Taipei Travel

Um if you haven't been to an Eslite while you're in Taiwan where have you been? If you haven't been to this one while you're in Taipei what are you doing mate? Jokes aside this is just something else. My explanation for my non Taiwanese friends on Eslite is as followed: "well it's a bookstore but also not just a bookstore. It has everything. It's like a shopping mall but not really... It's got everything. It's a treasure land. It's brilliant. You should just go and check it out for yourself..." And as the icing on the cake: this Eslite opens 24/7. I don't know what else one could ask for and maybe this is the only thing that will get us through 2020. I can personally spend a whole day (or week?) here. Apart from the food and drinks and books and lovely environment to read, Eslite always supports smaller/independent brands and it's full of hidden gems. I always find some beautiful/good quality yet affordable stuff there. (3rd floor offers some marvellous jewellery brands) Sure everyone can spend ages in here so spare a day/afternoon for it.

This place is open 24 hours! Very large bookstore, including foreign language books (in English and other languages). Popular with students. Includes a cafe with food options, as well as a large gift store with relatively kitchy items for sale. Did I mention they are open 24 hours?! Can be handy...

Speaking of multi-tasking. This Eslite bookstores is huge with MANY other things, not just books. We didn't have a lot of time for it. But if you have spare times in Taipei, an afternoon there maybe some experiments.

Not the biggest bookstore but well chosen titles covering in different areas. . Many English titles as well Actually the bookstore is only one section of a great department store. A very good food section including many Taiwanese products. The Arts and craft is super with many demos. Clothing sections are also well planned and represented. There are unusal items other than the name brands. The basement has a food court that is the best in the world. I have visited ones in Tokyo,and all over Europe and this is the best. Taipei is famous for its night markets for food. This is a cleaner and just as good. The washrooms here are as good as most public washrooms in 5 star hotels and they are free (unlike Harrods in London).

Eslite has one of the largest selection of books (predominately in Chinese though) in Taiwan, and an excellent environment that encourages visitors to browse and enjoy them. But it is much more than that: there are cafes, specialty stores of all kinds ranging from beautiful stationery to fashion and even furniture. It is just a fun place to be and a great place to spend a few hours.