Kaohsiung
Taiwan’s big southern port — warm, wide, and reinvented, with a working harbour turned over to art and sea breezes.
Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s second city and its largest harbour, and after decades as a heavy-industry port it has remade itself into one of the most relaxed places on the island. The streets are broad and palm-lined, the weather is warm and sunny most of the year, and a clean two-line MRT — including the famous stained-glass “Dome of Light” at Formosa Boulevard station — ties it together. The disused wharves of the old port have become the Pier-2 Art Centre, a sprawl of warehouse galleries, murals, and bike paths along the water. It is southern Taiwan’s gateway: the High-Speed Rail terminates here, and the temples, beaches, and giant Buddha of the surrounding hills are all within easy reach.
What to do in Kaohsiung
The signature sight is the Lotus Pond on the city’s northern edge, ringed with temples and pavilions — most famously the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, a pair of towers you enter through the dragon’s mouth and leave through the tiger’s, for luck. North of the city, the Fo Guang Shan monastery and its Buddha Museum are crowned by a colossal seated golden Buddha visible for miles. Back in town, spend a half-day at the Pier-2 Art Centre among the harbourside warehouses, and take the short ferry across to Cijin Island, a long sandbar with a lighthouse, an old fort, a black-sand beach, and rows of fresh-seafood restaurants.
- Lotus Pond & Dragon and Tiger Pagodas — in the dragon, out the tiger.
- Fo Guang Shan — vast Buddhist complex with a giant golden Buddha.
- Pier-2 Art Centre — warehouse galleries, murals, and waterfront cycling.
- Cijin Island — a ferry-hop barrier island of beach, lighthouse, and seafood.
- Liuhe Night Market — the central tourist market, strong on seafood.
Where to eat in Kaohsiung
The most central place to graze is the Liuhe Night Market, a single bright lane downtown that leans heavily on the catch of the day — grilled squid, papaya milk, seafood congee, and snake soup for the curious. Locals will also point you to the bigger, more local Ruifeng Night Market near the Lotus Pond. For the freshest fish, take the ferry to Cijin and pick your dinner straight from the tanks lining the main street.
How to get to Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung is the southern terminus of the High-Speed Rail — under two hours from Taipei — arriving at Zuoying station, which connects straight onto the city MRT. There is also an international airport right in town. Get around on the MRT, the light rail that loops the old harbour, and the cross-harbour ferries, all on your EasyCard.
It is the natural southern base: pair it with the historic, food-obsessed old capital of Tainan next door, or head up into the mountains for the sunrise and forest railway at Alishan.