Taichung Itinerary: How to get to Zhongshe Flower Market From Taipei?

If you are spending more than 3 days in Taiwan, I highly recommend visiting Taichung City for a day trip. It is only about 2-3.5 hours bus ride from Taipei City and 45-65 minutes via THSR.

In this article, I’ll share with you how to get to Zhongshe Flower Market from Taipei. And if you decide to stay for the whole day, check out the day tour Taichung Itinerary I created below.

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How to get to Taichung From Taipei?

Option 1: Via Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR)

The fastest and most convenient way to get to Taichung is through THSR. It will only take 1 hour and 5 minutes to get there and the ticket costs NTD700/PHP1,235.00 for a standard seat and NTD1250/PHP2,205.00 for a business seat. Insider tip: the ticket is cheaper if you buy the ticket online via Klook. It only costs around NTD555/PHP980.00.

A friendly reminder to not forget to buy and reserve your seats/date of travel a day before your trip. Instructions on where to reserve your seats will be provided by Klook after purchasing your tickets.

BUY THSR TICKET HERE AND USE MY CODE JOANSFOOTPRINTS TO GET 5% OFF

how to get to Zhongshe Flower Market from Taipei — High Speed Rail (HSR) to Taichung

Option 2: Via Bus

The cheapest alternative is via bus transportation. If you are traveling on a budget, this could be the best option for you. But you have to take note that traveling by bus will take 2-3.5 hours which will eat up your time especially if you are traveling in a time sensitive manner.

Walk towards Taipei Bus Station which is just beside Taipei Main Station. There are several bus line companies operating from 6AM to 11:30PM. The fare is NTD220-280 / PHP388-494.00.

Things to do in Taichung

You’ll be surprised by the things you can wrap up in a day in Taichung. Here are my recommended top things to do in the City.

Visit the Famous Zhongshe Flower Market in Taichung

Entrance Fee: January-March (NTD150/PHP264.00 adults; NTD75/PHP132.00 children), April-December (NTD130/PHP229.00 adults; NTD60/PHP105.00 children)
Operating days/hours: Open daily from 8AM – 6PM

Firstly, the famous flower market in the country. Zhongshe Flower Market has flooded our Google searches about Taiwan. It is always the picturesque and IG worthy piano in the middle of a flowering field.

The European-style gardens vary at the change of seasons. So the garden really depends on what month you will visit. For instance, every year from January to March, tulips and lilies come into full bloom.

Aside from the sea of tulips, the market also encompasses a flower viewing area, potted plants area, seasonal flora sea, lotus farm and many more. Then from December to April you can experience a strawberry-picking activity.

Try Miyahara Ice Cream & Explore the Harry Potter Inspired Building

Entrance Fee: FREE
Operating days/hours: Open daily from 10AM – 10PM

The red-brick architecture built by Miyahara Takeo, a Japanese ophthalmology doctor in 1927 is situated nearby Taichung Train Station. It rose to fame because of its incredible architecture and interior decor that was redesigned like Hogwarts in the Harry Potter film. As a potterhead and a sucker for ice cream myself, I couldn’t just miss this Harry Potter-esque in Taichung!

Other than that, Miyahara is probably the best place to buy food souvenirs. Aside from Miyahara ice cream, you can find stuff like traditional Taiwanese pastries, pineapple cake, sun cake and premium chocolates and cookies.

A word of advice, Miyahara can get pretty busy especially when buying ice cream. We got there late in the afternoon and the queue for ice cream started outside the building. So if you want to skip the crowd, I highly suggest going early in the morning.

So how much is a scoop of Miyahara ice cream? You can have a guess that it’s overpriced for its popularity. 1 scoop costs NTD90, 2 scoop costs NTD160 and 3 scoop costs NTD225. All of which comes with free toppings. Add NTD20 if you want it in a waffle cone which I highly recommend!

Check out the Colorful RAINBOW VILLAGE in Taichung

Entrance Fee: FREE
Operating days/hours: 8AM-6PM

If you have more time to spare and want to check out some artworks, go to Rainbow Village. From the name itself, you can expect walls and homes with colorful paintings. If you want to learn more about the history and the artist of the Rainbow Village, proceed to the Story Room.

Fun fact: did you know that they sell “thunder eggs” which are eggs boiled in tea? Definitely a must try!

Freediving at Divecube Hotel

Divecube is Asia’s first deep indoor pool with 21 meters depth and it is situated in Taichung, Taiwan. I think freediving in a deep indoor pool should be in every freediver’s bucket list. If you are planning to stay in Taichung for 2 days and 1 night, might as well spend the night at Divecube hotel so you’ll get the chance to dive in its indoor pool.

I am a freediver and I was really looking forward to do this activity. However, time didn’t permit us to experience this because we only had 1 day to spare in Taichung.

BOOK YOUR STAY AT DIVECUBE HOTEL AND EXPERIENCE FREEDIVING IN ITS 21 METER DEPTH INDOOR POOL

Sample Day Tour Taichung Itinerary & Budget

Here’s a sample itinerary that we did. Assuming that you will follow the time schedule strictly.

6:30AM	HSR Taipei to Taichung	PHP980 BUY IT HERE
7:30AM	From HSR Taichung Station, walk towards TRA Xinwuri Station and ride the train to Taian Station. From Taiwan Station, ride a taxi to Zhongshe Flower Market	Train: NTD34/PHP60.00 Taxi: NTD100/PHP176.00
9:00AM – 11:00AM	Explore Zhongshe Flower Market	NTD150/PHP264.00
11:00AM	Ride a taxi back to Taian Station and ride TRA to Taichung Station. Walk towards Miyahara.	NTD30/PHP50.00
12:30PM	Explore MIYAHARA building and ice cream	FREE
2:30PM	Ride TRA Taichung Station to Xinwuri Station. Then from TRA Xinwuri Station, take Bus 56 to Rainbow Village bus stop.	Train: NTD15/PHP26.00 BUS: NTD15/PHP26.00
3:30PM	Explore Rainbow Village	FREE
6:30PM	HSR Taichung back to Taipei	PHP980 BUY IT HERE

Where to Stay in Taichung?

Here are my recommended places to stay in Taichung City just in case you want to stay there for more than 2 days.

BOOK ROOMS AT CHANCE HOTEL FOR PHP1,112.00 OVERNIGHT GOOD FOR 2

RESERVE ROOMS AT TWINSTAR HOTEL FOR PHP1,330.00 OVERNIGHT GOOD FOR 2

BOOK ROOMS AT FULWON HOTEL FOR PHP1899.00 OVERNIGHT GOOD FOR 2

Help me improve my Travel Guide on how to get to Zhongshe Flower Market from Taipei! By commenting suggestions in the comment section below, I am very open to new ideas.
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