TAIWAN | Sun Moon Lake is the most loved attraction, but Taipei 101 remains one of its biggest draws

The Philippines in 1996-1997, China in 2000, Vietnam in 2009, Japan in 2013 and 2025, South Korea in 2014 and 2024, Taiwan in 2017 (the starting point of Trip By Trip), Singapore in 2018, Hong Kong and Macau in 2023, Bangkok in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in early 2026. I like travelling to East Asia. I’m pondering a Republic of China (ROC) trip for the later this year. Current affairs make me think I shouldn’t wait too much to revisit Formosa.

Taiwan’s tourism statistics reveal a striking gap between the places international visitors actually visit and the sights they rate most highly. Sun Moon Lake has emerged as the country’s clear favourite, while Taipei 101, Ximending and Taiwan’s night markets attract vastly larger numbers of visitors.

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Taiwan’s tourism statistics paint a more nuanced picture of the country’s most popular attractions than a simple list of visitor numbers would suggest.

The latest survey of international visitors by the Taiwan Tourism Administration shows that Sun Moon Lake is by far Taiwan’s most loved major attraction. At the same time, the statistics show that the places attracting the largest numbers of visitors are concentrated in Taipei, particularly Ximending, Taipei 101 and the city’s famous night markets.

The distinction is important: an attraction can be extremely popular without necessarily being the one visitors like most.

Sun Moon Lake is the clear favourite

Among international visitors who had visited the country’s major scenic attractions, Sun Moon Lake was the favourite of 38.18% in 2025, according to the latest Tourism Administration survey.

It was followed by Jiufen, at 23.18%, and Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung, at 21.69%. Tamsui came fourth at 16.45%, followed by Yangmingshan at 13.69%.

The remainder of the top 10 consisted of Yehliu, the National Palace Museum, Pingxi, Beitou and Taipei 101.

The ranking is particularly striking because Sun Moon Lake was visited by only about 15.8% of international respondents, compared with 42.55% for Jiufen and 60.59% for Taipei 101.

In other words, Taipei 101 is much more likely to be visited, but Sun Moon Lake is much more likely to become a visitor’s favourite.

The same pattern was already evident in the previous year’s figures.

In 2024, Sun Moon Lake was chosen as the favourite by 42.70% of visitors who had been there, compared with 21.07% for Jiufen and 16.65% for Tamsui. Pingxi and Yehliu also scored more than 15%.

The Tourism Administration defines the favourite rate as the proportion of visitors who selected a particular place as their single favourite among the attractions they had visited. It is therefore not a general approval rating of all tourists.

Taipei 101 is visited far more often

If the question changes from “Which place did you love most?” to “Which places did you actually visit?”, the ranking changes dramatically.

In the 2025 international visitor survey, night markets topped the list, with 86.88% of respondents saying they had visited one.

Among individual attractions, Taipei 101 was the most visited, with 60.59%, followed by Ximending and the gay / queer / LGBTQIA+ Red House area at 57.55%.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was visited by 46.52%, while Jiufen reached 42.55%.

This means that Taipei’s most recognisable attractions continue to dominate the international visitor itinerary, even though some of them perform much less strongly in the favourite ranking.

Taipei 101 is the clearest example. It was visited by more than six in ten international tourists surveyed, yet only 9.69% of visitors who had seen it selected it as their favourite. That put it tenth in the 2025 favourite ranking.

The pattern was already visible in 2024

The 2024 Tourism Administration survey shows remarkably similar results.

Night markets were visited by 83.84% of international visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 57.04%, Ximending at 56.13%, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall at 42.16% and Jiufen at 41.37%.

The favourite ranking was almost the reverse: Sun Moon Lake came first with 42.70%, Jiufen second with 21.07%, Tamsui third with 16.65%, Pingxi fourth with 16.48% and Yehliu fifth with 15.75%. The consistency between 2024 and 2025 makes Sun Moon Lake’s position particularly noteworthy. It was the number-one favourite in both years, while Jiufen remained number two.

Night markets are Taiwan’s tourism powerhouse

Night markets deserve a category of their own because they are not a single attraction but one of Taiwan’s defining tourism experiences.

In the 2025 international visitor survey, 86.88% of visitors said they had visited a night market. Among individual night markets, Raohe Street Night Market in Taipei narrowly led Ningxia, with visit rates of 25.48% and 25.21% respectively. Shilin Night Market followed at 23.57%. Fengjia Night Market in Taichung was fourth at 8.05%.

This represents a change from 2024, when Raohe was clearly ahead at 35.63%, followed by Shilin at 31.09% and Ningxia at 21.19%.

The figures also underline how different the various measures are. Night markets collectively have an enormous reach, but night markets as a category ranked only eighth in the 2024 favourite-attraction table, with 11.62% selecting them as their favourite.

Ximending is Taipei’s visitor giant

Raw visitor-count statistics provide another perspective – although they should not be confused with the international visitor survey.

According to Taipei’s official statistics, Ximending recorded 28.26 million visits in 2025, making it the city’s most visited tourism area.

Taipei 101 was second, with 14.75 million, followed by Songshan Cultural and Creative Park with 12.51 million. Yangming Park on Yangmingshan recorded 6.49 million, Huashan 1914 Creative Park 5.82 million and the Red House 5.58 million. Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall recorded 4.92 million.

The numbers are enormous, but they come with an important qualification.

These are visitor counts rather than unique international tourists. They include domestic visitors and repeat visits, so somebody visiting Ximending several times can contribute several visits to the total. Nevertheless, they demonstrate the extraordinary scale of Taipei’s tourism economy.

Ximending alone recorded almost twice as many visits as Taipei 101 in 2025.

The city’s creative districts are major attractions too

The Taipei figures also reveal that Taiwan’s tourism landscape is broader than its traditional monuments.

Songshan Cultural and Creative Park attracted 12.51 million visits in 2025, placing it third in the city’s overall ranking. Huashan 1914 Creative Park recorded 5.82 million. Both are former industrial sites transformed into cultural and creative districts.

Yangmingshan also performed strongly, with 6.49 million visits in 2025. That is particularly interesting when compared with the international visitor survey: Yangmingshan ranked fifth among international visitors’ favourite attractions, with a favourite rate of 13.69%.

Taipei’s statistics also recorded more than five million visits to the Red House and almost five million to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

The National Palace Museum remains an international heavyweight

The National Palace Museum does not dominate the raw visitor figures in Taipei, but it remains one of the country’s most important attractions for international visitors.

In the 2024 international survey, 23.49% of visitors said they had visited the museum. Among those visitors, 13.25% selected it as their favourite attraction, putting it seventh in the favourite ranking.

It therefore performs rather differently from Taipei 101: fewer tourists visit it, but those who do are somewhat more likely to regard it as a favourite.

Jiufen may be Taiwan’s best combination of popularity and affection

If one attraction bridges the gap between the two rankings, it is Jiufen.

It was visited by 42.55% of international tourists in the 2025 survey, putting it among Taiwan’s most popular individual attractions.

But it also achieved a 23.18% favourite rate, second only to Sun Moon Lake.

The 2024 figures tell the same story: 41.37% of visitors had been to Jiufen, while 21.07% of those visitors selected it as their favourite. That makes Jiufen arguably Taiwan’s most successful combination of high international visibility and high visitor satisfaction.

Outside Taipei, other destinations stand out

The Tourism Administration’s statistics also provide a broader look at destinations rather than individual attractions.

In 2024, Tamsui/Bali was the most frequently identified destination among international visitors, at 4.01%. Pier-2 Art Center in Kaohsiung followed at 2.69%, while Anping in Tainan, and Jiaoxi each reached 2.55%. Taipei’s eastern and Xinyi shopping districts followed at 2.45%.

This suggests that Taiwan’s tourism appeal extends well beyond Taipei’s famous landmarks.

Pier-2’s particularly strong favourite score in the 2025 survey is notable: although only about one in nine international visitors reported visiting it, 21.69% of those who did selected it as their favourite.

Four different ways of defining “Taiwan’s best”

Taken together, the statistics produce four very different rankings.

The most visited by international tourists:

Night markets,
Taipei 101,
Ximending,
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall,
Jiufen.

The most loved by international visitors:

Sun Moon Lake,
Jiufen,
Pier-2 Art Center,
Tamsui,
Yangmingshan.

The biggest attractions by raw visitor numbers:

Ximending,
Taipei 101,
Songshan Cultural and Creative Park,
Yangmingshan,
Huashan 1914 Creative Park.

The strongest combination of popularity and affection: Jiufen stands out, while Sun Moon Lake dominates on the affection side.

The distinction is important because a raw visitor ranking can make an attraction look more impressive simply because it is in the middle of a densely populated city or shopping district. Conversely, a remote scenic destination can have relatively modest visitor numbers while producing a much stronger emotional response among those who make the journey.

Taiwan’s tourism story is therefore not just Taipei 101

The statistics challenge the idea that Taiwan’s tourism is primarily about Taipei’s skyline and shopping districts.

Taipei 101 may be Taiwan’s best-known landmark and one of its most visited attractions. Ximending may be the country’s biggest tourism hotspot by raw visitor numbers. Night markets are an almost universal part of the international visitor experience.

But when visitors are asked which attraction they actually loved most, a lake in central Taiwan comes out on top – and by a considerable margin.

Sun Moon Lake’s continued first place in the favourite rankings, combined with Jiufen’s consistently strong performance, suggests that Taiwan’s strongest tourism assets may ultimately be its landscapes, historic towns and distinctive local experiences, rather than its most famous individual landmarks.

In short, Taipei gets the tourists, but Sun Moon Lake wins their hearts.

Taiwan 2017

Some tourism statistics

3 thoughts on “TAIWAN | Sun Moon Lake is the most loved attraction, but Taipei 101 remains one of its biggest draws”

pedmar10 says:

11 October 2026 at 19:48

I have brief memories of Taiwan as went there once to get together with engineers working on IT systems, my boss in Florida was from there. Thanks for the memories of always. Cheers

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1. Timothy says:
  
  11 October 2026 at 19:52
  
  You’re welcome! I’m going back soon.
  
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  1. pedmar10 says:
    
    11 October 2026 at 20:48
    
    Great take pictures always wonderful to reminiscence of the good old days old ok ::)
    
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