Kaohsiung

A port city in southern Taiwan, with the Pier-2 Art Center, Cijin's beaches and Fo Guang Shan, plus the dragon and tiger pagodas at Lotus Pond and Liuhe Night Market. It is a good rest stop on the southern leg of the island loop.

Kaohsiung is in southwestern Taiwan, China. It is the island's third-largest city and its largest port city, with a population of about 2.7 million. Kaohsiung Harbor was once among the world's top ten container ports. The city has an open, straightforward character. In recent years its waterfront has been revitalized with creative and cultural spaces, including the Pier-2 Art Center, the Kaohsiung Music Center, Dagang Bridge and Warehouse No. 2, along with a light rail loop. It is now the liveliest travel city in southern Taiwan, China, and a gateway to the southern leg of the island loop and to Kenting.

Where to go: The harbor-side Yancheng and Hamasen areas are the core, with Pier-2, Warehouse No. 2, the Cijin ferry, Sizihwan and the former British Consulate at Takao. Downtown, Meiliudao Station, Liuhe Night Market and the Love River area form the old town. To the north, in Zuoying, you will find the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas at Lotus Pond and Zuoying HSR Station. To the east, in Lingya District, are the 85 Sky Tower, the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center and the Sanduo shopping district. Fengshan District has the Weiwuying Metropolitan Park Arts and Culture Center. In the suburbs, Dashu District has Fo Guang Shan and the Buddha Memorial Center, about an hour by car. Meinong and Qishan old streets are known for their Hakka heritage and as banana towns. In recent years, Ruifeng Night Market has overtaken Liuhe as the one locals visit more often.

Climate: The city has a tropical monsoon climate. October to April is dry and sunny, with daytime highs around 25°C, making it the warmest major city in Taiwan, China in winter. May to September is hot and rainy, and typhoons hit from July to September.

Getting there: From Taipei, the high-speed rail takes 1.5 to 2 hours to Zuoying Station. From there, the Kaohsiung MRT Red Line takes 15 minutes into the city. Kaohsiung Siaogang Airport has a direct MRT link to the city, and it has flights to several cities in mainland China. Within the city, the MRT Red and Orange lines and the circular light rail cover most sights. iPass and EasyCard both work. YouBike public bikes are cheap and convenient. The ferry to Cijin takes about 5 minutes and costs about NT$40. To Fo Guang Shan, take the Yi Da bus or the Haifu Express from Zuoying HSR Station, a trip of about an hour.

Suggested stay: 2 days.

Tips: UV is very strong in summer, and the harbor and Cijin have little shade. Ferry queues are long on holidays. Liuhe Night Market has become tourist-oriented in recent years and its prices are a little higher. For local flavors, try Ruifeng Night Market, which is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays. Eating and drinking are not allowed inside light rail and MRT cars.

Top sights

• Pier-2 Art Center – An arts district created from old warehouses by Kaohsiung’s harbour, with large installations, graffiti, exhibitions and markets. A bike pa…
• Cijin Island – A sandbar island 11 km long just outside Kaohsiung Harbor, reached in 5 minutes by ferry. Old-street seafood, a black sand beach, a lightho…
• Dragon and Tiger Pagodas – A pair of seven-story pagodas on the shore of Lotus Pond. Visitors enter through the dragon's mouth and exit through the tiger's, symbolizi…
• Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum – A 100-hectare Buddhist complex beside Fo Guang Shan, founded by Master Hsing Yun. Eight pagodas line the path to a 108-metre bronze seated…
• Formosa Boulevard Station Dome of Light – A glass dome artwork at the interchange station of the Kaohsiung MRT Red and Orange Lines. At 30 metres in diameter and made of 4,500 paint…
• Sizihwan & Former British Consulate at Takao – A small bay on the northern shore of Kaohsiung’s harbour, home to the campus of National Sun Yat-sen University. The 1879 red-brick former…
• Liuhe Night Market – Kaohsiung’s most famous sightseeing night market, where Liuhe 2nd Road is closed to traffic for food stalls serving papaya milk, seafood co…
• Love River – A city river running through central Kaohsiung, with riverside cafés, boat cruises and lantern festivals, stretching from the Museum of His…
• Kaohsiung Music Center – A complex of wave- and coral-shaped buildings at the Love River mouth, with shifting night lighting; the harbour’s newest landmark and a co…
• KW2 Warehouse – A harbour warehouse completed in 1914 and converted into a creative shopping centre with souvenirs, dining and a harbour-view terrace; harb…
• Dagang Bridge – Asia’s longest horizontal swing bridge, whose white curved deck pivots open at set times each afternoon to let ships pass; the most popular…
• Hamasen Museum of Taiwan Railway – Taiwan’s largest railway model museum, reproducing stations and trains from across the island to scale; visitors can operate model trains…
• Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts – A large art museum in the Neiweipi Cultural Park, focused on contemporary art from Taiwan and the Austronesian world, with an open lakeside…
• Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) – A theatre complex designed by Dutch architects and billed as the world’s largest single-roof theatre, with a wavy white roof over a free-to…
• Shoushan Nature Park (Chaishan) – A coral-reef limestone hill right by the city, with trails where wild Taiwan macaques roam; from the summit and coast you can look out over…
• 85 Sky Tower – A Kaohsiung skyline landmark about 348 metres tall, shaped around the character 高 (“high”), once Taiwan’s tallest building and visible from…
• Ruifeng Night Market – The Kaohsiung night market most loved by locals, with grid-laid stalls and affordable prices; closed on Mondays and Wednesdays.
• Old Fongshan City (Zuoying) – Taiwan’s earliest earth-and-stone city wall ruins, with well-preserved gate guardian reliefs at the north gate; next to Lotus Pond, it is a…
• Fengyi Academy – A Fengshan academy built in 1814, the largest surviving Qing-era academy in Taiwan; after restoration, animations and interactive displays…
• Chengcing Lake – Kaohsiung’s largest lake and reservoir, with the Nine-Turn Bridge, Zhongxing Tower and a lakeside loop path as classic sights; often called…
• E-Da World – A resort complex in northeastern Kaohsiung with the E-Da Theme Park and a large outlet mall, a good family day trip.
• Tianliao Moon World – Greyish-white badlands carved from mudstone, with crisscrossing gullies and almost no vegetation, looking like the surface of the moon; mos…
• Cishan Old Street – A former “Banana Kingdom” old street with intact Baroque facades and stone-arched arcades; banana ice and banana cake are must-tries.
• Meinong Hakka Town – Southern Taiwan’s most representative Hakka town, with oil-paper umbrellas, blue Hakka shirts, flat rice noodles and tobacco kilns set amon…
• Kaohsiung Museum of History – A former Kaohsiung City Hall from the Japanese occupation period beside the Love River, built in the Imperial Crown style, presenting the c…
• Science and Technology Museum – Taiwan’s first museum of applied science, with interactive exhibits on energy, transport and everyday technology; a good rainy-day outing w…
• Sanfong Central Street – A dry-goods and candy old street beside Kaohsiung Station, lined with preserved fruit, dried goods and sweets; the busiest New Year shoppin…
• Shinkuchan Shopping District – Kaohsiung’s trendy shopping street for young people, dense with clothing, accessory and snack shops; often called “Kaohsiung’s Ximending.”
• Dadong Arts Center – A contemporary architectural landmark in Fengshan, with four volumes sheltered by a white membrane umbrella roof and housing a theatre, exh…

Where to eat

• Xing Long Ju – A historic Kaohsiung breakfast spot founded in 1954, opening in the early morning hours and famous for its juicy giant…
• Cianjin Braised Pork Rice – A Michelin Bib Gourmand establishment founded in 1959, where braised pork rice paired with a soft-boiled duck egg is a…
• Gang Yuan Beef Noodles – A historic beef noodle shop in Yancheng District with over 60 years of history, famous for its dry beef noodles and por…
• Chao Ming Seafood – A second-generation Michelin Bib Gourmand seafood restaurant, specializing in home-style stir-fries like pork with garl…
• Yung Yen – A home-style restaurant carrying on the legacy of Yun Lai Fang, boasting a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a Young Chef Award…
• GEN – Kaohsiung's first Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant, specializing in set menus and signature crispy roast pigeon, i…

Itineraries

• Classic Taiwan Rail Loop – Connect Taipei, Jiufen, Hualien, Taitung, Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Sun Moon Lake using TRA and THSR trains.
• In-Depth Taiwan Island Self-Drive Loop – Drive clockwise around the island, connecting the North Coast, Suhua, East Rift Valley, Hengchun Peninsula, and Alishan.
• Tainan, Kaohsiung, Xiaoliuqiu and Kenting – Heading south: Tainan's old-city sites, Kaohsiung's harbor-city creative scene, a turtle-watching island and the Kentin…