Tainan
Tainan, officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast.
Tainan, officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and commonly called the "prefectural capital" for its 263-year history as the capital of Taiwan under Dutch rule, the Kingdom of Tungning and later Qing dynasty rule until 1887. Tainan's complex history of comebacks, redefinitions and renewals inspired its popular nickname "the Phoenix City". Tainan was classified as a "Sufficiency"-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network in 2020, but was not classified in 2022 and 2024.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around Tainan
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01National Cheng Kung University
National Cheng Kung University is a national public research university in Tainan, Taiwan. Founded in 1931 during Japanese rule as a technical and engineering college, it primarily teaches and conducts research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
3.4 km · national research university in Tainan · Wikipedia - 02Chimei Museum
The Chimei Museum is a private museum established in 1992 by Shi Wen-long of Chi Mei Corporation in Rende District, Tainan, Taiwan. The museum's collection is divided into five categories: Fine arts; Musical instruments; Natural history and fossils; Arms and armor; Antiquities and artifacts.
9.3 km · museum in Tainan, Taiwan · Wikipedia - 03Roman Catholic Diocese of Tainan
The Diocese of Tainan is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Taiwan. Erected in March 1961 from territories belonging to the former Apostolic Prefecture of Kiayi, the diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Taipei.
2.5 km · diocese of the Catholic Church in Taiwan · Wikipedia - 04Tainan Confucian Temple
The Tainan Confucian Temple or Quan Tai Shou Xue, is a Confucian temple on Nanmen Road in West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan.
1.9 km · Confucian temple in Tainan, Taiwan · Wikipedia - 05National Museum of Taiwan Literature
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is a museum located in Tainan, Taiwan. Operated by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture, the museum researches, catalogs, preserves, and exhibits literary artifacts, and is also the first national literature museum in Taiwan.
2 km · public art museum in Tainan, Taiwan · Wikipedia - 06Tainan Mosque
The Tainan Mosque is a mosque in the East District of Tainan, Taiwan.
4.6 km · mosque in East, Tainan, Taiwan · Wikipedia - 07Tainan Art Museum
The Tainan Art Museum is an art museum in West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan.
2.1 km · museum in Tainan · Wikipedia - 08National Museum of Taiwan History
The National Museum of Taiwan History is a museum in Annan District, Tainan, Taiwan, covering the history of the island nation of Taiwan and its associated islands.
9.2 km · history museum in Tainan, Taiwan · Wikipedia - 09Tainan Flower Night Market
The Tainan Flower Night Market is a tourism night market in North District, Tainan, Taiwan.
2.8 km · night market in Tainan · Wikipedia - 10Koxinga's Shrine
Koxinga Shrine is a Taiwanese historical temple originally known as Kaishan Temple. Located in Tainan, Taiwan, it was built in honor of Koxinga.
2.3 km · temple in Taiwan, formerly a Shinto Shrine · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
At first glimpse, Tainan may seem all gray buildings with an alarming number of scooters, but thankfully it doesn't take long to discover its charms. Historical buildings and temples are mostly found in three main clusters: near Chihkan Tower and on Zhongzheng Road, which used to be within old city walls during the Qing Dynasty, and in Anping District.
- 01Anping Tree House
- 02Chihkan Tower
- 03Eternal Golden Fortress
- 04Anping Fort
In the early 17th century, European seafarers came to Asia to trade and develop colonial outposts.
- 05National Cheng Kung University
- 06Great South Gate
One of Tainan’s most well preserved city gates.
From Wikivoyage: Tainan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
- 01Tainan Park
Beautiful park in a central part of the city.
- 02Uni-President Lions Baseball
Baseball games in Taiwan are lively and light-hearted with a lot of chanting and cheering in unison.
- 03Sicao Lushe Tunnel
From Wikivoyage: Tainan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Tainan is often known as "the City of Snacks" (小吃城). In addition to the wide variety of food available at night markets, the city also has an abundance of street vendors specializing in tasty and cheap dishes. Oysters in particular, are favored in Tainan, from the long association with Anping port.
- 01Garden Night Market
The biggest and most famous open-air night market, there are tons of food stalls and game booths set up in a gigantic parking lot.
- 02Da Dong Night Market
Very popular among the local university students, especially on Friday nights.
- 03Wu Sheng Night Market
- 04Du Hsiao Yueh
A famous purveyor of dan zai mian (擔仔麵), also known as peddlers' noodles because it was made to be sold by fishermen on the roadside.
- 05A Xia Restaurant
7, Lane 84, Section 2, Zhongyi Road, West Central District.
From Wikivoyage: Tainan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Tainan
- Airports
- Tainan / Tainan Air Base (TNN), 5 km · Kaohsiung (KHH), 49 km · Penghu Magong (MZG), 86 km
- Stations
- Tainan Airport, 4.9 km · Tainan TR station, 3 km · Daqiao railway station, 5.1 km · Rende Station, 9.3 km · Bao'an Station, 7.9 km
- Kaohsiung (Xiaogang) → Tainan49 km · quickest by road, 1h 5m · NT$105–140
- Huxi → Tainan688 km · quickest by road, 9h 47m · ¥265–355
- Taichung (Qingshui) → Tainan146 km · quickest by road, 2h 30m · NT$330–440
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Tainan
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Tainan. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- 01174 km
- 02245 km
- 03357 km
- 04425 km
- 05804 km
If you know how people move in Tainan – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Tainan
Tainan is 44 km from Kaohsiung, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Yongkang DistrictA district in Tainan City, Taiwan8.2 km
- Rende DistrictA district in Tainan City, Taiwan6.7 km
- Anping DistrictA district in Tainan City, Taiwan2.1 km
- Annan DistrictA district in Tainan City, Taiwan6.4 km
- West Central DistrictA district in Tainan City, Taiwan1.2 km
- South DistrictA district in Tainan City, Taiwan3.2 km