This autumn, two major schemes overlap in the same window

The Tourism Administration is running its Weekday Accommodation Subsidy (the national travel subsidy), and Tainan City Government is running “stay three weekday nights, third night free.” Use both together and two people staying three nights at3 Door Hotelpay just NT$4,000for the room – an average of roughly NT$667per person per night.

SECTION 01

The maths first: how does three nights in a double come to NT$4,000?

The subsidy question we get asked most at the front desk

“If two of us share a room, can we each claim the discount once?”
The answer is no. The rule isone claim per room per night, so a single room-night can only draw on one person’s ID allowance. Your companion’s allowance is not lost, though: travel again before 30 November and their NT$2,000 is still there to use.

SECTION 02

How to claim the subsidy: three steps, two of them before you leave home

Check your dates once more before you travel: long weekends are excluded

A “weekday” here meanschecking in Sunday to Thursday. The following three long weekends are excluded from the subsidy:
• 9/25–9/28(Mid-Autumn Festival and Teachers’ Day weekend)
• 10/9–10/11(National Day weekend)
• 10/24–10/26(Retrocession Day weekend)
The second night must be consecutive; break the stay and the additional NT$1,200 is forfeited. The travel subsidy runs until 30 November (or until the budget is exhausted, whichever comes first), while Tainan’s free third night runs only to the end of October. To use both together, travel in September or October.

SECTION 03

The weekday traveller’s worry: opening days for attractions and night markets at a glance

A few things worth knowing as you read the table

Monday is Tainan’s museum shutdown.Tainan Art Museum Building 1, the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, the National Museum of Taiwan History, the Judicial Museum and the Southern Science Park Archaeology Museum all close on the same day.National heritage sites, however, do not. Chihkan Tower stays open until nine at night, and the Confucius Temple, Anping Old Fort and the Tree House all run as usual. Temples open earlier still – the Official God of War Temple unlocks its doors at five in the morning. Monday isn’t a day with nothing to do; it is a day to shift your plans outdoors and into temple courtyards. It is also when heritage sites are at their quietest, so you can read the information boards one panel at a time.

The Chimei Museum closes on Wednesdays, but its grounds stay open.The Metropolitan Park lawns, the Apollo Fountain and the Olympus Bridge are all freely accessible on Wednesdays at no charge, and photograph better for the smaller crowd. If you want to see the instrument collection and the galleries indoors, avoid Wednesday.

Friday is the busiest night market evening in Tainan.Dadong, Wusheng, Xiaobei Chenggong and Garden all trade on the same night. On a Wednesday, by contrast, Wusheng is the only night market open anywhere in Tainan – and it is about a ten-minute scooter ride from 3 Door Hotel, so the location works nicely.

SECTION 04

How our butler would plan it: check in Sunday, check out Wednesday – a three-day walking route

Sunday – start with Tainan at its fullest

It is a five-minute walk from Tainan Railway Station to 3 Door Hotel. Drop your bags and head straight for Guohua Street: almost all the well-known places are open on Sunday, and arriving around midday is about right.
Afterwards, carry on along Yongle Market and then into West Market. The north wing of West Market has plenty of craft, handmade and local design shops – worth a slow browse if you want souvenirs you can’t get from a chain. The east wing has light bites, desserts and drinks, so you can sit down when your legs have had enough.
If a market happens to be on, the Ximen Asakusa district is worth a detour too. The outdoor plaza often hosts events, craft markets or street performances at weekends. There’s no need to plan for it – just wander in as you pass.
In the afternoon, head for Shennong Street.
Shennong Street was once a key river-port entrance to Tainan’s Wutiaogang, the Five Channels. The merchants who traded here and the boats that carried the cargo all belonged to this stretch. The port is long gone; what remains are the old houses and the lanes between them.
Walk deeper into the street and you get the view Shennong Street is known for: old houses on both sides, small shops, and a line of lanterns strung overhead. Recent years have brought more craft and design studios too. Most are small, but each has something of its own.
So don’t just walk through and take a photo. If a shop catches your eye, push the door open and look. Some have their own rules about photography, so it’s worth a glance before you go in.
After dark, go straight to Garden Night Market. Four hundred stalls in one place make a suitably loud end to the first night.

Monday – all on foot, the length of Chenggong Road

Monday is the closing day for a good many Tainan institutions: leave the art museums, the literature museum and the museum of history for another day. But temples, heritage sites and old houses are open as usual, and this route starts at 3 Door Hotel and can be walked almost end to end.
A note from our butler: both Xufeng Hao and Nanchengnongshi close on Tuesdays. If you arrive Sunday and leave Wednesday, Monday is actually the best day to fit them in.
Start with a bowl of milkfish belly porridge at A-Han, then follow Chenggong Road to Daguanyin Temple and Xingji Temple. It is really two temples – Guanyin on the left, Baosheng Dadi on the right – with a Qing-dynasty official hall in between. Walk through in the morning and the incense is at its thickest while the crowds are not.
Then on to Chihkan Tower, which opens at 8:30; arriving early spares you competing for space. The Dutch-era Fort Provintia, the Qing-dynasty pavilions and the nine stone turtles bearing stelae are all gathered here. Tainan’s history is layered several deep inside a single compound.
Come out of the main gate and the Official God of War Temple is directly opposite. When you reach the junction of Minzu Road and Yongfu Road, don’t go straight in – stand there and look south, and the vermilion gable wall unfolds in front of you in one unbroken stretch. It runs 66 metres long and averages 5.5 metres high, and historians widely regard it as the most beautiful temple gable wall in Taiwan.
The Grand Matsu Temple began life as the residence of Zhu Shugui, Prince Ningjing of the Ming, before being converted into Taiwan’s first state-built Matsu temple. Look up at the beams and columns and you will notice the proportions are unlike an ordinary temple – that is the skeleton of a princely mansion. There are many plaques and inscribed stelae, and with nobody queuing behind you today, you can read them one by one.
Next, slip into Snail Alley and look for the little snails hidden in wall corners, floor tiles and side lanes. There are plenty of small shops in old houses along the way too. The facade of Xufeng Hao is in this area as well – pitched roof, green window frames, very easy to photograph.
Walk on to Nanchengnongshi on Zhongyi Road, where an old building hides a spiral staircase and a slide winding up through it; looking from the top floor down is genuinely good fun. There is ice cream on the ground floor, ideal for sitting down afterwards. Note that last entry is at six in the evening, so don’t leave it too late.
A few more minutes along Zhongyi Road brings you to the Hayashi Department Store.
It opened on 5 December 1932, two days after the Kikumoto in Taipei, making it the second department store in Taiwan and the first in the south. The district was then called Suehirocho and was known as “Tainan’s Ginza.” Locals still call the building “the five-storey house” – it looks five storeys from outside, but there is in fact a smaller sixth floor inside.
Do take the lift. It was the first commercial lift in southern Taiwan, known at the time as the “flying cage,” and people travelled up from Pingtung just for a ride. The needle-style floor indicator still turns today, and only four or five people fit at a time. Ride to the top and you’ll find the Suehiro Shrine – the only shrine in Taiwan built on the roof of a department store – with marks from wartime US machine-gun fire still visible on the wall beside it. The modern age and the war, stacked on the same roof.

Tuesday – a day out of town

The first two days were spent walking the city. Today, turn the other way and head out of town.
The Chimei Museum and Ten Drum Rende Creative Park are both in Rende District and close enough to each other to pair comfortably in one day. One is a white neoclassical building, the other a century-old sugar factory turned creative park – completely different in character, which is exactly what makes them interesting together.
A note from our butler: the Chimei Museum closes every Wednesday. If you check in on Sunday and leave on Wednesday, today is the day to fit Chimei in – tomorrow it is shut.
Start with breakfast at Yamuliao Market.
It’s on Chenggong Road, not far from 3 Door Hotel. The market stirs before dawn and is at its liveliest between about seven and ten, with angelica duck, plain noodles, savoury rice pudding, spring rolls and old-style sweets all on offer.
After breakfast, make for the Chimei Museum.
You can take a local train from Tainan Station to Bao’an and transfer to a bus; if you would rather not change, going direct is the easier option.
The Chimei Museum opens at 9:30, and arriving early is worth it. From the entrance, the museum boulevard takes you past the Apollo Fountain, the Olympus Bridge and the Muses Plaza before you reach the white main building – that approach alone photographs beautifully.
The collection is substantial; the violins, the arms and armour and the animal specimens are where most visitors linger. If you are travelling with children, the animal hall is usually the favourite.
If a special exhibition happens to be running during your stay, you can work that in too – just check the dates and admission arrangements first.
It’s about a ten-minute journey from Chimei to Ten Drum.
This was once a sugar factory, and the old warehouses, chimneys and large sugar-processing machinery that survive now form Ten Drum’s creative park. It is a complete contrast to the morning at Chimei – classical architecture first, then straight into an old sugar mill – and that contrast is what makes the pairing work.
The park has a skywalk, historic buildings and hands-on installations, along with Ten Drum’s own drum performances.
If you want to catch the resident show at the Dream Sugar Theatre, check that day’s performance times when you arrive and plan the rest around them, so you don’t miss it halfway through your visit.
A note from our butler: some facilities at Ten Drum close for a break over lunch, so arriving at midday isn’t ideal. The evening light projections don’t run every day either, so check the day’s opening times before you set out. Parts of the park involve walking and hands-on activities, so trousers and comfortable shoes are the easier choice.
Back in the city after Ten Drum, try a different night market this evening.
Garden Night Market doesn’t trade on Tuesdays, so go to Xiaobei Xinchenggong Night Market instead. It opens on Tuesdays and Fridays, and while it isn’t on the scale of Garden, it is an easier walk with plenty to eat.

Wednesday – an unhurried departure

You have covered a lot of ground by now, so there’s no need to rush the last day. Sleep in a little, have a Tainan breakfast, check out and leave your bags at the front desk, then have a look around Tainan Station before making your way home at your own pace.
The beef soup shop on Gongyuan South Road opens before dawn and serves until about one in the afternoon. It closes on Tuesdays, so Wednesday works out nicely. It is a little over ten minutes’ walk from 3 Door Hotel, and not far from Tainan Bus Station either.
After breakfast, head back to pack and check out. We are happy to keep your luggage at the front desk.
With your bags stowed, give the last stretch of the trip to the area around Tainan Station.
Zhongshan Road, Beimen Road, Wanchang Street and Weimin Street make up the station-front shopping district, with clothing and shoe shops, select stores, bookshops and stationers.
Beyond the department stores, the surrounding lanes hide a good number of affordable design-led boutiques and American vintage shops. If you enjoy browsing, leave yourself a little time to find them.
Many places here don’t open until around eleven, which suits a last day when you have slept in. Browse until midday, then collect your luggage and walk to the station.
Four days and three nights in Tainan, and that is it – just right.

SECTION 05

How do you choose a good place to stay in Tainan? How 3 Door Hotel answers five demanding criteria

September and October only: three weekday nights with the third free, from NT$4,000

3 Door Hotel is one of 36 partner properties officially approved by Tainan City. With the central government subsidy and the city’s free night combined, autumn is Tainan’s most comfortable season for a weekday stay. Book with our butler team directly.