Taiwan: cosa fare e vedere

Taipei, the capital, rises beneath the tall Taipei 101 tower, with Longshan Temple, the National Palace Museum and hot springs at Beitou, and night markets such as Shilin are a daily draw. In the hills to the north-east, the old gold-mining town of Jiufen has teahouses on steep stairs.

On the east coast, Hualien is the gateway to Taroko Gorge, a marble canyon with cliffside trails, and Taitung, to the south, has rice paddies, hot springs and a rift valley. Kaohsiung, the southern port, has art spaces along its harbour and the Lotus Pond temples, and Taichung, in the west, is a city of tea houses, parks and a theatre by Toyo Ito. In the central mountains, Alishan has a forest railway, Sun Moon Lake sits in a hill-ringed basin, and Yushan is the island's highest peak.

Beef noodle soup, soup dumplings, oyster omelettes and bubble tea come from Taiwan's markets, and oolong teas from the hills are prized. Pineapple cakes are a classic gift. Autumn and winter are comfortable in most places, plum rains come in May and June, and typhoons can arrive between July and October.