Run and Climb Taipei

Taipei is a huge foodie destination, which means that most trips there involve gaining too many unwanted pounds. I’ve recently started working out on my vacations in an effort to keep up with all the eating. But working out doesn’t have to mean wasting precious vacation time in a dreary hotel gym. Below I share some of my preferred places to run while sightseeing (or sightseeing while running, take your pick) and my experience visiting a couple of Taipei’s rock climbing gyms (thank you Taiwan Rocks for information on where to find the gyms!). Hope this provides some ideas for fun ways to stay fit while on vacation!

Daan Forest Park is one of my favorite places to run in Taipei. It’s a huge park, almost a mile and a half around its perimeter, making it a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a little. Many locals go there to exercise, and I usually see a lot of other runners doing laps and groups of spry grandpas playing frisbee on the main lawn. I happen to have accommodations close to Daan Park, but it’s also easily accessible by the MRT red line at Daan Park station. There’s also the added bonus of being right next to Yongkang Street, so you can go and regain all the calories you just lost. Oh wait, that’s counterproductive… 

Daan Forest Park

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall is a pretty common tourist destination, so why not go for a run there and get your workout in while doing some sightseeing? My recommendation is to go in the morning to take awesome sunrise pictures of the memorial buildings and to get the quintessential Taiwanese experience of watching retired people do tai chi in the park. There’s lots of different walking paths to choose from - just be careful not to trip on the uneven ground between paths. This is also easily accessible by the MRT red and green lines at the C.K.S. Memorial Hall station.

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

My first time rock climbing in Taiwan was this past trip at the Xinyi Sports Center bouldering gym, conveniently located a couple blocks from Taipei 101. It was kind of a small gym and didn’t look very well maintained. A lot of the colored tape was falling off so you sometimes had to guess where the routes went. I don’t know if I would recommend it for serious climbing, but it’s fine for a casual workout, and at 150 NT for a day pass you really have nothing to lose.

Xinyi Sports Center bouldering area

I had a chance to visit a second gym up in the Shilin area. It’s a brand new gym called The Little Rock - so new that the guy working there was telling us about all the new holds that they had installed two days ago. The gym was small by American standards, but bigger than Xinyi and had much better route markings. Price was a little more expensive at 250 NT, but still much cheaper than any gym I’ve gone to in the US. I really enjoyed climbing here. The only downside with The Little Rock is that they don’t really have that many advanced level problems, but for those of us climbing V4’s and below, it’s a great place to get some good climbs in.

Lots of fun beginner climbs at The Little Rock

I hope to have an opportunity to run and climb in more interesting places on my next trip! Do you have any preferred ways of staying active while on vacation? Feel free to share in the comments below!