Taipei - Sungshan, Taiwan (TAY) > Reviews > Does its job

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Erm, it's a major airport
Disadvantages:	Read below

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Well, firstly, this is in the wrong catergory. Thre are two airports serving Taipei, the one mentioned above, and the major one named TPE. Make sure you know which one you'll be flying into. TAY is in the middle of the city and has small jets serving Taiwan and other close locations. TPE has the big jets serving the rest of the world.

Right, having got that out of the way, some facts. Firstly, before anyone complains, this willo be a short opinion. This is due mainly to the lack of facilities at the airport.

Arrival: I arrived at TPE from Singapore on Singapore Airlines. I'd paid £1000 for a business class flight from singapore. The economy fare was pretty much the same. If you are planning to fly to TPE, make sure it's a consolidated fare. If you buy any tickets outside of the originating country in SEA (south east asia) you will always pay more. Beware!

Anyway, arrived, and went through immigration rather quickly. There were no lines at all, and was processed quickly, unlike the anarchy that goes on at Kuala Lumpur airport! Without a Visa, you can stay no longer than 14 days in Taiwan, so be careful!

My bag didn't take long to arrive from the belt which impressed me, and I was duly on the way through customs and into the arrivals lounge.

Now, there are several ways of getting to Taipei from the airport. Firstly, unless you get the bus, it will be expensive. The airport is around 45 minutes with good traffic oustide of taipei, and it's bus, hotel shuttle bus, or taxi to the city. Most big hotels have a shuttle bus, and this cost me around £10, which wasn't bad value I thought. A taxi will cost you three times this, so try and club together as it's expensive. I have no idea how much the coaches are, but they are frequent and drop you off outside the main railway station (which is located at a major intersection of the MRT).

There are a few Foreign Exchanges in arrivals, and also a hotel booking service, but not much else. A few ATMs were sign posted, but I didn't find them, so make sure you have some money beforehand. I never travel with currency, and always use an ATM upon arrival.

Departure: Well, again, I got the shuttle bus from the hilton, which are every 3 hours. It got me in early, which meant I managed to get an earlier flight... Yippee! Check in time was next to nothing. I managed to have a look at the 'cattle cart' class and found there to be no lines also. The airport was quiet on the whole, despite it being around midday.

Anyway, before you go through immigration, there's not much in the way of facilities. In fact, virtually nothing! Once through though, things perked up. There were a few places to eat, the food being okay.... Nothing special. There where numerous duty free shops. Similar prices to the UK, I thought, so didn't buy anything. However, one good thing was the fact that there where loads of museum type shops... Extensions to the museums in Taipei... These were quite interesting and allowed you to both pass the time, and also buy some nice art and things! I soon got bored, and used the Singapore airlines business lounge though, which served nice snacks (the curried rice was yummy) and cold drinks. It was comfortable and had free internet access too.

Anyway, soon after, I was on my flight and away.

I suppose I've been a little harse on TPE. It was clean, there were no hold ups, it was efficent, and safe. I suppose we are a little spoilt in the western world. TPE does exactly what it says on the tin I suppose.