Taiwan Budget Itinerary for Couples: Travel for less than PhP 20,000!

UPDATE July 2019:

Filipinos may enter Taiwan visa-free for another year

We never thought we’d be visiting Taiwan this year up until we saw a Scoot seat sale from Singapore. Mark and I decided to book a flight for his birthday and before we know it, we were already on our way to the airport! We made sure to bring only S$ 500 (around ₱19,400 or NT$ 11,200) to avoid overspending. Surprisingly, we were still able to save around NT$600 before we left for Singapore. I thought it would be nice to share the costing I made, as well as our itinerary, in case you guys are looking for a Taiwan budget itinerary tip. ✈️

Taiwan Budget Itinerary Cost

Let’s break down this sheet, shall we?

1. Accommodations

Bulk of our expense went to our accommodations. We stayed at Green World Hotel Linsen Taipei  in the city center, a bus away to Shihlin Night Market and a few minutes train ride to Taipei Main Station. Rooms are tidy and carpeted, has huge bed, and sparkly clean bathtub and toilet. 👌🏽 The best part is that it offers free buffet breakfast!  There are other cheaper options than the one we stayed in, some can go for ₱ 970~ per night (S$ 25 or NT$ 562). If you’re traveling with a group, it might be a better option to book an AirBnB or Agodahome.

2. MRT Fun Pass

If you know you’re going to travel to different places in Taipei via train and buses, it will be a smart choice to purchase a tourist pass or Taipei Fun Pass. It offers unlimited MRT, city bus (except those with four number code), and tourist shuttle bus rides so you don’t ever have to worry about running out of card balance and getting stuck in the middle of nowhere or riding the wrong bus or MRT. 😉 So here are three different types of fun pass you can choose from! a. Taipei Fun Pass Unlimited

This card offers entry tickets to 12 popular tourist destinations in Taipei. If you want to check everything on your bucketlist in the most hassle free way possible, then this ticket might just be the best choice for you. 1 Day Pass: NT$ 1,200 || 2 Day Pass: NT$ 1,600 || 3 Day Pass: NT$ 1,900 b. Taipei Fun Pass Classic

This one offers entry ticket to two popular destinations in Taipei: Taipei 101 Observatory and National Palace Museum. The Classic Fun Pass Classic is an EasyCard you can reload/top-up to use on the MRT, city buses, Taipei Railway, and tourist shuttle buses. It also comes with gift vouchers and discounts! NT$ 950 c. Taipei Fun Pass Transportation

Since we’re working on our Taiwan budget itinerary, Mark and I got this card. This allowed us to swiftly travel around Taipei and New Taipei on the MRT and City Buses. It’s like the first card without the entry tickets. We knew we weren’t going to the those places anyway so we opted for the unlimited transpo instead. Definitely saved us a bunch of money. Hehe. 1 Day Pass: NT$ 180 || 2 Day Pass: NT$ 310 || 3 Day Pass: NT$ 440 || 5 Day Pass: NT$ 700

3. Airport Express Train

We opted to ride the Aiport MRT Express Train that took us to the Taipei Main station within 35 minutes. It cost NT$ 150 per person (one way) and you’ll need to purchase it at the ticket vendo machine or at the Information Booth.

You will see a tourist info counter before arriving at the Information Booth just before you enter the platform. I highly recommend that you skip purchasing your ticket (token) here since it’s packaged with other deals. Head straight until you see the lined up ticket machines or this booth you see below ⤵️.

4. Meals and Miscellanous

We set our budget at NT$ 450 per meal (₱ 700~). This was based on the cost of ramen at Ichiran! Haha It was only after we ate at Jiufen that we realized that the NT$ 450 per meal budget is already too expensive. As a comparison, you can actually eat a Braised Pork Rice for only NT$ 30 and a Tuna Onigiri in 7-11 costs only NT$ 25! So pro-tip, you can survive in Taiwan for NT$ 100 a day. However, feel free to spend more if you’d like to go on a bubble tea tasting spree or experience authentic Din Tai Fung and Tim Ho Wan experience. 💯 Our miscellaneous budget went mostly to buying pasalubongs and getting an iCard so we can ride a bus to Jiufen. 🙂

5. WiFi Rental

One of the most exciting parts of our preparation for this trip was getting free wifi rental for three days! We booked our 4G Portable Wifi Rental in Klook and we’re pretty much impressed with its performance. This is definitely one of the best Taiwan budget itinerary trick. Collecting the device was fast and easy, there were no downtime, and service was pretty much consistent whether we were in the city or the countryside. So, how did we get a free wifi rental?

With Klook, you can earn credits by reviewing the products or services you booked. Since I have been using Klook since 2015 (and is also a sucker for reviews), I’ve been earning and spending credits to purchase services and tickets. I’ve also used credits to get discounted tickets in Universal Studios Singapore before. Hehe. Now, if you haven’t been using Klook, you can sign-up now and earn credits you can use right away.

Taiwan Budget Itinerary Daily Schedule

Lastly, sharing with you our Taiwan Budget Itinerary day-to-day activities. We diverted off this schedule here and there. However, we mostly were able to hit all the places we wanted to explore. 🙂

UP NEXT: As crazy cat humans, we didn’t miss to explore the Cat Village in Houtong! 🐈

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Have you visited Taiwan? What’s your favorite spot or activity? Let us know so we can try it too, next time!