What should I avoid in Taipei?

The tea ceremony scam still runs near Longshan Temple and Ximending. A university-age local approaches you in English, suggests grabbing tea, and walks you to a second-floor tearoom where the bill lands at NT$2,000 to NT$5,000 per person. The tea itself tastes like warm water with a sugar syrup chaser. Walk away at the invitation stage. Near Taipei Main Station and Liberty Square, a person in robes hands you a bracelet, then produces a "donation" ledger showing entries of NT$500 to NT$1,000. The bracelet is worth about NT$15 from any vendor on Dihua Street. Street-hail taxi drivers occasionally refuse the meter and quote a flat fare. The base meter rate is NT$70 for the first 1.25 kilometers, so a Zhongshan-to-Xinyi ride should run about NT$180, not the NT$400 a driver might quote.

Skip the ground-level tourist stalls at Shilin Night Market. The real food sits one floor below in the Shilin Market Building basement, where the smell of stinky tofu and sizzling oyster omelets rises through the stairwell and a bowl of oyster mee sua costs NT$55 instead of NT$90 at the street-facing stands. Raohe Street Night Market, near Songshan MRT, is smaller and calmer on pricing. Taipei 101's observatory charges NT$600 and the weekend queue can hit 45 minutes. Elephant Mountain, a 20-minute climb from Xiangshan MRT on the Red Line, gives you a better photograph of the tower for free. Arrive by 5pm for the sunset window or you'll stand three rows back from the railing. The pineapple cake shops clustered near Taipei Main Station sell mass-produced boxes at NT$350 that Chia Te Bakery on Nanjing East Road Section 5 sells for NT$300 with better filling.

Do not take a taxi from Taoyuan International Airport to central Taipei. The metered fare runs NT$1,100 to NT$1,400 and the trip takes 40 to 70 minutes through diesel-scented highway traffic. The Taoyuan Airport MRT Express runs every 15 minutes, costs NT$160 to Taipei Main Station, takes 35 minutes, and has air-conditioned cars with luggage racks under every seat. Buy an EasyCard at the airport 7-Eleven for NT$100 plus whatever you load, and it works on the MRT, buses, YouBike stations, and most convenience stores. The Taipei MRT shuts down around midnight. After that, Uber and LINE Taxi both run metered fares with no haggling.

Taipei sits in a subtropical basin, and the weather is the thing most first-timers underestimate. Plum rain season runs late May through mid-June, with warm, heavy rain that soaks through any cotton layer in 30 seconds. The humidity stays above 80% and the air feels thick and sticky on your skin the moment you step out of the MRT. Typhoon season follows from July through October, peaking in September. When a typhoon warning goes up, the city government declares a "typhoon day" that shuts transit and offices. Do not plan a Yangmingshan National Park hike on weekends between March and May. Cherry blossom and calla lily crowds turn Yangde Boulevard into a 2-hour standstill. Go on a Tuesday. Summer highs reach 36°C with a real-feel above 40°C. Carry water and duck into any 7-Eleven for the air conditioning. Taipei has roughly 400 of them.