Trip Preparation

Coming to Taiwan

Welcome to Taiwan if you're traveling from abroad for APLX, ETA34, and TESPA 2025. To help you with a smooth travel to Taiwan, you can find useful information through the Taiwan Travel Guide portal, maintained by Taiwan's tourism administration. Two pages that may be particularly useful for your trip this time are "Useful Tips," which contains information about electricity socket, currency, foreign currency exchange banks, a list of useful phone numbers, among others, and "Arrival & Departure," which gives an overview of visa information.

Lodging Information

Lodging options can easily be found on Google Maps by searching for "hotels around Taipei Tech." There are two hotels directly across the street from Taipei Tech: KDM Hotel (budget hotel) and MGH Mitsui Garden Hotel (premium hotel).

Drinking Water

It is not advisable to drink unboiled tap water. Brushing your teeth with the tap water is fine. Bottled water is readily available in any convenience store (7-11, Family Mart, OK Mart, Hi-Life, etc.) and bottles are easily recyclable. Many public buildings, including those on the Taipei Tech campus, have water dispensers readily available, and you can refill your bottle or thermos.

Traffic

Do take care when crossing streets or walking in lanes. While pedestrians technically have the right of way, not all drivers are courteous, and it is not uncommon for cars to inch into the crosswalk as you cross or to run through recently changed red lights. You will also want to be on the lookout for scooters, which weave in and out of traffic and may drive brief distances on sidewalks in order to park in designated areas there.

Getting into Taipei

International conference attendees will fly into Taoyuan International Airport. From there, they may travel to their hotel easily by MRT, bus or taxi. More public transportation options can be found on the airport website.

MRT: One of the easiest ways to travel to and from the airport is by the Taoyuan Airport Metro. The fare is 160 NT ($5 U.S., as of February 2025), and you may buy single-journey tickets or put the journey on your MRT Easy Card (200 NT minimum), which can also be used for regular MRT journeys in Taipei. Although Taipei Main Station is technically the transfer point to the airport MRT, the airport MRT is actually closer to Beimen station; you will do some walking underground and must carefully follow the signs to arrive at the airport MRT in any case. If you take the regular MRT to Taipei Main Station and then transfer to the airport MRT, you would be wise to allow 75 minutes for the entire trip.

Taxi: A typical taxi fare is based on the meter (taxis are yellow in color), but it will generally cost around 1,200 NT when there is no traffic (a little over $40 U.S.). It is not customary to tip taxi drivers (or waiters, for that matter) in Taiwan, but many people will not ask for change if, for example, the fare were 1190 NT; 1200 would do. At the airport, there are also car rental companies that offer fixed rate taxi service.

Getting to GIS Taipei Tech

Download Getting-to-venue Guide

MRT: Taipei Tech is located at the center of Taipei City. The campus is right beside the Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station of the Taipei Metro system (exit 4) and is two stations away from Taipei Main Station, the major traffic hub that connects the railway (TR), the high speed railway (HSR), the airport metro, and other Taipei Metro lines.

The GIS Taipei Tech Convention Center is on the second floor of the Everlight Building. The first floor is rented out to a Lexus dealership. Turn north into the open-air area and take the elevator to the second floor. The Everlight Building is a seven–ten minute walk east of the Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station, depending on your walking speed and the traffic lights at the Jianguo elevated road. (You can also arrive at the Everlight Building by walking west for ten–fifteen minutes from Zhongxiao Fuxing Station on the blue and brown lines; you will not need to cross any major roads from that direction.)

Ride-hailing: Uber and Taiwan Taxi (55688) are the two major ride-hailing services in the greater Taipei area, but Uber is the one that's more friendly to non-Mandarin speakers. In the Uber app, the right venue will be suggested by searching for "GIS Taipei Tech." You can double-check by confirming that the address line has "Section 3rd, Zhongxiao East Road."