How to Visit the Taipei 101 (Complete Guide for 2024 Visitors!)

Formerly the world’s tallest building and still the most iconic building in Taipei, the Taipei 101 observatory deck is a must for any traveler to Taiwan.

I didn’t go up the Taipei 101 on my first visit to Taiwan in 2018, and I regret it for years. So, I fixed my mistake on my return trip to Taiwan in the summer of 2024.

I was so happy I did—visiting the Taipei 101 was a true highlight of my Taipei itinerary.

The huge Taipei 101 building in Taiwan seen from a park a few blocks away — *The gorgeous Taipei 101 as seen from a few blocks away, walking towards Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall*

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I found visiting Taipei 101 rather straightforward and easy to figure out, but I’ve visited a lot of observation decks around the world and they all follow a fairly similar flow.

Here’s a recap of my visit to the Taipei 101 as of August 2024, including information on hours, costs, how to get tickets, and a rough visit plan for the Taipei 101.

Enjoy!

Taipei 101 Hours and Cost

Sign that reads Taipei 101 Observatory 508 meters — *The highest you can go on the Taipei 101!*

According to the website, Taipei 101’s hours are from 9 AM to 10 PM. However, note that the mall around Taipei 101 doesn’t open until 11 AM, so entering the mall area to get to the Tapiei 101 can be confusing if it is closed.

Also, if you are visiting the 101st floor, be aware that doesn’t open until 11 AM. I also don’t see availability for booking even on the 89th floor until 10 AM, so if you are trying to get a 9 AM entry, you may have to show up in person for a ticket.

There are a few different kinds of tickets you can buy to the Taipei 101 — here are a few examples and prices:

Simple Entry Ticket: Includes the 88th, 89th, and 91st floors only. Tickets start at 600 NTD ($19 USD).
Entry Ticket + 101st Floor: Includes the 101st floor as well as the 88th, 89th, and 91st floors. Tickets cost 600 NTD plus an additional 380 NTD additional charge (total of $30 USD).
Skyline 460: Includes an adrenaline-pumping skywalk around the 101st floor exterior, as well as the interior of the 101st floor, 88th, 89th, and 91st floor. Tickets cost 3,000 NTD ($94 USD) inclusive of everything.

Taipei 101 Visit Plan

Taipei 101 floor plan with signage showing different things on different floors — *A sign showing the Taipei 101 floor plan*

I struggled to figure out how to order this guide because you visit the floors out of sequence. I decided to order it in the way in which I experienced the Taipei 101. Here’s a quick overview of what your visit will likely look like.

Entering the mall and going to the ticket desk at the 5th floor
Elevator ride up to the 89th floor
Optional additional ride up to the 101st floor (requires separate ticket)*
Explore the 89th floor
Walk up the stairs to the 91st floor and see the exterior deck
Go back down the stairs to the 88th floor, where you can see the damper at eye level and exit the Taipei 101.

* This is also where you can do the Skyline 460 Experience, which requires an additional ticket.

5th Floor Ticketing and Entry

The entrance to the taipei 101 visitor center — *The entrance to the Taipei 101 on the 5th floor*

Whether you’re arriving by taxi, MRT (Taipei’s metro system), or on foot, you’ll want to make your way to the Taipei 101 Mall and start making your way to the elevators, which you can take up to the 4th floor.

From the 4th floor, you can walk into the central atrium area, following the signs for the Taipei 101 Observatory. Then, take an escalator up to the 5th floor ticketing area. This is located across from the Cartier and other designer stores in the middle of the mall.

Elevator in the taipei 101 mall leading to the observation deck area — *Escalator to the 5th floor ticketing area*

Line for people who have reserved tickets online — *Line for people with online ticket reservations*

Here is where you can buy tickets in person, or if you’ve prebooked it via Klook, you can just show your voucher upon entry to exchange it for physical tickets.

Hold onto these, especially if you’ve booked a special entry up to the 101st floor, as you’ll need to show it each time you take the elevator up.

Elevator Ride

The elevator up to the 89th floor where you begin your Taipei 101 visit is one of the most exciting parts of the adventure! There’s a little monitor that shows you just how fast you’re accelerating.

Though you’ll be hard-pressed to not realize it — you’ll likely feel it in your ears popping as you shoot up nearly half a kilometer up in the sky in just about 30 seconds!

89th floor

The elevator brings you to the 89th floor, the main observatory area of Taipei 101. On this floor, many photo spots are around. There’s also some good signage that points out key buildings below, giving you a better sense of the layout of Taipei.

Note: If you have tickets to visit the 101st floor, you’ll first need to take the 89th floor and then find the 101st floor elevator which is located in the gift shop. The 101st floor entry ticket is only valid for an hour, so visit here first if you’ve booked that ticket, then double back to the 89th floor where there is no time slots.

Book your Taipei 101 ticket (simple or combined ticket) here!

From the 89th floor, you can see Elephant Mountain (which, incidentally, is the best place to get a good photo of Taipei!), Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (which is close by), the Taipei Dome (also nearby), Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and Songshan Airport and its planes landing and taking off.

View of Sun yat sen memorial high from above — *Sun Yat-Set Memorial Hall*

Taipei dome building near the taipei 101 — *Taipei Dome*

Like many popular photo spots in Taipei, it’s got plenty of interesting spots to take a photo where there are installations with fake flowers, trees, and other natural elements that you can pose with.

Personally I sometimes find these spots a little cheesy but I’m also not someone who likes to take a lot of photos of myself. But if you are a selfie queen, you will love it!

Photo area in Taipei 101 — *A faux-flower ‘photo frame’ photo spot on the 89th floor*

You can also see the most unique feature of the Taipei 101 here, its tuned mass damper, which is a fancy word for the pendulum safety system installed in the Taipei 101.

It’s essentially a huge pendulum, a giant metal ball that weighs 660 metric tons suspended by 8 thick steel cables.

The tuned mass damper, a golden ball that helps stop the Taipei 101 from swaying — *The mass damper that helps keep the Taipei 101 safe despite its massive height*

As Taiwan is prone to both typhoons and earthquakes, this damper system (as well as the Taipei 101’s clever tapered structure) reduces the building’s potential sway by as much as 40%.

101st floor

Allison sitting in a "nest" style chair at the Taipei 101 at 508 meters above, wearing an orange jumpsuit and hat — *At the top floor of the Taipei 101, 508 meters high!*

You need a special ticket to visit the 101st floor of Taipei 101 (which you can book online here — just make sure you select the option 89 + 101!). I wanted to see if it was worth the additional cost, so I splurged and I can confirm yes, it was worth it for me!

The 101th floor is significantly less crowded and more quiet. The additional cost, plus the fact that there are timed entries limited to just one hour, made it a lot more peaceful and good at repelling the crowds.

There are some unique photo spots here, as the theme of the 101st floor is that it’s “the world’s highest secret garden.” There are a lot of garden themed places to sit and take photos which make it quite unique!

Secret garden theme of the 101st floor of Taipei 101 — *The 101st floor has a “secret garden” theme!*

I didn’t particularly love some parts of the look of the 101st floor “secret garden” theme. For example, I wish they had done a fake moss wall instead of using banquet-style curtains, which cheapened the aesthetic a bit.

Still, it was nice to take a breather from the busier 89th floor, though I can’t say there’s a majorly appreciable difference in the view between the 89th floor and the 101st floor.

If you’re a major fan of taking photos and you want a more peaceful place to take pictures rather than on the crowded 89th floor, I’d definitely say it’s worth the extra cost. If you’re really working to streamline your budget, I’d say you can skip it without missing much.

91st floor

Exterior view of the Taipei 101's surroundings — *View from between the grate of the outer viewing deck*

To reach the 91st floor, you’ll first need to take the elevator back down to the 89th floor if you were on the 101st floor.

From the 89th floor, you can ascend the staircase two stories to the 91st floor to see the outdoor viewing section.

Honestly, it isn’t that great of a view because of all the metal safety grate around it. If you have a camera that can zoom well in between the gaps in the fencing, maybe you can get a better picture here than on the 89th floor, but other than that, I didn’t find the 91st floor particularly interesting and only spent a few minutes here. Partly because I was visiting in the summer and it was blisteringly hot!

88th floor

The exit floor with lines in place to help you line up to exit — *The line area to exit Taipei 101, which luckily wasn’t busy when I visited!*

Returning to the 89th floor, you can continue down the staircase one more floor to go down to the 88th floor.

There’s not too much to see here except the damper at another level, but this is where you can exit the Taipei 101 and get one final view of the city.

Many stanchions were placed before the elevator, which gives me the impression that it can get quite crowded during the peak season. However, I visited in the low season (August), so I didn’t experience crowds anywhere in Taipei. On my prior visit to Taipei in January, there were definitely more crowds.

Skyline 460

TV screen showing a woman clipped in with a safety harness on the skywalk portion of the Taipei 101 — *This is as close as I got to doing the Skyline 460 walk!*

For an adrenaline-pumping Taipei 101 visit like no other, you can splurge on the Skyline 460 experience. Wearing a safety harness, you’ll be clipped to a cable with a carabiner, similar to a via ferrata route but a lot less difficult. You’ll get to walk around the edge of the 101st floor, a whopping 460 meters (1,510 feet) above the ground level!

This experience includes fast-track entry, a souvenir Taipei 101 mug, professional photos, coffee, and water. After the experience, you’ll have the chance to visit the other floors of Taipei 101 at your leisure. Note that you have to arrive 30 minutes before your ticket time for check-in and a safety briefing.

The ticket price for this is not cheap — 3,000 TWD or about $93 USD — but it’s a memorable experience that’s hard to put a price tag on!

Book your Skyline 460 experience online here!

Views from the Taipei 101 and the interesting buildings in the Xinyi area — *Views of the skyscrapers around the Xinyi area*

There are two daily entry times, one at 2 PM and one at 3 PM. I’d recommend booking for 3 PM. The Skyline experience lasts for about an hour, and then you can stick around for another few hours to catch the sunset and transition into the evening hours.

There’s no time limit on the 89th and 88th floors of Taipei 101, and there are cafes where you can grab a bite to eat (my ticket came with some vouchers to use as well).

Tip: The sunset in Taipei ranges from 6:45 PM in June to 5:00 PM in December, so adjust your plan accordingly based on the season.

Allison Green

Allison Green is a former teacher who has been travel blogging since 2016. She has a Masters in Teaching and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Her blog posts merge her background as an educator with her experience traveling to 70+ countries to encourage ethical, meaningful travel. She has been a speaker at the World Travel Writers Conference and her writing, photography, and podcasting work has appeared in National Geographic, CNN Arabic, CBC Canada, and Forbes, amongst others. Now a full-time traveler, she has lived in Prague, Sofia, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area.