Taiwan trip expense report: 94k for 7 days

This post shares my Taiwan trip expense report so that you can plan yours. I ended up spending little more than what I was hoping to, because Taiwan is a bit expensive.

Expense	Amount (INR)	Remarks
Flight	35000	BOM-TPE via SIN, Singapore airline
Stay (8 nights)	13500	3 night Taipei 1 night Liuqiu 3 night Kaohsiung 1 night Mumbai 1600/night approx
Food	16500	2000 INR/day approx
Travel	25000	2 high speed train tickets 2 day trips Local transport, ferry, rental costs Udupi-Mumbai train
Other	3700	Sim card, roaming

Total: 93700 INR

Expense Breakdown

Flight: 

Flight expense took one third of the share. I had booked ticket to Taipei with Singapore airline almost an year in advance. I paid 24675 or so. The same flight 1 month prior had increased to 88k INR. However another friend who was flexible with dates got it for 36000 return just 1 month in advance. Low cost airlines like VietJet, Air Asia etc might offer tickets to Taipei for 25000-30000 INR return

Stay:

Most hostels in Taipei cost 600 to 850 TWD per night (1500-2200). You may find a few more a bit cheaper but I chose ones within walking distance from a train station. Liuqiu island visit was not in my original plan, so ended up spending an extra night while I had a booking in Kaohsiung. Because I was starting from Udupi planned 1 night in Mumbai as well, thus spending 15% of the total or about 13500 on stay. If I had planned better, I could have got stay expense under 10000 INR.

Detailed posts on hostels I stayed in Taiwan coming soon.

Local travel:

Local travel took about 27% of the expenses. That is around 25000 INR

• One day trip costing 6800 INR, (Beitou and Yangmingshan One-Day Tour)
• Another day trip costing 2800 INR (Yehliu Geopark, Jiufen, Shifen, and Golden Waterfall Day Tour)
• Two high speed rail tickets costing 7700 INR (2980 TWD)
  
• Udupi-Mumbai train tickets- around 2000 INR
  
• 2 ferry tickets costing 500 TWD or 1300 INR 
• Scooter rental in Liuqiu- 350 TWD or 900 INR
  
• Above items add about 21000 INR. Rest were spent in local travel (easy pay card recharge), auto charges in Mumbai/Udupi and a few tourist attraction entry tickets.

Food: 

I had carried couple of ready to eat items from India but that lasted just 2 out of 7 days. Rest of the days I bought ready to eat pre- cooked rice from supermarket, ate at restaurants couple of times or managed with fruits and bread items from supermarket. I ended up spending almost 2000 INR per day on food. I could have cut down on food expense if I had been a bit more careful and planned well.

• A hostel I stayed in Taipei- sleepbox hostel didn't have a working kitchen, so couldn't cook much.
• Visited on overpriced Thai Restaurant in Liuqiu island, which I should have avoided. Ended up spending more than 1000 INR for a bowl of noodle and soup.
• A pack of oranges and a bottle of juice costs 200-230 TWD or 500-600 INR
• There are Indian restaurants- but a basic meal and a drink will cost you 200-400 TWD (600-1000 INR)
  

Overall I spent around 93700 for my 7 day trip to Taiwan + Udupi to Mumbai & Mumbai to Udupi journey. One week in Bali or Thailand would have probably cost half as much. Taiwan is a bit expensive compared to other south east Asian countries. I could have cut it down to under 85000 INR if I had planned better. This is more than my 2016 trip to Japan (which cost me about 77k), but then inflation over 8 years also need to be factored. 13000 INR per day is bit more than my South Korea trip last year- 1.1 lakh for 10 days) but this time I was alone.