Beyond Elephant Mountain: 8 Other Places to Photograph Taipei 101 Like a Local
From Someone Who Actually Lived There
I lived in Taipei for a year while I studied Mandarin at NTU, and I've gone back more times than I can count since then. This year I spent a full month there with my husband, wandering old neighborhoods and eating our way through the city again. Over all those trips I built up a list of spots where you can get Taipei 101 in the frame, some of them famous and some of them places locals know but tourists usually miss.
Elephant Mountain
Everyone who visits Taipei ends up here eventually. The hike up takes about twenty minutes if you take it slow, but be warned that it's steep and humid enough that you'll be sweating by the top. The viewing platform gives you Taipei 101 rising above the whole basin, with the mountains behind it. I climbed it once in the middle of a July afternoon and regretted every step. Going at dawn a few years later, with almost nobody else on the trail, was a much better call. Aim for early morning or just before sunset if you can plan around it.
Zhucun Izakaya Restaurant
Zhucun, also known as Takemura Izakaya, sits in a narrow street in Xinyi District, and the alley itself lines up perfectly with Taipei 101 in the distance. Stand back a bit from the entrance and you get the glowing red lanterns and low storefronts in the foreground with the tower rising straight up behind them. It's best after dark, when the lanterns are lit and the tower is glowing too, and the alley's low buildings on either side frame the shot for you without any real effort.
Taipei 101 Rainbow Walk
This is the rainbow crosswalk painted right on the street in front of Taipei City Hall, with the tower rising up in the background past the plaza. The stripes lead your eye straight toward the building, and standing at the right spot on the crosswalk puts Taipei 101 directly above the "TAIPEI" lettering painted across the lanes. It's a quick stop, five minutes if you're just taking photos, but the composition is hard to beat if you want color and the tower together in one shot.
Huian Park
A quieter option, and one I only found because a friend who lives nearby mentioned it. From the entrance, a short staircase climbs a small hill inside the park, just a few minutes of gentle steps before you reach a viewing platform at the top. That platform gets you a similar elevated angle on Taipei 101 to what you'd find on Elephant Mountain, minus the longer climb. From up there you get the tower across a stretch of green space and low rooftops, with room to play with foreground elements like trees or the pavilion structure at the summit. Fewer tourists show up here, so it's a good pick if you're after a quieter version of that same view.
Tsuei Heng Pagoda
The pagoda sits on Lake Tswei, inside Chung Shan Park, which is the same park that wraps around the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. Lake Tswei is the largest artificial lake in Taipei City, and two arched bridges, called the Shang Shan Bridges, connect the pagoda to the shore from the north and south. Stand on either bridge and turn around, and Taipei 101 lines up right behind you, with the lake and the pagoda's rooftop in the same frame. It's a great spot for a portrait too, since the bridge puts the tower directly at your back. Go in spring if you can time it for the lotus blooms, usually March into April.
The National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Since Tsuei Heng Pagoda is inside the same park, it's worth pairing the two. The pool in front of the main hall, historically called the Mirror Pool, runs about 60 meters long and 40 meters wide, and it's shallow enough, only 20 to 30 centimeters deep, that it reflects the building's roofline almost like glass on a calm day. From certain angles you can frame Taipei 101 rising up behind the water too. A water-mist fountain runs several times a day between 7:30am and 5:30pm, about ten minutes every two hours, and catching it while it's going adds motion to what would otherwise be a still shot.
Taipei 101 World Trade Center Station
This is the spot I probably wouldn't have found if I hadn't lived there. Ride the escalator up out of Exit 4 at the MRT station, and Taipei 101 rises up behind you as you go, which turns it into a great backdrop for a photo of yourself as you're carried up toward street level. Put the camera on the escalator and angle it up or just take it as a selfie, while you're still on the escalator, since the angle only lasts until you step off. I've sent this one to friends visiting Taipei for the first time because it takes no planning and no hike, just good timing on your way out of the subway.
Bonus: Two Spots Still on My List
I didn't make it to either of these on my last trip, but they came recommended enough times that I want to pass them along.44 South Village
It is an old military dependents' village that sits almost in the shadow of Taipei 101, low brick buildings from another era with the glass tower looming right behind them. Friends who've been describe rows of preserved homes with a small museum inside, and the tower rising directly over the old rooftops. My husband and I keep saying we'll go on our next trip.
Taipei City Hall Station
Come up out of Exit 2 and turn left, and Taipei 101 lines up right in front of you at the top of endless stairs. Using a zoom lens will give you the best framing with this shot to make Taipei look even bigger and closer to you. I've passed through that MRT stop plenty of times but just never exited there to check it out.
If you're building a Taipei itinerary around the tower, I'd pair the Elephant Mountain hike with one of the quick, easy stops like the Rainbow Walk so you'll get both the sweeping view and the street-level shot in the same day. I hope my list helped with your trip planning - have a great time taking photos in Taiwan!
