Taipei

Taipei is the easiest big city in East Asia for a first-timer without a car. The Taoyuan Airport MRT express reaches Taipei Main Station in about 35 minutes from Terminal 1, and an EasyCard then covers the metro, city buses and even convenience-store snacks. The metro is spotless and frequent, but the day trips seal it. The Maokong Gondola rises from the end of the brown line into tea plantations, the metro runs to Tamsui's riverside for sunset, and local trains plus a bus link reach the hillside lanes of Jiufen and the old mining town of Shifen on the Pingxi branch line, where the sky lanterns go up beside the tracks.