Taipei is a hidden gem among Asian cities, and worth a visit for its amazing food, cultural temples, and super friendly people. After living here for 1.5 years, here are my recommendations to help you make the most of your visit.

My husband and I have spent a collective 12 weeks Tokyo, and share our insights and recommendations to help you make the most of your visit in this comprehensive 5-7 day itinerary. This is geared toward first-time visitors who have never seen the city, but there are many gems that even a Tokyo veteran would enjoy.

Tokyo is the largest city in the world, and where you stay can greatly impact your time there. My husband and I have spent a collective 12 weeks in the city, and explored many of its central neighborhoods as we consider moving here. In this guide, I’ve combed through thousands of Tokyo’s hotels and narrowed them down to a few great properties, organized by neighborhood and budget.

Tokyo is one of the world’s top 10 most visited cities, and for good reason — there is an endless list of things to do. But with all the visitors in the world trying to go to the same 20 places, things get booked out far ahead of time. So I’ve compiled a list to help make booking popular destinations for your trip a little bit easier.

Located on the top floor of the Palais de Chine hotel, near Taipei’s Main Station, Le Palais was Taiwan’s only only three-star Michelin restaurant for five consecutive years. Despite hoping the restaurant would live up to the hype given that it’s run by a Hongkonger (aka, my people), it only lived up to three-star standards in price, not in flavor or creativity.

The most anticipated restaurant opening in Taipei in 2023, Chef Alain Huang’s Restaurant A opened late last year and serves fine-dining French food made with Asian techniques and influences.

COAST is a modern restaurant in Taipei, combining Southeast Asian flavor with Taiwanese ingredients. Coast is part of MMHG (MUME Hospitality Group), a group led by Michelin-starred chef Richie Lin that is quickly becoming a favorite in Taiwan. We enjoyed our experience at Michelin-starred Mume last April, and M (wisely) surprised me with a dinner at Coast for Valentine’s.