Five people. Ten days. Four stops. Just our backpacks and a whole lot of fun.
So… what does 10 days in Taiwan actually cost for a family of five?
For us, it was $4,233.96. But who’s counting?
And yes, we were backpacking, but don’t let that scare you away. We weren’t exactly roughing it.
We stayed in hotels. We ate really well. We took Ubers when they made sense. We spent a day on the beach, played claw machines, rode trains, explored night markets and cities, and three of us even went to a professional baseball game.
Basically, we tried to spend our money where it mattered to us, and here’s exactly where it went:
The Big Picture
| CATEGORY | WHAT WE SPENT |
| Hotels | $1163.32 |
| Transportation | $390.11 |
| Souvenirs | $160.00 |
| Beach Rentals | $50.00 |
| Anping Treehouse | $7.57 |
| Baseball Tickets | $55.62 |
| Food + Extras | $1525.94 |
| Okinawa to Kaohsiung Flight | $630.36 |
| Flights Home: Taxes and Fees | $541.15 |
| TOTAL | $4233.96 |
A quick note about the flights: Taiwan was actually part of a longer trip for us. We flew from Okinawa to Kaohsiung for $630.36, and then we used airline miles from this card to fly from Taipei back to the U.S. The $541.15 listed above was the taxes and fees on those award tickets.
So if you’re planning a Taiwan trip from the U.S., don’t look at that $1,171.51 as what your round-trip airfare will necessarily cost. It’s simply what our particular flight situation cost.
Hotels: $1,163.32
We spent $1,163.32 on nine nights of hotels, which works out to about $129 a night for all five of us.
Our route looked like this:
- Xiaoliuqiu — 2 nights
- Kaohsiung — 2 nights
- Tainan — 1 night
- Taipei — 4 nights
We moved around quite a bit, but carrying only backpacks made it much easier. We didn’t have giant suitcases to drag onto trains or figure out where to store between hotels. Just five backpacks.
And honestly, that has consistently been one of our best decisions.
Getting Around Taiwan: $390.11
Our total transportation spending inside Taiwan was $390.11.
That included everything from trains to ferries, buses and Ubers. We looked at the different options for each leg of the trip and chose the one that was the most affordable without making our lives unnecessarily difficult.
And sometimes that meant taking the train, but others it meant jumping on a crowded bus.
Sometimes our route required a ferry. And occasionally, after a long day with five tired people, it meant ordering an Uber.
That’s something we try to remember when we’re traveling on a budget: The cheapest option isn’t always the best option. If spending a few extra dollars saves us a huge amount of time, hassle or frustration, sometimes it’s money well spent.
Food: Our Biggest Expense
Here’s where most of our remaining money went, and I’m totally okay with this one!
I am no foodie, but Taiwan is one of those places where food is part of the experience. Night markets, mom and pop restaurants, convenience stores, drinks, snacks… there was always something we wanted to try.
We spent $1,525.94 on food and little extras over the 10 days.
That included our food and drinks, about $100 of food and souvenirs at the baseball game, and a few gachapons and claw machines sprinkled throughout the trip.
Because, well… we were on vacation, and they’re fun!
For five people over 10 days, that’s about $153 a day for the entire family. We weren’t cooking all of our meals. We weren’t packing sandwiches everywhere. We were actually eating.
And Taiwan made it surprisingly easy to do that without spending a fortune.
The Fun Stuff
We also didn’t spend a fortune on attractions.
One of my favorite things about this trip was how much we were able to do without constantly pulling out our wallets.
A Beach Day — $50
We spent $50 renting life jackets, snorkels and two motorized watercraft toys.
Completely worth it.
The kids had fun, we got to spend time in the water, and it was one of those simple vacation days that didn’t require a giant itinerary.
Anping Treehouse — $7.57
Our family visited the Anping Treehouse in Tainan, and admission was just $7.57 total. That’s the kind of attraction I love finding when we travel: interesting, memorable and inexpensive.
Professional Baseball — $55.62 for tickets
Dad and two kids went to a professional baseball game and spent $55.62 on tickets, plus another $100 on food and souvenirs while there. This is included in our food-and-extras total above.
And the other two family members got a little shopping and food market time while they were gone. So really, everybody won.
Other Amazing Attractions
We experienced so many incredible places while we were in Taiwan! Some of these included: Taipei 101, Shifen, Jiufen, Pier-2 Art Center, the giant sea turtles at Vase Rock in Xiaoliuqiu, and so many more! Be sure to follow along for a post on our exact itinerary.
Souvenirs: $160
We spent $160 on souvenirs.
Not bad considering there were five of us and approximately a million opportunities to buy cute things.
Taiwan is dangerous for anyone who enjoys little souvenirs, Gachapons and claw machines.
You have been warned.
So… Was Taiwan Expensive?
For our family, Taiwan felt surprisingly affordable.
Our total came to $4,233.96 for five people for 10 days, including our hotels, transportation, food, activities, souvenirs and the flights connected to our Taiwan portion of the trip.
That’s about $423 per day for our entire family. Or about $85 per person per day.
And remember: we weren’t sitting around the hotel trying not to spend money. We were traveling. We were eating. We were exploring, and most of all, we were having fun!
The Biggest Lesson From Our Taiwan Budget
The biggest thing I take away from any of our trips is that traveling on a budget doesn’t have to mean making your trip feel cheap.
We didn’t try to save money on everything. We tried to save money on the things we didn’t care about so we could spend it on the things that were important to us.
We set a budget ahead of time, kept an eye on our expenses, and compared options when we could.
And then we happily spent money on food, experiences and the occasional completely unnecessary claw-machine prize.
Because that’s our kind of budget travel.
Travel more. Spend less. And still have a really great time.
And for our family of five, 10 days in Taiwan cost $4,233.96.
Planning Your Own Taiwan Trip?
If you’re planning a family trip to Taiwan, here are a few of the things we used along the way:
🏨 Hotels: We love booking.com to find great options for our family.
🎟️ Activities & tours: For attractions and experiences, we used a mix of local booking sites and tours. If you’d like to see what’s available for your dates, you can browse activities and tickets here and here.
Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you book through them — at no extra cost to you. We only recommend things we’d actually use ourselves.
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