Hotels near Ximending

Ximending is Taipei's pedestrian shopping district and the closest the city gets to Tokyo's Shibuya. The car-free grid around Hanzhong Street and Emei Street fills from mid-afternoon with students, street performers, tattoo studios and cinema queues. The Red House, an octagonal brick market building from 1908, anchors the western edge and now holds design shops, a small theatre and a cluster of bars in its rear courtyard.

Come for the street food and the noise rather than the shopping, which is mostly chains. Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle on Emei Street has served the same thick, vinegary intestine noodle soup since 1975 for around TWD 65 (about EUR 1.90), eaten standing on the pavement with a plastic spoon. Weekend evenings after 18:00 are chaotic in a way that is either the point or the problem.

Pro Tip: Ay-Chung has no seats and no menu beyond two bowl sizes, so point, pay, then add chilli and garlic paste yourself from the counter. Longshan Temple is one Blue Line stop away, which makes the two an easy single afternoon.