Our practical basics cover the big things: money, SIM cards, plugs, safety. This page is the next layer down, the small daily habits that take a few days to work out on your own. The short version first.
- The convenience store is a service counter. Its kiosk prints, scans, books taxis and sells tickets, with an English option.
- For cash, use the ATM inside the store. Taipei has over 4,000 ATMs listed for foreign card withdrawals, many of them in 7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Hi-Life.
- Toilet paper goes in the toilet. Pocket tissues don't: they go in the bin.
- Street bins are few. Carry your rubbish until you find one, or take it back to your hotel.
- Carry an umbrella, every month of the year.
The convenience store as a service counter
You will use 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart for snacks, water and EasyCard top-ups. They do far more than that. The touchscreen kiosk by the door, ibon in 7-Eleven and FamiPort in FamilyMart, is a small post office, print shop and ticket office in one.
- English on screen. The ibon kiosk has a foreign language option, with English and Japanese among its eight languages.
- Printing and scanning. ibon prints from a storage device you plug in or a file you upload, and scans documents. Handy for a boarding pass, a booking confirmation or a form.
- Booking a taxi. ibon has a taxi booking service, useful when you can't hail one in the street.
- Sending parcels. ibon handles parcel shipping, including an international express option.
- Tickets. Concert and show tickets bought online can be printed at ibon or FamiPort. → How to buy show tickets in Taipei
How the kiosk works. For tickets and bill payments you don't pay at the machine. You enter a code or make your choices, the kiosk prints a slip, and you take the slip to the counter to pay. The same goes for Taiwanese websites that offer "pay at a convenience store": they give you a payment code, you print the slip at the kiosk, and you pay at the counter.
ATMs that take foreign cards
Not every ATM in Taiwan takes a card issued abroad. Taiwan's central bank publishes the official list of ATMs for international card withdrawals, and in late October 2026 it held 4,116 machines in Taipei. The useful part is which bank runs the ATM in each chain, because that is the name you will see on the screen:
| Where | Bank running most listed ATMs |
|---|---|
| 7-Eleven | CTBC Bank (中國信託) |
| FamilyMart | Taishin Bank (台新), with Cathay United Bank (國泰世華) at many others |
| Hi-Life | Cathay United Bank (國泰世華) |
| OK Mart | Taishin Bank (台新) |
| MRT stations | Cathay United Bank (國泰世華) |
Post offices (Chunghwa Post, 中華郵政) and bank branches have listed machines too. Fees for foreign cards depend on your own bank as well as the ATM, so check before you travel. → Cash, cards and exchanging money
Paying: cards, phones and cash
The rule of thumb from our basics page holds: cards at hotels, department stores and larger businesses, cash at night market stalls, breakfast shops and small noodle shops. A few things make the middle ground easier.
- Your EasyCard is also a wallet. Beyond the MRT and buses, it pays at shops, supermarkets, food and drink outlets and taxis that show the EasyCard logo.
- Tap your card or phone on the MRT. Since July 1, 2026, the MRT gates take contactless Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Discover and Diners Club cards, and Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay linked to them. → EasyCard and paying by credit card
- Taxis. Cash always works. Some taxis take EasyCard, and Taiwan Taxi (55688) cars take contactless cards and phone wallets. → Taxis and Uber
- Keep small notes. NT$100 notes and coins are what stalls want. Break a NT$1,000 note at a convenience store, not at a stall.
Taxis when you don't speak Chinese
Have your destination in Chinese, not just in English. Save your hotel's Chinese name and address on your phone the day you arrive, and show the driver the address or a map pin rather than saying it. Ride apps solve the problem: in Uber, including its Uber Taxi option, and in the 55688 Taiwan Taxi app, you type the destination before the car arrives. → Taking a taxi without speaking Chinese
Laundry
Self-service laundromats (自助洗衣) with coin-operated washers and dryers are a normal part of Taipei life, and a turn in the dryer costs a few coins. They matter most in wet weather: in a long rainy spell clothes won't dry on a rack, and locals head to the laundromat dryers. In June 2026, during plum rain and a typhoon, laundromats across northern Taiwan had queues for their dryers.
- Ask at your hotel desk whether it has guest machines or a laundry service before you go looking.
- In rainy weeks, expect a wait for the dryers.
- Bring a bag for carrying clothes home: you are walking there and back.
Rubbish, recycling and the music trucks
Taipei has few street bins, on purpose. The city cut its pedestrian bins from about 2,000 to 806 because people were stuffing household rubbish into them, and it keeps the remaining ones near tourist attractions, shopping areas and night markets. Don't litter inside the MRT either: you can't eat or drink there anyway. The easy habit is to keep a small bag for rubbish and empty it at your hotel.
The rest of the system surprises many visitors:
- Rubbish doesn't wait on the street. Since 1997, Taipei residents have carried their rubbish out and handed it straight onto the collection truck. Recycling trucks follow the rubbish trucks.
- The trucks play music. The yellow trucks announce themselves with Beethoven's "Für Elise" or "A Maiden's Prayer". When you hear either tune, neighbors with bags will soon appear on the corner.
- No collection on Wednesdays and Sundays in Taipei.
- Official bags. Since July 1, 2000, household rubbish has to go in the city's official bags, sold in convenience stores. Recyclables don't need them, and food waste is collected separately.
Good to know: staying in an apartment rental? Ask your host how rubbish works in the building and when the truck comes. It saves you chasing one down the street.
Toilets
- MRT stations all have restrooms. If the one you need is on the other side of the fare gates, ask the station staff: Taipei Metro lets you use it for free.
- Toilet paper goes in the toilet. Since June 2017, public toilets across Taiwan have followed the national environment agency's policy of flushing used toilet paper, which is short-fiber and breaks up in water. Some restrooms still have a sign asking you not to flush: follow it there.
- Pocket tissues go in the bin. Packet tissues and facial tissues have longer fibers and don't dissolve, so don't flush them. Carry a packet anyway, for the restroom that has run out.
- Sanitary products. Restrooms at every MRT station have a vending machine: NT$10 for two pads.
Water refills
The Taipei Water Department runs drinking fountains in parks, on hiking trails and at tourist attractions, with an online map for finding the nearest one. Carry a refillable bottle and use them. → Is the tap water safe?
Rain and umbrellas
Rain falls on 12 to 16 days in every month of the year in Taipei, so an umbrella belongs in your bag whatever the season. Close it and stow it when you come into an MRT station: the Metro warns that floors get slippery when wet. → Taipei's weather month by month · a rainy day in Taipei
On the street and on the MRT
- Scooters. They are everywhere. Look both ways twice, even on a green light.
- Queue at the platform markings. Let people off first, then move inside the car. → MRT rules and etiquette
- Eyes up. Taipei Metro asks people not to stare at their phones while walking. Stations are busy.
- Shop hours. Shops open roughly 10:00 or 11:00 and close around 21:00 or 22:00, so plan errands for the afternoon. → Opening hours
Sources
Kiosk services: ibon (7-Eleven); ibon's foreign language option: UAnalyze, October 14, 2026; paying by code at FamiPort: Yahoo Auctions help. ATMs for international cards: Central Bank list via the government open data platform (updated October 28, 2026). Cards accepted: Taiwan Tourism Administration. EasyCard: scope of use. Card payments on the MRT: Focus Taiwan, June 30, 2026. Taxi payments: Taiwan Taxi; Uber Taxi in Taipei. Laundromats in the rain: Storm Media, June 25, 2026. Street bins: CNA, August 4, 2026 and United Daily News, July 21, 2026. Rubbish collection and bags: Taipei City Government; the truck music: TaiwanPlus; collection days: Mirror Media, citing the Ministry of Environment. Toilet paper policy: PTS News and Focus Taiwan. MRT restrooms and sanitary products: Taipei Metro; MRT etiquette: Taipei Metro. Drinking fountains: Taipei Water Department. Rain days: Central Weather Administration figures on our best time to visit page. Checked October 2026.