Taiwan is our first international travel destination this year and I would like to start this Taiwan blog series with a travel guide that will let you see Taipei’s number one stunner and icon, the Taipei 101. Taipei 101 is the highest building in Taiwan and used to be the highest in the world way back 2004 until it was surpassed by Burj Khalifa last 2010. This skyscraper will indeed give you a majestic view from its observatory deck at the top but the structure of this stunner will give you a different level of allure when staring at it from afar. You just have to get the perfect place to appreciate its beauty, and you’re ready to take those dreamy photos as you want!
Tourists would usually go to the Elephant Mountain for an elevated view deck and get a photo with Taipei 101 but little did they know, there’s another place they could check to get that perfect shot just located in the same area. On our last Taiwan trip, we opted to visit Huian Park for that Taipei 101 shot that we are aiming. After all the long walks we had on this trip, we were quite tired to get into a trek up to the Elephant trail and would like to simply enjoy the view away from the crowd so we ended up deciding to go to Huian Park.
Huian Park is located at No. 10, Alley 9, Lane 284, Wuxing St, Xinyi District, Taipei City about 1 km away from Taipei 101. To get there, we ride an MRT going to Taipei 101 station and from there, we book an Uber for our convenience. The driver was confused about why we wanted to go to the park, as he insists that tourists usually go to the Elephant Mountain for photo ops. He even said that there is no good photo spot in the park lol
Upon arrival, we understood the driver’s concern since the area was actually a residential area. But upon taking few steps of stairs up to the viewpoint of the park, we saw the beauty that we came for and it didn’t disappoint. The Taipei 101 stands beautifully amid the chaotic yet charming neighborhood. We arrived at about 8 in the morning and the park and the view was all by ourselves! We got a chance to relish the scene without the messy crowd with the birds chirping in the background and took as much photos from as much angle as we could.
After getting enough photos we headed to our second photo location, the famous alley beside the Takemura Izakaya restaurant. The exact location would be Alley 1, Lane 253, Songren Rd, Xinyi District or just pin Takemura Izakaya restaurant in Google Maps. We walked for about 800 meters but upon reaching the street, there was a flock of tourists doing photoshoots so we decided to take breakfast first in a nearby 7-11. Luckily, after finishing our meals, there were no tourists anymore in the alley and took our time to pose and get our desired snaps. Just be mindful of the vehicles since this is also a residential area with a lot of vehicles passing by.
Overall, Huian Park is a great place to get a perfect shot of Taipei 101 if you are not into trekking steep staircases and want to avoid the crowd. The famous alley along the Takemura Izakaya restaurant is also a good photo spot that you should not miss out on if you are already in the area.
