Taipei Layover

Yes. The US State Department says US passport holders can enter without a visa for up to 90 days. The UK Foreign Office says the same for British passports and adds that you can extend once, by another 90 days, inside Taiwan.

Since October 1, 2025, every visitor without a Taiwanese resident certificate must submit the Taiwan Arrival Card (TWAC) online, up to three days before arrival. Do it before your first flight, on the National Immigration Agency's official site. The free tour organizer also asks you to complete it on the day you arrive.

Our transit visa guide compares Taiwan with the other Asian hubs.

Taoyuan Metro, citing the airport, says passengers must reach their airline's check-in counter at least 2 to 3 hours before departure. If your bags are checked through and you hold your onward boarding pass, plan on two hours back at the airport.

The free tour rules show how the authorities do the math: you cannot join the morning tour, which returns by 12:30 p.m., if your flight leaves before 3 p.m., and you cannot join the afternoon tour, back by 6 p.m., if you fly before 8:30 p.m. That is about two and a half hours of margin after the bus returns.

On your own, the Airport MRT Express runs every 15 minutes during the day and takes 36 minutes from Terminal 1, so allow about an hour each way door to door. With an hour to land and clear immigration, a 7-hour layover leaves about two hours in Taipei; 10 hours leaves five.

Airport MRT. Take the purple Express from Airport Terminal 1 (A12) or Terminal 2 (A13) to Taipei Main Station (A1). Taoyuan Metro's timetable shows 36 minutes from Terminal 1, with trains every 15 minutes through the day and later evening runs taking 39 minutes. The full single fare is $4.90 (£3.70; NT$160); a One Day Pass costs $9.80 (£7.40; NT$320) and only pays off if you ride three times.

Taipei Main Station connects to the Taipei Metro's Red and Blue lines, so everything in the plans below is one or a few stops away.

Coming back. If you must check in again, Taipei Main Station has in-town check-in on level B1 from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., up to 3 hours before your flight, for participating airlines.

Taxi. We could not verify an official taxi fare: Taoyuan Airport's website blocked access when we checked. The train is the reliable option.

Six hours is too short for the free tour, which needs 7, and tight for the city. If you want out anyway, ride to Taipei Main Station and stay within a short walk or one metro stop:

• Ximending, one stop west on the Blue Line, for street snacks and a look at the Red House.
• Or Liberty Square and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a short ride south on the Red Line.

Then ride straight back. With a flight that leaves before late afternoon, stay at the airport instead.

Twelve hours gives you about seven in the city. Take the free afternoon tour if your times fit, or do the same ground yourself:

• Late morning: Dadaocheng and Dihua Street, the old merchant quarter northwest of Taipei Main Station, for dried goods and tea shops.
• Lunch: Ximending, then walk to Longshan Temple, two stops from Taipei Main on the Blue Line.
• Afternoon: Liberty Square and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
• Evening: dinner at Ningxia Night Market, north of Taipei Main Station, then the Airport MRT back.

With a night in town, stay near Taipei Main Station so the airport train is on your doorstep. Spend day one on the 12-hour plan above, then add:

• Evening: Taipei 101 and the Xinyi district at the east end of the Red Line, then Raohe Street Night Market for dinner.
• Next morning: the Tamsui line north to Tamsui Old Street and the Danjiang Bridge, the route the free morning tour now follows.

Note that the free tours are for layovers of up to 24 hours. Compare Taipei with Hong Kong and Tokyo in our best stopover cities ranking.

Free Half-Day Tour. Run by Taiwan's Tourism Administration for transit passengers with 7 to 24 hour layovers who can enter visa-free. The morning tour (8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) visits the Danjiang Bridge, Fuyou Temple and Tamsui Old Street, a route launched on May 15, 2026. The afternoon tour (2 to 6 p.m.) covers Dadaocheng and Dihua Street, Liberty Square and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and Ximending. The evening tour (6 to 10 p.m.) goes to a Taoyuan temple and Zhongli Tourist Night Market. There is also a self-guided option with complimentary Airport MRT tickets.

Each tour has 18 seats; book online 5 to 90 days before arrival, or ask at the Tourist Service Centers in both arrival halls for same-day seats. Buses leave from Terminal 1 and, 15 minutes earlier, Terminal 2. There is no room for luggage on the bus, so store bags at the airport's baggage counter first.

Transit gift vouchers. Transit passengers who enter Taiwan for up to 24 hours can claim $18.40 (£13.80; NT$600) in vouchers for shops inside Taoyuan airport, but the campaign ends on October 31, 2026 or when funds run out.

Airlines. EVA Air's and China Airlines' websites could not be reached when we checked, so we list no airline stopover offer. See our stopover programs guide.

Taoyuan Airport's own website blocked automated access on October 21, 2026, so we could not verify its airside lounges, transit hotel or storage rates today, and we do not quote them. What is confirmed: the Tourist Service Centers in the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 arrival halls, which also handle tour registration, are open 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. (Terminal 1) and 5:30 a.m. to midnight (Terminal 2).

If you need a bed, the Airport MRT has an Airport Hotel station (A14a), one stop beyond Terminal 2, but that is landside: you clear immigration first.

US passport

Free to leave. Visa-free for up to 90 days (US passport); since October 1, 2025 every visitor must submit the online Taiwan Arrival Card (TWAC), up to 3 days before travel

UK passport

Free to leave. Visa-free for up to 90 days (extendable once by 90 days in Taiwan); submit the Taiwan Arrival Card online within 3 days before arrival

Into town from TPE

36 min by Taoyuan Airport MRT Express from Airport Terminal 1 (A12) to Taipei Main Station (A1), $4.90 (£3.70; NT$160)

Stopover program

No program found. No airline stopover program verified: Neither airline's site could be reached on October 21, 2026, so no stopover offer is listed. The Tourism Administration's NT$600 transit gift vouchers ($18.40 (£13.80; NT$600)), spendable only at Taoyuan airport shops, are a government campaign that ends October 31, 2026 or when funds run out

Transit tour

Taiwan Free Half-Day Tour (Tourism Administration) (free): Free guided bus tours for transit passengers with 7 to 24 hour layovers who can enter Taiwan visa-free: morning 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Tamsui: Danjiang Bridge, Fuyou Temple, Tamsui Old Street), afternoon 2 to 6 p.m. (Dadaocheng and Dihua Street, Liberty Square and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Ximending) and evening 6 to 10 p.m. (Taoyuan temple and Zhongli Tourist Night Market); 18 seats, book 5 to 90 days ahead; plus a self-guided option with complimentary Airport MRT tickets

Left luggage

Airport baggage service counters (the tour organizer says bags must be stored there, for a fee, because the tour bus has no luggage space) Rates not verified: Taoyuan Airport's website blocked automated access on October 21, 2026

Best months for walking around by our weather score: February, March, April. Daytime highs and lows, rain days (1 mm or more) and sunshine hours are 2016–2025 averages for Taipei Taoyuan (Open-Meteo historical weather archive).