Taoyuan Airport to Taipei 2026: Every Option, Priced

Taoyuan Airport to Taipei: All Options Compared

Bus fares differ by coach layout — three-seats-per-row coaches cost more than four-seats-per-row ones on the same route and schedule.

• Express and Commuter cost the same NT$160 — you pay for time, not comfort class.
• Bus 1960 charges by distance: NT$140 to Far Eastern Plaza, NT$160 to Taipei City Hall on a four-seat coach.
• Taxi fares are metered, not fixed, so treat that range as typical rather than guaranteed.

Airport MRT: Express vs Commuter, and the 23:00 Cutoff

Trains leave from A12 under Terminal 1 and A13 under Terminal 2 for A1 Taipei Main Station. Two types share the track at the same fare.

• Express (purple) — near non-stop, 35 minutes from T1. Dedicated luggage racks and wireless charging.
• Commuter (blue) — every station, about 49 minutes from T1. Worth taking only if your hotel sits at a mid-line stop such as A8 Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

• Payment: tap in with EasyCard, iPass, iCash 2.0 or a Taoyuan Citizen Card, or buy a single-journey token. No special airport ticket needed, and the same card then covers Taipei Metro, city buses and convenience stores.
• In-town check-in at A1 handles bags and boarding passes on the outbound leg with participating airlines — useful on your last day, irrelevant on arrival.
• Express trains run about 06:00-23:00; the last Commuter leaves T1 at 23:37. A 23:40 landing means no train, so plan a bus or taxi before you fly.

When a Bus or Taxi Beats the Train

The bus wins in three specific situations and loses in the rest.

• Late-night arrivals. Route 1819 runs 24 hours to Taipei Bus Station, right beside Taipei Main Station.
• Your hotel is east of Taipei Main. A1 sits in the far west of the centre, and Xinyi is a Metro transfer plus a walk with luggage. Routes 1960 and 1961 stop closer to those hotels.
• Tightest budget. NT$105 still buys a reserved seat and a luggage hold.

The loss condition is traffic. Freeway 1 backs up on Friday evenings and Sunday nights, turning a 60-minute ride into 90. The MRT is immune to that, which is the real case for the extra NT$55.

Taxis queue outside Arrivals at both terminals and run on the meter plus tolls — roughly six to nine times the train fare, so they make sense split three or four ways, or outside MRT hours with heavy bags. The airport is 40 km from the city; decline any driver quoting a flat price without the meter and use the rank supervisor instead. Ride-hailing works in Taiwan, with pickup points signposted separately from the taxi queue.

The same rule — rail first, bus for off-hours — applies at Incheon and Narita and Haneda.

Pricing the Rest of Your Taipei Trip

The transfer is one line in a budget that usually also includes a few paid sights and a data connection. If your days are heavy on Taipei attractions and Metro rides, a multi-day city pass can absorb transport costs an EasyCard would otherwise drip-feed; for a two-day stop with one big view, a single attraction ticket plus pay-as-you-go transit comes out cheaper. A round-trip airport bus coupon is worth pricing against NT$160 each way, particularly for a late-night return flight when the MRT has stopped. Current lowest platform prices for these are below.