Tourists' favorite / Second highest passenger traffic

Ximending is the third most popular tourist spot in Taiwan among foreign visitors, after Taipei 101 and night markets in general, according to a 2018 survey by the Tourism Bureau, which showed 40 percent of all such tourists visit the Ximending area.

Ximen Metro Station recorded average daily passenger traffic of 154,000 in 2019, second only to Taipei Main Station. A survey by the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism at the end of 2017 showed that 76.6 percent of the passengers through Ximen Station were tourists. Among them, 41.6 percent were foreign nationals, 17.7 percent of whom were from Southeast Asia, 8.9 percent from Hong Kong and Macau, 3.7 percent from China, 2.6 percent from Japan and 2.6 percent from South Korea.

Signs for the Xiaonanmen Line (now part of the Green Line) and the Bannan Line (Blue Line). (CNA photo Oct. 11, 2014)

Another survey by the department found that in 2018, the Taipei Metro was the most frequently used form of public transportation in the city, and public satisfaction with the system was 99.57 percent.

The Taipei Metro is "one of the best mass transit systems in the world," American freelance entertainment writer Martha Sorren said in an article on the Insider website in 2019. She said Taipei's metro is "clean, organized, on time, and safe," and she went on to list 10 things the system "is doing right that the rest of the world needs to take notes on."

Apart from the Ximen area, there are several other popular tourist spots near the 20 metro stations in Taipei with the highest passenger traffic.

Zhongshan

Passenger traffic ranking: No. 6

Nearby tourist attractions: department stores, Eslite R79 underground bookstore, a refurbished park between Zhongshan and Shuanglian stations, specialty shops on Chifeng Street.

One of them is the shopping district near Zhongshan Station, an area that is also a cultural attraction, mainly because of the Taipei Film House on Zhongshan North Road, a building that was the residence of former U.S. representatives to Taiwan.

Tamsui

Passenger traffic ranking: No. 10

Nearby tourist attractions:the Old Street area

Old Street near the metro station in Tamsui is another popular tourist site, with its street food, sunset views, and 200-year history evident in its Qing Dynasty buildings.

Taipei 101/World Trade Center

Passenger traffic ranking: No. 13

Nearby tourist attractions:Taipei 101, the Xinyi business district, Sisi Nan Cun (44 South Village)

On the other end of the Tamsui-Xinyi Line, is the historic Sisi Nan Cun complex that housed soldiers in the Kuomintang army after it fled China.

The complex is now a museum that features the history and culture of the housing complex, and attracts many social media enthusiasts.

Jiantan

Passenger traffic ranking: No. 15

Nearby tourist attractions: Shilin Night Market

Halfway between Xinyi and Tamsui on the metro Red Line is Shilin Night Market, which began as the Shilin Market that was built in 1913 and is now a sprawling expanse of street stands, shops, and every imaginable type of commerce.

The rebuilt park between Zhongshan and Shuanglian stations. (Photo: Taipei Metro’s Facebook page)

Tamsui’s Old Street Area. (CNA photo April 7, 2019)

The Taipei World Trade Center (left) and the Taipei 101 skyscraper. (CNA photo Dec. 22, 2017)

The Shilin Market. (Photo: The Tourism Bureau website)