Taipei With Autistic Children

Visiting Taipei with autistic children is probably not the first place that crosses your mind when you think of going somewhere that will protect their sensory needs. But if like me, you are a bit more adventurous or desire to see new and distant places – you may just find yourself in Taipei with autistic children. Here is my guide to navigating Taipei while making it enjoyable for your autistic loved one.

You can follow my travels in Taipei from start to finish in this story highlight on Instagram.

Getting To Taipei

Most people who travel to Taiwan will fly into Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport which has the airport code TPE. This airport is in Taoyuan but is not far from Taipei by public or private transport. Here are the best options for travelling from TPE Airport to Taipei city:

There are several ways to travel from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) to Taipei city:

• Taoyuan Airport MRT: The MRT is also what we know as the subway or train outside of Asia. This takes between 35-40 minutes and should cost you around NT$150 ($5). You can board from TPE Airport terminal 1 or 2 in the MRT station and you can hope on the purple line to Taipei Main Station in the heart of the city.
• Taxi: A taxi should take between 40-50 minutes (depends on traffic). The cost will be NT$1,000–1,500 which is $30-$50. When you exit the arrivals hall in TPE Airport you will be greeted by taxi drivers who are vetted and declared safe to drive the taxis. Their taxis are yellow. We did this on arrival and we got 2 taxis because of how many people we are (5) and each taxi cost around NT$1300 each.

• Private Car / Airport Transfer: A private car can be arranged in advance and will cost anywhere between NT$1,200 to 2,500 ($40–$80). The cost will depend on the type and size of the car and you can also pay extra to use car seats for the children. You can find drivers on apps such as Klook and GetYourGuide. We did this on the return to the airport and booked the driver for extra time to take us to Shiufen Old Street before the airport. You can find our driver, Gary, on Instagram as Yapit Travel.
• Uber / Ride-Hailing: You can use ride-hailing apps to secure a ride from the airport to the city and it should also cost around NT$1,000–1,500 ($30–$50). We often used Grab in Asia and have found it to be really reliable.
• Bus: The bus will take around 50-70 minutes (depending on route & traffic) and will cost between NT$120–140 ($4–$5). There are different routes you can take and some popular ones are 1819 (To Taipei Main Station and 1960 (To Taipei City Hall / Xinyi District). There are bus stops outside Terminals 1 & 2.

Please note that in 2026 Taipei airport will open a 3rd terminal and additional options for transport to the city might open up.

Where To Stay in Taipei

Family-Friendly Activities in Taipei

Hop-on Hop-off bus tour

Taipei is a big city, and there is a lot to see and do. Travelling, especially with autistic children, can become quickly distressing if too much walking is involved which is why I do recommend the hop-on hop-off bus tours to families like ours. You can book the hop-on hop-off bus tour online via GetYourGuide here. I love to use GetYourGuide because I can keep track of all of my activities and tickets in one app!

Taipei 101 Observatory Deck

Both my boys downright refused to go up Taipei 101 – they are not fans of heights! If you do fancy seeing the city from an incredible height then Taipei 101 is a great option for you. I hope to get my boys up Taipei 101 on our next trip to Taipei – fingers crossed! I’ll be booking my tickets via GetYourGuide because I know and trust them for my travel tours and have used them around the workd.

Take a trip to Shiufen or Jiufen (or both!)

One of our favourite activities in Taipei was actually taking a trip to Shiufen Old Street where we painted a lantern and set it off with our hopes and dreams for 2025. I really enjoyed this activitiy and booking it as a tour with transfers worked best for us because it gave the children a comfortable and safe space to sit to travel there and meant that we could just tell our guide when we were ready to leave. You can book these tours easily with GetYourGuide and I recommend this one if you want to do Shiufen and Jiufen in one trip. We actually booked to go with Gary who I mentioned already – you can find him here: Gary | Yapit Travel.

Taipei Zoo

Visiting the zoo if often a favourite activities for families – not just ours! We often try to incorporate activities that involves some sort of learning opportunity and the zoo in Taipei is perfect for that too. You can pre-book your entrance ticket on GetYourGuide right here.

Our Favourite Sensory-Friendly Experience In Taipei

Street Art

We did a lot of wandering around Ximending in Taipei, and that meant we were often amazed by the amazing street art hidden in so many unlikely places. I would recommend visiting the area beside Taipei Cinema Park, there is a street nearby with the most incredible painting that will make your jaw drop.

Getting Around Taipei With Autistic Children

There are so many options for how you could get around Taipei with autistic children – but what works for you might not work for another family. What I took into consideration when choosing how we would get around was:

• Where are we going, and for how long?
• Can we walk there?
• What is the weather like? Would being in the heat or rain cause sensory issues?
• What is the transport like here? Would the train be busy and overwhelming?
• Will be have our bags? This makes travel more stressful and we often opt for more comfortable options when we also have to transport our bags.
• What is the temperament of the kids at the time we want to go?

These are things I often ask myself before I decide HOW to get somewhere. We happened to travel to Taipei over New Year and this meant that public transport was already much busier than it would be at any other time of year. There was also issues with trying to book cars via Grab or Bolt because of car seat laws so that meant it was easier to try to speak with a taxi driver and organise our initial taxi to the city that way.

In the end, we walked absolutely everywhere in Ximending when we wanted to see something. This gave us flexibility to stop and rest or head back to the hotel when we needed. It also gets the kids some exercise and that is always helpful for my children who need to run and play throughout the day to stay regulated. When it came to taking a longer journey in Taiwan we first took a taxi and then relied on one driver for every trip because we were happy with his service and felt comfortable and safe in his vehicle.

Is Taipei Autism-Friendly?

We found that when we landed, the airport was really not autism-friendly. Staff were laughing at my toddler who was having a meltdown and this just made it worse. We were also pulled out of the queue for passport control with no explanation other than I think they thought we hadn’t done our landing cards and wanted us to stand by the side until we done them/found them. We had done them in advance online so it was all under control. The hard part was not knowing what they wanted us to do and standing there with 3 kids having meltdowns when we could have been passing passport control as there was absolutely no one else there at the time.

Taipei, as a city, seems to have a lot to offer families with autistic children. The city is mostly very clean and well-organised and it is easy to travel around. There are so many fantastic things to see and do and we felt that there was so many things that matched our kids’ special interests that it was actually hard to prioritise what to do and see.

One issue we came across is that Google maps is often outdated or incorrect (the images don’t match the real-life place) so we often went to see a place for it to be demolished or just not the same place from the pictures.

We found Taipei easy to find the foods our kids like, but keep in mind that chains like McDonald’s or Burger King might follow different recipes than they do back home so its a bit of a game of trying it to see and taking it from there.

Things That Make Taipei Stand Out

• It is easy to hail rides in Taipei so you can often work around how the autistic person feels by waiting until they feel capable to get out and see things. There are often plenty of cars so they turn up quickly after you request a ride.
• Taipei is a modern city which caters to the special interests or hobbies of many – including rare interests like gaming or anime characters. We found that our kids were absolutely amazed and engrossed in things they saw around the city that featured their favourite characters from shows, YouTube, games etc. We even got Sylvie some unique Peppa Pig toys from the Family Mart by our hotel.
• Foodpanda is popular and many restaurants are signed up to the app. This makes eating a range of foods easy even if you can’t manage sitting in a restaurant with your autistic child. We used Foodpanda for a range of meals and had breakfast, lunch and dinner using the app (not always all of them in the same day, I am just pointing out that every meal type is available if you need it).
• We found that Taipei was an easy place to ask people for help or advice – most people speak some English and this really helped us to know exactly what to do or where to go which minimises distress.

Tips for a Smooth Experience

1. Plan Ahead: Research each location and contact any hotels or attractions to discuss any special accommodations your child might need. If you can plan to arrive after check-in time you should, or try to arrange an early check-in.
2. Sensory Tools: Bring along sensory tools and comfort items that help manage sensory needs, such as noise-cancelling headphones, sensory toys, and a sensory toolkit.
3. Clear Communication: Ensure that everyone involved in the trip understands the needs and preferences of the neurodiverse individual. Clear communication can prevent misunderstandings and enhance the travel experience. Consider using PECS or an AAC. We have a free pack of travel PECS available for download. Consider using our Taiwan PECS for a more personalised travel experience in Taipei and Taiwan.
4. Safety: Consider getting an autism card for your child, or even better – use our emergency passport for medical information and important contacts. Our absolute must have safety item for travelling with an autistic child is a TinyTags wristband or tag that can be tapped or scanned by a mobile phone – giving the person who tapped it all of the information they need to get your child back to you. TinyTags also feature a location alert to help you find your child.

Pin This!