Why Taipei is a Truly Stimulating City for Young People
Text Rick Charette
Photos VISION
Editor Levarcy Chen
Taipei City is a top regional destination for digital-savvy young travelers, and its potently wide blend of the cultural pursuits Zoomers find irresistible has put it on the radar for experience-hunters from lands further afield as well.
High-energy urban hubs, niche subcultures, “slow living” hipster enclaves, quirky interactive experiences… the Gen Z traveler desires curated aesthetic experiences to be shared on social media. The focus is on candid, nostalgic, or “real” imperfect moments, bold visuals (neon, 3D art, retro), and local cultural immersion (food, festivals).
What draws Gen Z travelers to Taipei? Four distinctive cultural pursuits have emerged as defining experiences: stan culture – from concert venues to idol merchandise shops and random play dance gatherings; immersive photo experiences at retro-styled booths and atmospheric studios; café hopping through heritage neighborhoods in search of Instagram-worthy spaces serving Taiwanese-fusion drinks; and hands-on crafts offering therapeutic respite from digital life. These activities reflect Gen Z’s desire for parasocial connection, visual storytelling, nostalgic aesthetics, and meaningful creative expression.
Taipei delivers on all fronts, with world-class performance venues like the Taipei Dome and Taipei Arena drawing international idols, atmospheric neighborhoods like Dadaocheng and Wanhua housing vintage photo studios and heritage cafés, and specialized workshops offering everything from Taiwanese pastry-making to personalized perfume creation. The city’s compact, metro-connected layout makes it easy to dive deep into each experience, while its blend of Japanese-era heritage, Korean pop culture influence, and distinctive Taiwanese character creates a unique East Asian cultural crossroads.
And now, a more detailed dive into specific spots and experiences where Gen Z is making its mark around the city:
✦Stan Culture
For Gen Z, stan culture centers on “idols” – carefully curated figures with specific aesthetic styles and strict image management – rather than traditional celebrities. What distinguishes this culture is interaction through social media engagement and offline events like concerts and fan meetings. Taipei’s venues are ideally suited to support these interactive fan experiences.
Stargazing Venues
Any city seeking Gen Z traveler consideration must have international-caliber concert venues to entice top global talent, and Taipei supplies with a dynamic duo, the Taipei Dome and Taipei Arena, both striking award-winning architectural artworks and iconic city landmarks. The freshly minted Taipei Dome, doors thrown open in late 2023, is a multi-purpose domed stadium used both for cultural performances and sports events, with seating reaching up to 40,000 for the former. The Taipei Arena is a multi-function sporting/cultural events complex that is comparatively modest in size, though still large; the main arena is used for concerts, with seating for up to 13,000. Their distinctive shapes have given rise to the dome and arena being affectionately called in Chinese the “Big Egg” and “Little Egg,” respectively.
Among the recent big-name performers at the Dome has been Super Junior, G-Dragon, and i-dle, at the Arena, BABYMONSTER, and Ayumi Hamasaki. Perhaps the most anticipated upcoming shows will be put on by TWICE at the Dome later in March 2026.
Note that the first-rate Taipei Metro system has stops right at the doorstep of both these venues, and all other locations presented hereafter are either very close to or just a short distance away from a metro station. While using the system, you’ll likely see lightbox messages created by fans, addressed to favorite idols (see the Fandom Culture section below), and metro-system announcements sometimes incorporate iconic pop tracks or even special greetings from idols to their fans. Beyond this, the city government has recently commenced creating city landscapes in support colors, check-in spots, and banners.
▲Fans check-in spot set up by Taipei City Govt.
Merch Shopping
Idol shops are retail spaces themed on pop idols, selling related merchandise, with some also staging fan events. Gen Z focuses on unique, shareable experiences like interactive photo opportunities, live performances/demonstrations, and curated environments (with a specific music or décor theme, for example). These shops provide a space for fans to gather and make it convenient for them to find partners for filming dance challenges and exchanging merchandise.
▲K-MONSTAR
The K-MONSTAR chain (www.kmonstar.com.tw), which has three Taipei branches, is a K-pop merchandise specialist – albums to photocards to apparel and accessories to much beyond. It emphasizes genuine products from K-pop idols, ensuring authenticity for collectors, and regularly stages fan interaction events. Another dedicated K-POP store is PLATBUM (instagram.com/platbum_tw), located near the MRT Zhongshan Station. It specializes in a wide range of idol albums and official merchandise.
▲K-MONSTAR
When you think of Japanese kawaii cutesy, you think of pink. As you turn into the fanfancy+ (instagram.com/ffc_taipei) shop in the Garden City underground retail/dining complex at the Taipei Dome, prepare yourself for a pink onslaught. This specialty concept store is a fandom realm dedicated to Japanese pop-culture figures, especially anime and J-pop. The first overseas branch of the Japanese fanfancy+ brand, all stock is Japanese-brand merchandise. It’s designed to be a fan community space as well as a shop. Providing more than just collectibles, clothing, and accessories, it’s a veritable fan experience destination. There are themed mini-areas where fans can take photos with their favorite characters or merch, and Taiwan-exclusive items, such as photo frames, are also available.
▲fanfancy+
Random Play Dancing
A hot new Gen Z phenomenon in East Asia is Random Play Dancing (RPD), adapted from the K-Pop dance challenge. It is a spontaneous group challenge where fans gather at a spot designated on social media (no registration required), and snippets of popular songs are played, allowing anyone who knows the choreography in question to jump into a center circle to strut their stuff. Originating with Korean variety shows like Weekly Idol, RPD events happen in public spaces or online, letting fans showcase their skills on famous choreographies from different idols, blurring the lines between audience and performer, fostering fan connection through shared passion for top music hits and their iconic moves. In Taipei, RPD gatherings mostly happen in the posh Xinyi District and Ximending.
Fandom Culture
Prior to Gen Z coming of age with money to spend, fandom culture in Taipei/Taiwan was most exuberantly expressed in the form of Japanese comic/anime culture. Over the past decade, younger generations have become hot for all things (South) Korean, and for Gen Z, it is K-pop. In tandem with this has been the import of Korea-style idol-worshipping, such as billboard/LED wall messages created by fans, rented multimedia advertising trucks, cafés where fans meet for special gatherings, such as the celebration of an idol’s birthday, and even idol messages scrolling on the façade of the giant Taipei 101 tower.
▲Fan-created lightbox message in MRT Taipei 101/World Trade Center Station
A prime example of the fandom café is the revealingly named IDOL coffee (instagram.com/idol_coffee_), located along a narrow, quiet lane not far from Taipei Main Station, the city’s major transportation hub. A bright space done up in blonde-hue woods, a rotating display of idol posters with personalized messages brackets the entrance door, and idol photos and figurines fill up the interior. Celebratory balloon-spelled birthday wishes adorn the walls most days, accompanied by dedicated parties for the idol of the day. Other types of support events are also regularly held, especially for idols’ upcoming Taipei concerts.
▲Idol items displayed in a fandom café
✦Photo Studios/Booths
Vintage and retro-style aesthetics – especially Y2K elements and a sense of “perfect imperfection” – have become defining trends for Gen Z. Grainy textures, dated tones, and slightly flawed compositions are embraced as expressions of authenticity and attitude. This is why photo booths, retro-style portraits, and old-school CCD cameras have surged back into popularity. With Gen Z, two new phenomena have taken hold: specialist photo studios and new-style photo booths.
©Yinshing Candy Shop
Yingshing Candy Shop is such a studio. It is located in the old, heritage rich Wanhua neighborhood, not far from the famed Bangka Lungshan Temple. This studio offers diverse shoot-sets looking like, for example, an old-time Japanese general store and traditional Japanese home with a tatami area filled with iconic Japanese-style bric-a-brac. You hire studio photographers for different-style shoots – portrait, fashion, cosplay, and wedding photography. Diverse theme apparel is available, allowing you to effortlessly style and shine in every frame.
©Yinshing Candy Shop
As for the photo booth trend, these spots often feature cameras mounted on the walls, ceiling, and floor. They incorporate vintage and film-inspired effects, along with distinctive settings such as subway cars, airplane restrooms, and elevators. A variety of props and accessories are also available, and digital copies of the photos can be downloaded via QR code for instant sharing on social media.
One of the most popular spots is the Lucky Star Photo Booth by SNAPPP in the Dadaocheng neighborhood just off Dihua Street, famous for its heritage shops and architecture. This destination celebrates old-time Taiwanese culture with four photo booths in the old Fuji/Kodak style, featuring classic Taiwanese background/foreground props: pachinko tables, fruit-stand racks, old-time movie posters, convex road-safety mirrors….
There are also several SNAPPP outlets in the city. These are photo service and community hubs with a strong focus on film (analog) photography culture, selling film and gear, staging photo events/contests, and magazine projects, etc.
✦Café Hopping
It seems every generation in Taiwan under 50 loves café lingering, each cohort in each locale having its distinguishing set of prized café hangouts and café-character style. Research shows that Gen Z natives spend far more time thinking of good food and drink than other generations, and love to share their café and restaurant discoveries with their peers via Instagram and other social media platforms, especially through reviews and comments – with pretty pics + short videos.
Another characteristic is café hopping, that is either following peer recommendations and trying a new café experience each outing, or going to more than one café in a day alone or with friends to experience the best of peer-recommended best at each.
What determines which cafés become Taipei Gen Z favorites? The golden trio: “good-looking, photogenic, delicious.” The first refers to the décor; in Taipei, three favored styles are artsy hipster, raw industrial, and nostalgic old house. The second means the food and drinks are easy to photograph and present. The last is more than just food and drink taste, also including whether the price-performance ratio is enough to warrant a repeat visit.
Two joints currently at the zenith of local Gen Z popularity are TWATUTIA COFFEE & Co. and Ao Tao Zu Cafe. TWATUTIA (facebook.com/tttcoffee.tw) is in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, and its richest in heritage architecture, Dadaocheng, which started as a riverport trading in regional goods in the mid-1800s. “Twatutia” is the transliteration for the Taigi (Taiwanese Hokkien) pronunciation of “Dadaocheng.” The theme here: vintage-décor café in a re-missioned old low-rise commercial/residential building, where a tea shop originally operated. The décor is industrial-style, with mottled exposed-concrete walls, exposed ceiling piping and wiring, plus such furnishing touches as a vintage retail counter and weighing machine.
The café serves premium coffees from around Taiwan and the world, plus traditional Taiwanese pastry treats, and sells a curated selection of lifestyle items on the second floor, including café-themed merchandise. Amongst the coffee selections, the Gen Z crowd is sweetest on the Coconut Sweetened Latte, while the mooncakes are their dearest baked-goodie choice, followed by the pineapple cakes and mungbean cakes.
Ao Tao Zu Cafe (instagram.com/aotaozu_cafe) is another Dadaocheng denizen, also in a mid-20thcentury commercial/residential low-rise renovated and given a new purpose. Open till midnight, it is one of this neighborhood’s few late-night cafés. Step beyond the gleaming-white exterior, which has the look of a Mediterranean seaside villa, and you step into the Taiwan of yesteryear, the premises retro-busy with such icons of past times (primarily the 1960s~1980s) as white-ceramic-tile walling and vintage table lamps, radios, speakers, and beverage bottles. The Z-favored coffee choices feature flavorings quintessentially Taiwanese: Brown Sugar Cappuccino, Sesame Latte, and Tieguanyin Cappuccino. From the edibles side, it’s the hot things that get the Zoomers salivating, particularly the Chinese dumplings and chicken wings, with the lemon tart commonly called on as a sweet exclamation point to the experience.
✦Crafts
Gen Z treats crafts like therapeutic medicine, finding community and connection through group participation in pastimes associated with “slow living” and the simpler times of their grandparents. These slow hobbies provide regenerative respite from digital fatigue, affordable creative recreation, plus, often, usable practical physical skills. Such sustainable, screen-free self-expression births personalized “Grandma core” items that merge the nostalgic with the modern, and of course, these one-of-a-kind works of art are shared with peers on social media.
©ABC Cooking Studio
ABC Cooking Studio (bit.ly/ABCcooking) has two franchises in the city, with the flagship outlet in the Taipei 101 complex. Founded in Japan in 1985, the enterprise has outlets throughout East Asia. Its stated mission is to convey the value of food culture through its beginner-friendly hands-on cooking, bread making, and dessert classes. The experience is designed to make your cooking studio a social place, perfect for groups of friends or, if coming on your own, to share with new friends.
©ABC Cooking Studio
There are 1-day sessions specially designed around festive themes and unique ingredients; mini-classes that utilize semi-finished products and multifunctional cooking utensils to help you quickly prepare dishes within one hour; and, most in demand, 1~2-hour tablet-based sessions (English available) that allow you to learn at your own speed, conducted in the large, bright, and comfy studio with you sitting at your own individual-table workstation – a friendly approach for sometimes socially anxious Gen Zers. Staff can also provide simple English assistance.
Among the most popular class choices is Taiwanese pastries; create your own culturally iconic mung-bean cakes, pineapple cakes, double-flavor mugwort cakes (taro and adzuki bean), or peanut mochi pork floss scones.
▲Pineapple cakes
Close to the city’s renowned Dongmen Market, and just a few blocks from Yongkang Street, the core of a popular trendy eatery/boutique neighborhood, CAME perfume (cameperfume.com) is an elegant studio space featuring a red-brick façade and, inside, clean white walls and ceiling offset by deep-black furniture and sash-window frames.
©CAME perfume
Relaxing, immersive DIY perfume experiences are what’s on offer, crafting your own personalized fragrance from scratch – each session is 90 minutes, your choice of bottle size (session fee varies), and your own workstation along a large, long worktable shared with others. This enables you to work peacefully on your own or work in collaboration with a group.
©CAME perfume
A complete set of perfume-making tools is provided at each workstation, which is outfitted with a laptop, with instructions provided via headphones, ensuring comfort for socially introverted Zoomers. “Live” instructors are also on hand, with good English guidance available. The laptop guidance is clear, easy to follow even for beginners, and you are able to both adjust the playback speed and replay sections, learning at your desired pace. Mix from an assortment of 60 fragrance ingredients displayed on the in-house fragrance wall, all of which are explained to you, all guaranteed safe to use and environmentally harmless. Each personalized fragrance is a masterpiece of artistry, making the perfect city souvenir – a personalized signature “scent of Taipei.”
🔎
Ao Tao Zu Cafe | 初二咖啡
Dadaocheng | 大稻埕
Dongmen Market | 東門市場
IDOLcoffee | 愛豆應援咖啡
Lucky Star Photo Booth by SNAPPP | 小福星拍貼機
SNAPPP | 寫真私館
Taipei Arena | 台北小巨蛋
Taipei Dome | 台北大巨蛋
TWATUTIA COFFEE & Co. | 大稻埕咖啡
Ximending | 西門町
Yingshing Candy Shop | 影心菓子舖
🗺️Click here to see aforementioned spots on Google Map
This article is reproduced under the permission of TAIPEI. Original content can be found on the website of Taipei Travel Net (www.travel.taipei/en).
