Taipei or Seoul for a pre-Japan side trip?

January 7, 2016 8:23 AM

We're going to Japan! My partner and I are taking a two-week-plus trip in late February centered on the Kyoto Marathon (Feb 21) and trying to fill out the remainder of our itinerary. We're getting into Narita airport (from the U.S. West Coast) at the head of Valentine's weekend and ...I don't want to go to Tokyo. But where should we go?

I have visited before and I'm not a Tokyo person; it's just too much big city. I'm interested in traveling through southern Japan for ten days or so to nose around one or two small-to-mid-size cities or the countryside (for hiking/rural sights) possibly as far south as Kyushu. (My partner's willing to let this be "my" trip as far as planning goes.)

But for that first weekend, I kind of like the idea of hopping on a regional carrier (think Air Asia, Jetstar, etc.) and going to a nearby country for a contrasting experience for 3-4 nights. I'm intrigued by both Seoul and Taipei as destinations (probably leaning toward the latter), but I'm not completely sold on either. Seoul seems more cosmopolitan (and I love Korean food and culture), but I've heard it described as "Tokyo junior" and I get the sense it will be very cold that time of year. Taipei sounds more pleasant climate-wise and more off-the-beaten-path to us, but I've heard mixed opinions on whether it's really worth going out of the way to visit.

We're a couple of fortyish American gay dudes, do not know any of the local languages, do not want to be oafish--we have no goal for V-Day other than to have a nice time together. We're looking for a broad mix of activities: cultural must-sees, outdoor beauty/day hikes, good food, nightlife... does one better fit the bill or should we concentrate our energies on spending more time in Japan?

posted by psoas to Travel & Transportation (13 answers total)

Yes, Seoul is also a super huge, dense, urban and very big city city; if that's what you dislike about Tokyo, Seoul is probably not a great alternative. On the other hand, there is a nice park at Namsan right in the middle of the city, many of the old palaces (also accessible by subway) have large grounds you could roam for hours, and the traditional Hanok village is also pretty centrally located. But there's no denying it's a huge city and you're going to have to deal with that aspect just getting from one scenic, peaceful place to the next if nothing else.

I don't know enough about Taipei personally to draw a comparison, but my friends who have been there have also been kind of meh on the "whether it's really worth going out of the way to visit" question.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 8:47 AM on January 7, 2016

What a great trip ahead of you! I have spend extensive time in both Seoul and Taipei, so here is my advice for you:

Seoul is great for its food, people, and pop culture. In that regard it is a lot like Tokyo, maybe a bit more laid back (on an Asian scale...). February can be bitter cold but there are the typical sauna houses, spicy soups, indoor malls, museums and cheap cabs to warm you up. It is however a very big city.

Taipei is even more of a crazy hustle and bustle than Seoul in my opinion but with a milder climate in January. Also: you can easily take trips outside of the city for at least 2 of your four nights. I would suggest getting on a high speed train and enjoying a scenic trip down the West coast to Tainan, a beatiful smaller town famous for its food and many beautiful temples (3,5 hrs ride, very comfortable). Another option would be to rent a car (driving is NOT difficult once you get out of the city) and drive to Taroko Gorge National Park (~3 hrs. drive, avoid rush hour), stay over night in Hualien, then drive back up along the coast stopping as often as you can for the breathtaking views and the local culture.

Both Seoul and Taipei are NOT pretty cities at first sight. They are big and loud and full. The secret is to just go with the flow of the locals, don't worry to much, find little hole-in-the-wall restaurants, rooftop cafes, night markets, temples, museums and maybe join the crazy night life of street food, beer, karaoke etc. That's when the magic hits you :)

If you have made up your mind, I'd be happy to suggest a few quieter and serene places in either of the two cities for you to consider. Just PM me.
posted by Fallbala at 8:52 AM on January 7, 2016

Keep in mind that if you're in Taipei Feb 13-14 2016, you'll be at the tail end of the Chinese New Year holiday. Lots of Taipei residents leave the city to go to their hometowns during that time. The city itself will be mostly back to normal by that final holiday weekend but some small businesses might still be closed and some other "day-off" type activities (movie theaters, department stores ,the zoo, KTV, famous restaurants, etc) will be more crowded than usual. Fallbala's suggestion of Tainan is great, but I would definitely avoid returning from a day trip out of the city on that Sunday before everyone has to go back to work!

But Taipei has hikes, great food, beautiful temples, and lots of easy-to-reach scenic small towns nearby. It's also by far the most queer friendly city in East Asia. I've been living here a year, feel free to memail if you have any other questions!
posted by horizons at 9:10 AM on January 7, 2016

You're going to have a great time!

Seoul will be much colder than either anywhere on the Pacific side of Japan or anywhere south of Japan like Taiwan, and is actually larger than Tokyo by some measures. It's a delightful city to visit if you wrap up warm, though, and has world-class art, food, and culture, as well as a cheerful local boosterism that really resonates with visitors. Getting around in English is manageable with a few Korean pleasantries; no one will expect you to speak it. Your cheap options to fly there from NRT are Jeju Air, Peach and Jetstar.

Taipei will be warmer; if you didn't want an urban experience you could head for the nearby Beitou hot spring area. You also need to visit the National Palace Museum - definitely one of the world's best collections of Chinese art. It may definitely be worth visiting if you've never been anywhere in China, and the food is spectacular. On preview - trips to Taroko or Tainan could easily be slotted in. Fly there from NRT on budget carriers Scoot, Tigerair Taiwan or Jetstar.

An hour further away on a plane, though, I think Hong Kong (with a day trip to Macau by fast ferry - about 55 minutes!) may be the best choice of all. It's comparatively small (though very dense) and within an hour of the centre of the city, you can be hiking on an isolated trail on an outlying island as if you're in rural Thailand or something. Also, it sounds like you'd be here around Lunar New Year? It's around February 8-10 this year. Expect markets, food, and fun to be at their annual height, as well as somewhat higher prices for hotels and accommodation; consider an AirBnb maybe? We've got amazing fireworks as well! Also, while it's a "cold" time of year by Hong Kong standards, we're talking 40s/50s Fahrenheit at the absolute coldest and often up into the 60s and 70s during the day - perfect for running training!

Macau looks and feels much different than HK - think old, gracefully-mouldering Portuguese town grafted onto gleaming Vegas-style skyscrapers, all fueled by the world's largest gambling-based economy in a subtropical setting; it's definitely worth seeing!

Your budget carriers of choice to HKG from NRT are HK Express, Jetstar, Vanilla Air; Hong Kong Airlines can also be reasonable. (Note that you need a passport to visit Macau from Hong Kong - it's a separate territory of China and has its own immigration.)

One final note - it may be worth looking at your original tickets to see if you can add on this side trip within them, to ensure that you're protected to your final destination if, say, your inbound flight from the States is delayed and then you miss your connection to Seoul/Taipei/Hong Kong. At the very least, get travel insurance. It's an efficient part of the world and not too awful in terms of weather and delays, but don't expect the same levels of delay compensation or accommodation that you might get in the US or Europe if you have problems.
posted by mdonley at 9:14 AM on January 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed Seoul a lot, but I was in the American-ish part, near Yongsan in the Ietaewan neighborhood. Most folks here know English snd there's fun shopping.

I liked the Natural History museum and the Gueyongbok palace.

Have to say, stay in Japan and do Hirishima, Miyajima and the parks around Iwakuni (another base). English friendly, small and fun.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:05 AM on January 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have visited Seoul twice, and for whatever reason, that city is not for me. In Taipei I had better food (I think I just don't really love Korean food, because my understanding is that the food in Seoul is good), the weather was better, and the setting more attractive.
posted by vunder at 10:54 AM on January 7, 2016

You could either do Taiwan + Okinawa or Kyoto / Osaka + Seoul :)

As a Taiwanese person born in Taipei I am biased towards my hometown but you can't go wrong with either of those itineraries.
posted by raw sugar at 1:12 PM on January 7, 2016

I loved Taipei and Seoul, but both to me are just as busy/big cities as Tokyo.

To me, Seoul was more English-friendly than Taipei, but I managed fine in both places without speaking more than a couple words of Korean/Chinese.

From both Taipei or Seoul you can go to more rural areas by train. I went to Gyeongju from Seoul as a day trip (by high speed train) and thats practically the other side of the country.... both Taiwan and South Korea are much smaller than Japan so its pretty easy to get anywhere.
posted by thefoxgod at 2:54 PM on January 7, 2016

If you are interested in visiting Korea, and are not keen on cities such as Seoul, I suggest visiting Jeju Island. It won't necessarily be warmer than Seoul, but there will be more opportunities for outdoor activities.

I am just back from a short trip visiting family, and it wasn't very cold in Seoul, temperatures stayed consistently above freezing during daytime. It's expected to stay this mild through February.

I hesitate to recommend visiting Seoul if Tokyo wasn't your cup of tea. It's going to be hectic and crowded and feel rather grey and grim in winter. It's fun if you enjoy street food and shopping. The Seoul location of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art is worth visiting, and the area around it provides a welcome respite from all the noise and commercial activity going on elsewhere. Nearby Anguk-Dong and Insa-Dong areas have some nice traditional Korean restaurants. There's also a Korean Buddhist temple food education center that opened up recently near the Anguk subway station. Also check out Templestay events available during your travel period, sometimes they have mountain hiking + Buddhist temple stay combos.
posted by needled at 7:53 PM on January 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

If you object to Tokyo because it's too much big city, I'd say that Taipei and Seoul suffer from the same problem. There are a lot of pleasant small places in the Kanto area outside of Tokyo that would make for great and scenic places to visit while you wind your way down to Kyoto (presumably by train)?

I'd recommend seeing if you can hit up the hot springs at Hakone (great place to have a warm soak while staring at the view of Mt. Fuji). For a more off-the-beaten path experience, there is the option of the hot springs in Ikaho, near Shibukawa.

North of Tokyo, Nikko is a great trip for the shrine there.

It's entirely possible to spend more than a month hitting up all the interesting sights on Japan, so it's up to you whether you want to do a whirlwind tour hitting up a bunch of places in East Asia, or you want to concentrate more on less flashy places in Japan. Hokkaido is also an option (though it will be cold), with some stunning scenery and great small cities such as Hakodate.
posted by the_wintry_mizzenmast at 12:58 AM on January 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

I spent time in Hong Kong (a lot) and Seoul before going to Taipei. I felt like Taipei was a mellower place than the other two, even though I really liked the Insadong area of Seoul. Taipei is big and sprawling, but the life on the street to me was quieter and the overall feeling was less nuts. I wandered down side streets with little shops and not much room for cars. It was easy to take the train to green Beitou and to take a cab to a local house in the mountains, where I learned to make dumplings.
posted by ceiba at 3:04 AM on January 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the advice - we've elected to go to Taipei at the end of the trip (avoiding the end-of-CNY craziness) and stay with a friend there. Cheers!
posted by psoas at 10:41 AM on January 19, 2016

Response by poster: Taipei ended up being delightful - much warmer (and cheaper!) than Japan, and we loved that the MaoKong tea-growing area is accessible from the metro. (Plus: Taipei Metro = probably one of the best I've used anywhere.) Thanks for the info everyone!
posted by psoas at 2:23 PM on March 4, 2016