Hotels near Taipei 101

Taipei 101 held the title of world's tallest building from 2004 to 2010 at 508 metres, and it still fixes the shape of the Taipei skyline. The observatory spans floors 88 to 91, costs TWD 600 (about EUR 17), and the pressure-controlled lift reaches the 89th floor in 37 seconds. What people actually remember is the tuned mass damper: a 660-tonne golden sphere hung between floors 87 and 92 that swings to counter typhoon winds and earthquakes.

The lower five floors are a shopping mall, and the basement food court is far better value than the restaurants stacked above it. Skip the 101st-floor outdoor deck on humid days, when cloud simply sits on the tower and you pay extra to stand inside it. Sunset slots between 17:00 and 18:30 are the busiest hour of the day, every day.

Pro Tip: Buy a timed observatory ticket online before any weekend visit and enter at the fifth-floor desk inside the mall. If the queue still looks long, walk 20 minutes to Elephant Mountain instead - you get the tower in the frame rather than standing on top of it, and it costs nothing.