[Travel Taiwan] Money Matters II: Costs and Prices

Taiwan is ideal for travel, because it has all the convenience of modernized cities, but its cost of living is relatively low.


Taiwan is cheaper than: Japan, Korea, Singapore, New York......
Taiwan is more expensive than: Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam......

To give you a better picture of what a trip to Taiwan will cost you, below is a chart of possible costs of traveling in Taipei. Being the capital city, Taipei is the most expensive city in Taiwan, so traveling in other cities will probably be cheaper.

Average Costs of living in Taipei
Category	Item	NTD	USD NTD30=USD1	EUR NTD40=EUR1
住宿 Accommodation	五星級飯店 5 star hotel 雙人房/晚double room/night	5000-10000up	167-334up	125-250up
	高級汽車旅館 Luxury Motel 雙人房/晚double room/night	2500-8000up	83-267up	62.5-200up
	飯店/青年旅舍* Hotel/Hostel* 雙人房/晚double room/night	600-5000	20-167	15-125
交通 Transportation	計程車 Taxi fare 30分路程，無塞車30min ride, no traffic	200	7	5
	公車 City Bus 一趟 per ride	15	0.50	0.37
	市區客運 Long distance City bus 一趟 per ride	75-150	2.5-5	1.87-3.75
	捷運 Metro System 一趟 per ride	20-40	0.60-1.2	0.5-1
飲食 Food& Drinks	小吃 Street side food 一份Per serving	50	1.7	1.25
	便當 Bento 一份Per serving	50-120	1.7-4	1.25-3
	小火鍋 Hot pot 一份Per serving	100-500	3.3-16.7	2.5-12.5
	飲料店 Tea shop drink 一杯 per drink	15-60	0.50-2	0.37-1.5
	麥當勞大麥克 McDonald’s Big Mac	80	2.8	2
	瓶裝水 Bottled water 600ml	20	0.7	0.5
Entertainment	夜店* Clubbing*	700	23	17.5
	看電影 Movies 每場/人per person	270	9	6.75
其他 Other	香菸* Cigarettes* 每包per pack	60-90	2-3	1.5-2.25

*All prices are based on my own experience with a little help of Google. Please let me know if you find any item to be particularly off.

*There is a wide price range of hotels and hostels in Taipei, the price really reflects the accessibility (location), size of room, additional services and other factors. 

*There are  many discounts and free events for ladies, and different clubs have different calculation methods, but from my sparse experience, usually the entrance fee is NT700.

*I am stabbing myself in the thigh for showing you how cheap cigarettes are in Taiwan, because I absolutely hate it when people smoke, but I included it to show you chronic traveling smokers that you don’t have to pack any packs.