Tainan
To Tarry in Tainan
Taiwan as a whole is a lovely country, but even within it, there are some sites that stand out in particular as the sorts of places travelers would be likely to tarry in. Tainan is just such a place. This historic location was once the country’s capital and is also its oldest city. As such, it is one of the best places for experiencing Taiwanese culture in its modern incarnation while also staying close to its roots.
Tainan’s rich cultural heritage manifests not just in the profusion of national museums and art-related sights within it but also in everyday life. For instance, this has long been dubbed by fellow Taiwanese as the “City of Snacks”. Many great traditional Taiwanese delicacies and foods hail from here, and the general consensus is that they are never as cheap, as authentic, or as good as when they are made in Tainan. This is another reason travelers love the city, by the way. After all, for most tourists, cheap and good food is a valuable thing.
But Tainan’s heritage is not just found in cuisine or the arts: it exists in wood and stone too, manifest in the coastal forts and dozens upon dozens of religious shrines within its boundaries. The first Taoist and Confucian temples in Taiwan are found here, and there are few other cities in the country too that can rival Tainan’s number and extravagance of religious festivals.
Tainan has many other delights besides those traditionally linked to cultural tourism, of course. Good shopping can be had here due to its status as a modernized city, and the biggest night market in Taiwan is found here too (the Flower Night Market). There are superb hotels and resorts to be found whether in the metropolis proper or outside of it (such as at the hot springs of Guanziling ). In short, tourists are unlikely to run out of things to do or see in Tainan, which puts it up there among the best tourist draws in the country.
