Cash, a physical EasyCard and a few well-chosen apps cover most trips
Taiwan is easy to navigate with Google Maps, but live bus estimates are better checked in Bus+.
Carry New Taiwan dollars because night markets, small restaurants and some lodging still require cash, and buy a physical EasyCard or iPASS for buses and wider transit use. No Taiwanese payment app is essential for a short visit. Since July 1, 2026, Taipei Metro accepts international contactless cards and Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay at every gate, but this does not extend to all buses or every metro elsewhere. Use Traditional Chinese for saved addresses and show the written destination to taxi drivers.
Uber is the simplest ride app for an overseas account, while local taxi apps may require a Taiwanese phone number. For rail, distinguish Taiwan Railway from High Speed Rail because similarly named stations can be in different places. Enable official weather and disaster alerts during typhoon and earthquake season.
The most visitor-friendly on-demand ride app, with multilingual booking and coverage across many populated parts of Taiwan.
An English-language prebooked private transfer service for airports, long distances and hard-to-reach destinations.
A licensed-taxi booking alternative currently serving Keelung, Taipei and Taoyuan.
A large local taxi fleet with broad national dispatch, an English interface and cash payment.
A Taiwanese taxi-dispatch app with English support and cash or linked-card payment.
Taiwan's dominant messaging app, commonly used by hotels, guides, restaurants and local service accounts.
The best all-purpose map for places, walking, rail and metro routing, with Traditional Chinese addresses and offline areas.
An English-capable nationwide bus tracker with stops, live estimates, public bikes and metro maps.
Taipei Metro's official multilingual app for exits, first and last trains, live operations and crowding.
The official bike-share app for station availability and single-use credit-card rentals across participating cities.
The most useful tool for Traditional Chinese text, camera, photo, speech and downloaded offline translation.
The official conventional-rail app for English timetables, reservations, payment, live running information and mobile tickets.
Taiwan High Speed Rail's official English-capable app for west-coast booking and QR mobile tickets.
An optional English-language booking app focused on selected hotel restaurants, buffets and dining deals.
The official English-capable weather app for local forecasts, radar, air quality, earthquakes, typhoons and warning notifications.
The National Fire Agency's multilingual preparedness app with alerts, emergency information and offline map tools.
Reliable mobile internet at better prices than most travel eSIMs, with polished iOS and Android apps and support for making and receiving phone calls.
One of the biggest travel eSIM brands, with a very large destination catalog.
Known for unlimited-data plans in many destinations, at a higher price per gigabyte.
The kiosks are not 24-hour (Chunghwa runs roughly 05:00 to 22:00 at Taoyuan, the others shorter), so a red-eye arrival can find everything shut. Taiwanese tourist SIMs work only within Taiwan and do not roam. Validity on some plans is counted in 24-hour blocks from activation rather than calendar days, so a 5-day plan activated at 6pm runs to 6pm on day five. Carry some NT dollars in cash for the counter.
Largest network and the pick for anyone leaving the cities, heading into the mountains or visiting the outlying islands. Its airport kiosk also keeps the longest hours.
Coverage on par with Chunghwa, and notably asks only for a passport where others may want a second ID.
Strong third network, but its tourist plans at Taoyuan are sold only in the FET shop in Terminal 1 arrivals, and its city stores are the strictest about a second ID.
The essential apps for Taiwan are Uber, Uber Eats, Google Maps, Bus+, Google Translate.
We've curated 18 apps across 11 categories for traveling in Taiwan, including 8 essential apps.
Uber is the top-rated ride hailing app in Taiwan. The most visitor-friendly on-demand ride app, with multilingual booking and coverage across many populated parts of Taiwan.
Set up payments, maps and transport before entering mainland China
Use Octopus to pay, Citymapper to travel, and MyObservatory for official weather warnings
Rail-first travel, flexible IC cards, official Shinkansen booking, and disaster alerts
Use Naver Map, visitor-ready taxi and dining apps, and a separate transit balance
Official bus tracking, metered taxis and typhoon alerts for Macau
