back to the Dutch East India Company, which introduced large-scale sugar production in the 1600s and sugar became synonymous with wealth.
In the southern city of Chiayi, a simple turkey and rice dish stuck with Ms Knox as much as the big-name bubble teas.
Turkeys first arrived in the 17th century via Dutch traders.
Decades later, US trade deals in the 1970s made turkey meat more common, turning it into a local staple.
Turkey rice is a staple in the south-west that grew in popularity due to US military presence and trade. (Supplied: Libby Hogan)
For vegetarians, it’s less straightforward.
“Dinner could be tricky,” said Matthew Wade from Melbourne.
“But scallion pancakes, I had them everywhere.”
The question everyone asks
Before tourists leave Australia, most get asked the same question.
Are you worried about China?
“The number one reason people gave on our tour about why they wanted to visit Taiwan, was that they wanted to come before anything happens,” Ms Knox said.
Jiufen’s crowded streets decorated with red lanterns. (Supplied: Libby Hogan)
Mr Yu tackles this sensitive topic of China-Taiwan relations on his walking tours.
“In Western media, there’s more focus than ever on invasion,” he said.
“But people here have lived with this for decades.”
Another guide uses an analogy to answer questions about current cross-strait tensions.
“It’s like a bully who keeps threatening to hit you, but eventually you stop reacting,” retold Ms Knox.
The tropical South previously focused on sugar production but now attracts surfers and bike travel. (Supplied: Jessie Goldie)
“People in Taiwan know what’s going on but you can’t live your whole life in fear,” Mr Yu said.
What travellers actually find
For most visitors, on the ground the feeling is different and any anxiety quickly fades.
“It’s so easy to get around,” Ms Knox said.
“High-speed trains connect cities in hours. Streets are clean and locals were friendly and helped me when I got stuck figuring out the ticket machines.”
Watching the sunset at Tainan is a favourite for many tourists. (Supplied: Mathew Wade)
While Ms Knox enjoyed the lantern-adorned mountain town of Jiufen, she and other travellers said their favourites were outside of Taipei.
At Sun Moon Lake Mr Wade described his “White Lotus” moment, encountering unexpected beauty that was worthy of a location setting for the popular television series.
“My highlights were the hikes, it changed how I saw Taiwan,” said Mr Wade as he described his favourite blue lake ringed by forested peaks.
Travelling as a queer couple, he said his experience was unlike anywhere else he and has partner had been.
“In other countries, we say we’re just friends. In Taiwan, we didn’t have to.”
Tainan’s historical buildings dot street corners. (Supplied: Libby Hogan)
Rainbow flags line shopfronts and public transport displays campaigns addressing HIV stigma.
“That kind of visibility matters,” he said. “You feel it.”
Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage.
In Tainan, you feel the layered history from a former Dutch fort and Qing dynasty temples sandwiched near Japanese-era narrow laneways.
“Tainan feels like a museum there, but people actually live in it,” he said.
Taiwan’s lakes are popular hang out spots for tourists. (Supplied; Mathew Wade)
“There are so many traditional crafts, quirky art streets, you can bike ride everywhere and a beach nearby for watching the sunset.”
For Ms Knox, it was the temples that stayed with her.
“It felt spiritual, not staged, it was pretty special to learn all the rituals in the temples,” she said.
She learnt how to cast “moon blocks” to receive good fortune, why temples have two incense burners, and to never blow them out.
She hopes to visit the Lotus Pond in Kaohsiung and the vast Fo Guang Shan complex on her next visit.
Tourists are often surprised by Taiwan’s natural beauty. (Supplied: Matthew Wade)
Why now?
For Taiwanese living abroad, the shift in tourists wanting to visit Taiwan is striking.
“I’ve lived in Australia for 20 years,” said Melbourne-based marketing specialist Michelle Tseng.
“No-one used to ask me about Taiwan.”
Now they do.
“In the past few years, people suddenly want tips. Friends who never considered it are going.”
She’s not entirely sure what changed.
“Australians’ perception of Taiwan is limited to the tense relationship with China,” she said.
“However, all my friends who have visited there make comments around how liberal Taiwan is and how passionate the people are with politics.
Taiwan offers surf beaches and rocky shores for swimming. (Supplied: Jessie Goldie)
“I thought it would be the food that impressed them but it’s actually the vibe, freedom, the people that make a mark in their trips,” she said.
Others think the uncertainty in the world plays a part.
“The world feels unstable,” Mr Yu said. “So people think, why not go now?”
