Taiwan’s Trains

There are two distinct rail networks in Taiwan, high-speed rail and standard rail.

High-Speed Rail

The fastest train service in Taiwan. It runs between Nangang (Taipei) and Zuoying (Kaohsiung). The journey takes two hours on average.

Tip – Book early to take advantage of early bird discounts.

Tip – High-Speed Rail tickets can be purchased in convenience stores (Chinese language only. The clerk will help you though).

High-Speed Rail Website

24hr Online Booking

Traditional Train Service

Due to the high mountain range that runs down the middle of the island, the train lines run around the perimeter. There are some branch lines that head to different places such as the Alishan line. There is no train to Kenting.

Taiwan Railways Administration Website

Taiwan’s Ferries

As you would expect, Taiwan is an island so there must be ferries right? Well, yes there are, but none of them is international. There used to be a ferry that went to Japan, but that stopped long ago. You can get to China by ferry if you first go to the Matsu Islands.

The ferries listed here all serve the outlying islands.

I have found all of the ferry website lack English language options, so I hope you have a good bit of translation software. Even then it will take a lot of perseverance to decipher some of the names used.

Matsu Islands

The ferries go from Keelung to either Nangan or Dongyin islands. If you want to go to other destinations in Matsu, then change ferry once you get there.

Matsu Ferry Company Website (Chinese Only)

Penghu Islands

There are two ferry routes to the Penghu Islands, one from Kaohsiung and another from Budai (Chiayi). They both go to Magong City.

Kaohsiung – Penghu

Budai – Penghu

Xiao Liuqiu

There is more than one company that operates between Donggang and Xiao Liuqiu. I have only used one of them, and the service was excellent. They took my bicycle for a 50NT$ extra charge.

Here is a link for the ferry services. Notice that there is a public and private service. They are located next to each other on the dock. The private company will try to entice you, but you can take your pick.

Xiao Liuqiu Ferries

Orchid Island (Lanyu) & Green Island

There are numerous options available to you when these two islands. While the obvious choice would seem to be sailing to and from Taitung, there is something way more exciting.

Why not combine a trip that takes in both Orchid and Green Islands? You could start either in Taitung or Kenting.

You have three routes to choose from:

1. Hengchun – Kenting (Houbihu) Ferry
2. Green Island (Lyudao) & Orchid Island (Lanyu) Ferry
3. Taitung (Fugang) Ferry

The bus system in Taiwan has a long-distance express service, and then each city has numerous independent bus companies. It is beyond the scope of this guide to list every single bus company, but I will give you the links that I have found useful over the years.

Taiwanbus

The next link is pretty interesting. It seems to work very well in Taiwan. Simply enter your starting point and destination, and it will attempt to calculate a number of route options. I put it in the bus section because it gives a listing of the bus number that you need to catch.

Rome2rio