Why Taipei is a great place to live

I've only ever lived in Taipei, but I've been to all the major cities and biked around the whole island. These are the reasons I'd tell a friend to come.

Getting around is easy

Public transit is the main reason I call Taipei convenient. It's cheap, on time and fast, and you never wait long. I lived in Hong Kong, and Taipei is in the same league. Hong Kong's system is, if anything, bigger. Taipei beat Shanghai and Beijing when I visited, though those cities change fast and my visits were years ago.

The bus signs can be hard to read. Google Maps gets you where you're going anyway.

It's safe

By American standards, Taipei is very safe. You almost never hear about street crime. Men and women go out alone at night all the time, and from what I hear, women don't think twice about it.

Things stay open

Things don't close the way they do in the US. At 9 p.m. you can still get dinner, do some shopping, or find a café that doesn't serve alcohol, where you can work or read a book. There's nightlife if you want it.

Compare that with San Francisco, where I live now: almost everything is closed by 8 p.m. Outside New York, a quiet place to sit at night is hard to find in most of the US. In Taipei they're everywhere.

The food is good, and it's cheap

Everyone who visits says the food is great. They're right. There are good cafés and restaurants everywhere.

Food and rent are both cheap. Taipei isn't as cheap as Thailand or Vietnam. It's a middle ground. But it's much cheaper than the US, and cheaper than Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai or Beijing. On a fairly tight budget you can live well.

It's good for kids

There are parks, daycares and schools everywhere, public and private. And because it's safe, having your kids out and about is something you don't think about much.

It's easy to meet people

If you're a foreigner, it's very easy to meet other foreigners. Maybe it's being a minority, being in a slightly strange situation together, speaking English instead of Chinese. Whatever the reason, it's much easier than in San Francisco. Here's where to start.

Staying is easy

If you qualify, Taiwan makes it easy to stay. The Gold Card has many ways in. One is simply having earned enough: in some fields, NT$160,000 a month, about US$60,000 a year. (source) In my experience, almost anyone who's worked in tech qualifies.

That's why so many Gold Card people arrived during COVID. They flew over, applied, and got a card that let them live and work here for three years. It isn't a dead end, either: after three years, holders can apply for permanent residency. (source) Here's which visa fits you.

By Ian Sinnott.