Do not do four themes in one day
The Ximen streets, one Palace gallery route, one dusk at 101 or Elephant Mountain, and the Beitou spring loop each take half a day. A first visit schedules two, on one axis: the office exterior plus the memorial, or two Xinyi halls plus one dusk. Four themes in a day become a night of fare receipts. Who splits them: anyone with more than four days leaves Beitou, Yangmingshan and Maokong each a full day. Once the four themes are split, keep the day under two metro transfers. Keep this stretch inside two hours. Note the metro exit before you start, leave as soon as you have seen or eaten, and do not queue a second door.
From Taoyuan Airport into the city
The airport metro runs to Taipei Main Station. Its fare is separate from the Taipei Metro. EasyCard or iPASS can pay, as another charge — do not assume a city day pass includes it. Songshan Airport is the one on the Wenhu line. Taoyuan Airport is not a city sight; do not add the Palace or Maokong on landing day. Day-pass prices follow the metro's current notice — this guide does not freeze a number. Whether a day pass includes the airport metro follows the current notice, not an old article. Stop once in the middle. When you have eaten or looked, walk on. Do not turn passing shops into a list, and go back by the station you came in on.
Who this primer suits
First visits, short leave, no appetite for five lines on day one. Already locked on Beitou-only, Dadaocheng-only or the Palace-only: jump to that axis and do not treat Ximen as a daily pass-through. The hotel removes one transfer: the station serves Zhongzheng, Xinyi serves one dusk, Beitou serves only the spring day. This primer only picks the axis. The one-axis guide writes the day's stop order. Stop the day here. Leave the other district for tomorrow. Do not add a stop before the last train, and trust the station board over this guide.