Where to Stay in Tainan, Taiwan

What is Tainan known for?

Tainan is known as the oldest city in Taiwan, a place of temples, historic buildings and snack food on the Taiwan Strait. It carries a long story. Founded in 1624, it served for 263 years as the capital of the island under Dutch rule, the Kingdom of Tungning and later the Qing dynasty, and its comebacks earned it the nickname the Phoenix City.

Fort Zeelandia and Fort Provintia stand from those early centuries. The old streets around Kóng-seng-lâu draw travellers for a quintessentially Taiwanese experience of both stomach and soul.

What are the main landmarks in Tainan?

Tainan's landmarks are the forts and temples of its 263 years as the island's capital. History stands in stone here. Fort Zeelandia and Fort Provintia survive from the Dutch period, while the Eternal Golden Castle guards the coast at Anping and Kóng-seng-lâu rises over the old prefectural streets.

The National Museum of Taiwan Literature and the Tainan Art Museum hold the city's letters and art, and the National Cheng Kung University Museum keeps its scholarship, all set among the temples and historic buildings of the oldest city in Taiwan.

What is the history of Tainan?

Tainan began in 1624 as a Dutch trading post on the Taiwan Strait, the founding settlement from which the whole island was governed. The Dutch raised Fort Zeelandia at Anping and Fort Provintia inland. From here they ruled.

When Koxinga drove the Dutch out, Tainan became the seat of the Kingdom of Tungning, and it went on to serve the Qing dynasty as the island's capital, holding that role for 263 years until 1887. Those long centuries as the prefectural capital left the city dense with temples and historic buildings, and the streets around Kóng-seng-lâu still follow the old plan. Renewal after renewal marked its story.

Tainan was ruined and rebuilt so often that it took the nickname the Phoenix City, rising again from each reversal. The Eternal Golden Castle went up in the Qing years to guard the coast, and later the National Museum of Taiwan Literature took over an old administrative hall. Through every change it kept its claim as the oldest city in Taiwan.

Where is Tainan?

Tainan lies in southern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait along its western coast. The city spreads over flat coastal ground. Its old core sits back from the water around Fort Provintia and Kóng-seng-lâu, while the Anping quarter and the Eternal Golden Castle stand out on the coastal edge where the Dutch first built Fort Zeelandia.

Warm lowland plains reach inland from the shore. Tainan holds the widest municipal area on this stretch of the western coast, an expanse of farmland and city on the Taiwan Strait.

What is the climate of Tainan?

Tainan has a tropical climate on the Taiwan Strait, hot and humid for much of the year. Winters stay mild and dry. The wet season comes with the summer, when heavy rains and typhoons blow in off the strait and soak the lowland plains around the old city.

Long warm days settle over the temples and the streets of the oldest city in Taiwan. Little cold reaches this southern coast of Taiwan, and the growing season runs long across the surrounding plain.

How do you get to Tainan?

Tainan is reached from along the western coast of Taiwan, on the rail and road corridors that run the length of the island beside the Taiwan Strait. Trains stop in the old city. High-speed and conventional lines both call here, setting travellers down within reach of Fort Provintia and the snack streets of the former prefectural capital.

From the station the way runs out to Anping and Fort Zeelandia on the coast. The oldest city in Taiwan sits squarely on the island's main artery.