Taipei, Taiwan ? regarding tour operators

I have 2 choices, Alido Travel and My Taiwan Tours ... some Ccer's over the years have used Alido Travel, I believe one cruiser used My Taiwan Tours.

My Taiwan Tours gets EXCELLENT reviews on Trip Advisor.

Anyone have any recent experience with either company. I prefer the My Taiwan Tour itinerary slightly better, and lunch is included, whereas it is at own cost with Alido Travel.

thanks

Carol

We sailed on this Millennium cruise this past October. Really a great itinerary.

This is not an exact answer to your question regarding these two tour companies however, I will share our experience in Taipei.

Taxi service in Taiwan is very competitive. When we walked off the ship in Keelung, there was a taxi representative at the terminal who spoke English. There were many taxis around. They had a picture guide of the various stops depending on the direction you want to go - either Taipei or the Northern coast.

The price was fixed: 3,300 NTD or about $106 for approximately 7 hours of touring. We split this with another couple for so the full day tour was about $26 each. For lunch, we had the driver take us to some of the local specialty places. Food is quite reasonable in Taiwan and there is a lot of great street food. The driver even bought us bottled water and some snacks.

Our ship docked at 1pm. The first day we took a tour of the Northeast coastline lasting until 8pm ending up in Pingxi to watch some lanterns being night launched with the final drop off at the Keelung night market - very near where the ship docks. The second day we toured around the Northwest going to Yehliu Geopark and around to Danshui returning around 3pm. Other people took the taxi tours into Taipei. Once again, numerous taxis were waiting outside the cruise terminal offering the same 3,300 NTD fee for the full day. They had some larger vehicles that could take 6 people for a higher rate.

One possible drawback is the drivers probably do not speak too much English so you will not be getting very much tour guide information. For this reason it is a good idea to study up on what areas you will visit and want to see. We were fortunate to have some Chinese speakers in our party.

Thank you TFCRUISER. Very helpful info. We'll give a taxi a try when we're there next month.

I used Christine Wu (keelung.christine@gmail.com) who is highly recommended on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic. We were in Taipei in Feb. 2015 and spent 3 nights on a stopover on the way to Bali for a cruise. Christine is lovely and speaks English well. She and her husband guided our group of 3 and we saw so much. Worth hiring a guide to accompany you just for the Imperial Palace and the National Museum. Both were crowded but the guide knew exactly which area you needed to see -- the easiest way there and the quickest way to the next highlight without getting swamped by the other (Chinese) tourists. If you can experience the night market, it is totally wonderful experience -- like none other in sight, sound and smells. Christine's husband is tall and you can always see him in the crowd -- plus he is an encyclopedia of information on history and geography. I highly recommend her for seeing Taipei.

If you want to just venture around central Taipei on your own, the Keelung rail station sits just across the bay from where your ship is likely docked. You get off, stop at the tourist office on the way for maps and answers to your questions, and continue around the end of the bay to the train station (15 minutes max from the ship). You then catch a train (around $45HK--$1.50US) to Taipei and see bits of Taiwan along the way, some of it pretty gritty. From central Taipei, which seems very mellow if you've already been to Hong Kong, you can also catch the metro to whatever part of the city you want to see. Whatever you do, don't sign up for an expensive ship excursion called something like "Taipei on your own" where you are dropped in the central city for a few hours and then picked up, paying $50-$100 for the ride. The train will cost you less than $3 round trip!

If you want to just venture around central Taipei on your own, the Keelung rail station sits just across the bay from where your ship is likely docked. You get off, stop at the tourist office on the way for maps and answers to your questions, and continue around the end of the bay to the train station (15 minutes max from the ship). You then catch a train (around $45HK--$1.50US) to Taipei and see bits of Taiwan along the way, some of it pretty gritty. From central Taipei, which seems very mellow if you've already been to Hong Kong, you can also catch the metro to whatever part of the city you want to see. Whatever you do, don't sign up for an expensive ship excursion called something like "Taipei on your own" where you are dropped in the central city for a few hours and then picked up, paying $50-$100 for the ride. The train will cost you less than $3 round trip!

Here is a handy map by Christine Wu to show you the way in Keelung

https://goo.gl/pT5ksF

No matter what else you do in Taipei, make sure you see the wonderful Museum there. It contains most of the famous art from Being brought there by the Nationalists when they left the mainland.

We used Topology Travel for a day-long shore excursion with a group of six. Highly recommended by myself and tripadvisor

Larry

This thread is 2 years old!

Being the original poster, I can report that we had a wonderful time for 1-1/2 days, with tour operator MyTaiwan Tours. Our tour guide Michael was fantastic and we felt we got to see quite a lot. Communication with the company was excellent.

We toured Yehliu Geopark on day 1, with a visit to Keelung night market. The next day was a full day city and cultural tour in Taipei.

I used Christine Wu (keelung.christine@gmail.com) who is highly recommended on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic. We were in Taipei in Feb. 2015 and spent 3 nights on a stopover on the way to Bali for a cruise. Christine is lovely and speaks English well. She and her husband guided our group of 3 and we saw so much. Worth hiring a guide to accompany you just for the Imperial Palace and the National Museum. Both were crowded but the guide knew exactly which area you needed to see -- the easiest way there and the quickest way to the next highlight without getting swamped by the other (Chinese) tourists. If you can experience the night market, it is totally wonderful experience -- like none other in sight, sound and smells. Christine's husband is tall and you can always see him in the crowd -- plus he is an encyclopedia of information on history and geography. I highly recommend her for seeing Taipei.

I am still in contact with Christine Wu (Facebook) and she is still doing a great job of showing folks around Taiwan! A not to be missed opportunity in this unique corner of the world. Wonderful memories.