We just booked flights to Taiwan for this summer, so I’ve been getting excited and researching where we’re going to visit. Even though the island of Taiwan is not very large, there are so many things to do there, and each region of Taiwan has special things it is known for. In China, Shanghai and Beijing are known as the major tourist destinations; but most people don’t know anything about Taiwan outside of its capital of Taipei, if even that. It seems to be under appreciated as a major destination, and it’s obvious when you look at Marriott and IHG hotel offerings to discover that both major hotel chains have only 2-4 hotel locations in Taiwan, and they are all in Taipei. Forget Kaohsiung, the major populated city in the south of the island, or Hualien, the major city/town that is closest to Taroko Gorge, which is considered the number 1 site to visit in all of Taiwan.

I guess that’s like when visitors come to the U.S., and all they think about are New York and LA. It still makes me sad, though.