I calculated my total expenses for my 8 days Taiwan trip. Not just slightly below $800 but way below it. It came out to be $705/pax inclusive of airfares. I don't know if you think that this is expensive or cheap but i have many friends who say that they would never be able to achieve that. Is it because i spend little when i'm overseas and still save on food and shopping? No, you're absolutely wrong. I did not even think of saving money when i was overseas. I just spend and spend.
Well, the secret is to keep your initial travelling cost low. By that i mean cheap flights and cheap hotels. Most people travel on budget airlines but how many people get the flights on discount. I got my tickets at 50% discount during a 4 day promotion period at only $212. This is inclusive of both ways.
Hotel wise, i asked around for cheap and good hotels to stay in. It was through recommendations by friends and family that i got the cheapest deal. My hotel in Taipei cost only $35 per night per room shared by 2 person. This works out to only $17.50 per person per night. Well, its not exactly a hotel by an apartment or what they call min su in chinese. The location was near to the MRT line so it was not bad at all.
The break down of cost for my whole trip:
Airfare: $212/pax
Hotel: $156/pax
Transport within Taiwan: $202/pax
Meals: $62/pax
Buying stuff and miscellaneous: $73/pax
Total: $705/pax
For my meals, i'm surprise to have only spent $62 for the whole of 8 days. I had 2 days of breakfast and dinner provided by the hotel in Cingjing farm somewhere in central of Taiwan. I had another 2 days where breakfast was provided by the hotel in Hualien and Taipei. Maybe that's why i didn't spend much on meals. But i do know that every meal was good and i was very very full.
Transportation wise, i took trains and buses with occasional taxi rides because we were too tired to walk.
Places covered in Taiwan for 8 days:
Taipei (Ximending, wufenpu, shilin night market, rao he night market)
Taichung
Cingjing Farm
Hualien and Taroko Gorge
Yehliu
Jiufen
Jingguashi
Keelung
Beitou hotspring area
Wulai hotspring area
Danshui
Here are some of the pictures i took:
It was an enjoyable holiday. A good time for me to relax. Now back to work and my part time studies :)
Travelling can be done in a budgeted way. If you'll like to know more information on transportation, hotels and other stuff on Taiwan, you can send me an email. I'll be willing to share out the information to you.
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