Discover all Tainan highlights on a full-day private tour
Tainan
Book online or call: +44 0800 015 4961
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Duration:
8 hours
Activity Level:
Easy
Experience:
Family, Historical
Language:
English
Overview
Tainan is an ancient city that for several centuries experienced the Dutch occupation, the Mingzheng period, the Qing dynasty and the period of the Japanese colony. Our knowledgeable English-speaking guide will introduce you to local history and culture. You will get to know Tainan's history through Dutch forts, temples, and Ming shrines.
What's included
Highlights
Anping Old Fort
Fort Zeelandia was a fortress built over ten years from 1624 to 1634 by the Dutch East India Company, in the town of Anping on the island of Formosa, the former name of Taiwan Island in Taiwan, during their 38-year rule over the western part of the island.
Anping Tree House
The Anping Tree House is a former warehouse in Anping District, Tainan, Taiwan. The "treehouse" name refers to the living banyan roots and branches that cover the building.
After the Qing government signed the Treaty of Tientsin in June 1858, Anping was one of the harbors in Taiwan which was opened to international trade. Trading company Tait & Company constructed a merchant house in 1867 as well as a warehouse. The company was involved in the export of granulated sugar and camphor. Before those goods were loaded into transport ships, they were stored inside the warehouse.
Eternal Golden Castle
The Eternal Golden Castle, alternatively but less well known as Erkunshen Battery, is a defensive castle in Anping District, Tainan, Taiwan.
The castle was built in 1874 and completed on 1876 by the famous Qing official Shen Baozhen in order to safeguard the coast and to defend the island against Japanese invasions. This military facility saw its first action in the Sino-French war of 1884. When Taiwan was ceded to the Empire of Japan by the Qing in 1895, the Taiwanese people fought under the Republic of Formosa banner against the invading Japanese battleships from this fortress. Under Japanese control this military facility lost its value. Its value is completely lost when during the Russo-Japanese War the imperial Japanese government sold some of the fort's cannons.
Fort Provintia
Fort Provintia or Providentia, also known as Chihkan Tower, was a Dutch outpost on Formosa at a site now located in West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan. It was built in 1653 during the Dutch colonization of Taiwan.
Hayashi Department Store
The Hayashi Department Store is a department store in West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan.
Hayashi Department Store, commonly called "Five-story Building", Tainan City, Tainan Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan. It was originally completed and opened on 5 December 1932, during Japanese rule. Upon completion, the building was one of two such stores in Taiwan with state-of-the-art features of elevators. The building was bombed by the United States airplanes at the end of World War II. After refurbishment, the building function was restored and reopened on 14 June 2014 in a ceremony presided by Tainan Mayor William Lai.
Official God of War Temple
This temple, along with the Confucius Temple, is known as one of the oldest and best-preserved temples in Taiwan. Just when it was originally built is not known, but according to legend it was in the mid-17th century, during the Ming dynasty's Yungli reign. During the Qing dynasty, this was where government officials offered sacrifices to the god.
The God of War (Guandi or Guangong) worshipped here holds a heavy sword and rides a swift horse. His mortal origin was as a general of the late Han dynasty (early 3rd century) who, because of his behavior, becomes a symbol of uprightness and loyalty to later generations and was finally deified. He is said to have been good at managing finances and to have invented a method of accounting, and so is also worshipped (by businessmen, especially) as the God of Commerce.
Shennong Street
Shennong Street was the entrance to the Tainan Five Channels area important river ports from the Qing Dynasty. Merchants at the time would all enter Tainan through this street, making it the busiest district. However, a century of evolution has transformed the original river port into a city road. While the street was formerly in decline due to being old-fashioned and outdated, it has become a hub of culture creation and art distribution in recent years, and it’s now a mecca for young art enthusiasts in Tainan. The shops on both sides of the street are all packed with various handmade product designs. To preserve their original ideas, many of the shopkeepers prohibit photography, so please be mindful of the shop's rules. All of the shops on the street are definitely worth a look, so don't just walk down the street, and be sure to check out every store.
Tainan
Tainan, a city on Taiwan’s southwest coast, was the island’s capital from 1683–1887 under the Qing dynasty. Today it’s known for its centuries-old fortresses and temples. One of its most famous sites is Chihkan Tower, an 18th-century Chinese complex with gardens, intricately carved towers and a temple erected on the foundations of Fort Provintia, a Dutch outpost dating to the mid-1600s.
Tainan Art Museum Building 1
The design and construction of the museum was a joint effort between architect Chao Yung Shih and Pritzker Award winning Shigeru Ban Architects. The main building was constructed as the Tainan Police Department in 1931. Sutejiro Umezawa, the chief engineer of Tainan County at the time, designed the Eclectic building in the Art Déco style and it is now a historic site of Tainan City. The fusion of new and old spaces at Building 1 now hosts the works of local artists in Tainan and those of important artists from other regions. Multiple art activities are conducted to support the development of aesthetics education.
Tainan Art Museum Building 2
Jointly designed by architects Joe Shih and Shigeru Ban Architects, Tainan Art Museum Building 2 is the work of Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient. The design of the building drew inspiration from Delonix regia and its conspicuous pentagonal contours certainly helped to turn the architecture into a cultural landmark that embodies Tainan. The layered structure of different exhibition spaces coupled with the large fractal roof are the most prominent features of Tainan Art Museum Building 2.
Tainan Confucius Temple
The Taiwan Confucian Temple, also called Tainan Confucian Temple or Quan Tai Shou Xue, is a Confucian temple on Nanmen Road in West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan.
The temple was built in 1665 during the Koxinga dynasty, when Zheng Jing (Koxinga's son) approved of the proposal by Chief of General Staff Chen Yonghua to construct the temple on the right side and the National Academy (to be called "Guo Xue" hereafter) on the left side of a hill, with both facing the south. On the east (left) side stood Ming-Lun Hall (明倫堂; Hall of Ethics), built as a place for instructors to offer lectures and cultivate intellectuals. On the west (right) side was the sanctuary called Ta-Cheng Hall (大成殿; Hall of Great Achievement), housing the mortuary tablet of Confucius, as well as those of his distinguished disciples. The Wen Miao (文廟) and Guo Xue compound, the first of its kind in the history of Taiwan, was thus called the First Academy of Taiwan.
The Grand Matsu Temple
The Grand Matsu Temple, also known as the Datianhou or Great Queen of Heaven Temple, is a temple to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu, the deified form of the medieval Fujianese shamaness Lin Moniang, located in the West Central District of Tainan on Taiwan. It is open seven days a week, with free admission.
Itinerary
08:00 09:00 10:00 11:00 12:00
Your guide will pick you up from your hotel in Tainan or other accommodation in the city.
A flexible 8-hour schedule allows you to explore sights in the city center area, Shennong Street and also visit Anping treehouse, Fort Provintia and Eternal Golden Castle.
Drop-off at your accommodation in Tainan at the end of the tour.
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