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Almost every neibourhood in Taipei has its own local nightmarket. Some of them have a long history, but the great development took place during the martial law years, when they became the main night scape spots.

Nowadays they are still one of the favourite places for locals to spend a free night, but have also become a top attraction for tourist.

Each nightmarket has its own personality: the street vendors and stands mix with the usual stores of the area creating a different type of market depending on the kind of stores that street has already before: clothes stores and boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants, game centers… but there are some points every market share with the others: lights, crowds, carnival games and food; a lot of food.

Many markets has a great variety of restaurants serving not only Taiwanese food, but also Japanese, Korean, South East Asian or even European. But the real fun is in the street vendors and small restaurants that serve a great variety of tasty and greasy snacks and food to go.

The most popular are the Taiwanese tempura (a version of the Japanese fried snacks made by fish paste), the dry tofu, the dumplings, the fried chicken, the oyster omelets, the Taiwanese sausages and, of course, the stinky tofu; whose terrible odor can be a real problem in your way around if you are not get used to it.

Along with the food vendors you’ll find also many fresh juice stores and tea shops to quench thirst.

The traditional tapioca milk tea and the papaya milk are definitely something you should not miss. The ice desserts are also really popular, especially the Dou hua (sweet tea-flavored cold soup with peanuts or beans) and the shaved ice with beans, condensed milk, fruits and other toppings.

Both food and stuff are usually very cheap and the sellers are usually honest with foreigners. You should not be afraid to be cheated by them, but be careful with your wallet, pickpockets are often “working” in nightmarkets, and try to eat in those places where many locals are standing in line, even if you have to wait a little bit more. It’s always a good sign!

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