Many streets around Taipei look like your ordinary city street during the day. But come dinner time, many streets around Taipei turn into night markets with food vendors and hungry customers as far as the eye can see. 

Vendors begin to set up their food stalls in the early evening and are serving delicious and cheap food throughout the night, sometimes past midnight. Time wise, most night markets start around 17:00 and end sometime between 22:00 and 24:00 but these times will vary on days and the specific market. 

Night markets are popular among both foreigners and locals. You generally see a good mix of people here from foreigners and children to businessmen and people that know the markets and come on a near daily basis. 

The vendors at the night markets are known to serve bite sized portions of delicious food. In general, expect the food to be quite cheap in price, that doesn’t mean the quality of the food is poor. It’s quite the opposite, for the most part, the food sold at the markets are fresh and local. 

Sometimes, when walking around Taipei especially the night markets, you might get a whiff of a bad city smell. Chances are it’s not a sewer smell but a food famous in Taiwan known as Stinky Tofu. It’s fermented tofu with a rather pungent smell. I was reluctant  to try it, (I don’t do well with smells) but set a goal for myself to try it on my last trip to Taipei (February 2023). I tried it on my last day from a local vendor at Guangzhou Street Night Market. Surprisingly, I found the stinky tofu to be rather delicious. Thankfully it didn’t taste like it smelt. 

Night markets can be chaotic, noisy, and messy but it’s all a part of the atmosphere and experience. If visiting night markets in Taipei, try not to overthink and over plan your visit to the markets. If you are wondering which night market in Taipei to go to, simply pick a selected few in the area and do a quick walkthrough to see what food options are available. Once you explore the market, start ordering food directly from the vendors. be adventurous and remember to try anything and everything.