Experience the best of
Taipei with Withlocals

"We had a wonderful tour with Daphne, taking in the historic and particularly interesting sights of this fascinating city. We learnt a great deal about the way Taiwanese people think and feel. We strolled through shops selling a wide variety of Taiwanese products, and to round things off, we learnt some interesting facts about faith and religion – all of which she brought to life for us so wonderfully, making our tour a truly special experience."

"What a fantastic experience. Bottom line up front: the food tasting isn’t just a tasting of foods, it’s an experience. Garen absolutely put it best when she said “I want to feed your body and your mind”. You don’t just get to explore and eat as the locals do, you get very good nuggets of knowledge, context, and history along the route. I truly believe that understanding the history of the culture and the society gives you a solid understanding of why the food is the way it is. It all adds to the experience. For example, why certain dishes originate from the south region. What influenced the inclusion of small pickled dishes as appetizers into the cuisine. All very important things. Here is where it all shines through….Garen goes above and beyond and gives you tools and context on where to go and how to operate nuances to Taiwan. You can’t get that kind of real world insight from a book or YouTube or ChatGPT. It comes from the source. I learned about very culturally relevant aspects revolving around food that I would have never known. Sauces. Trays. Leaving food. How to properly right quantities of food on your sheet. I didn’t touch on the food much because we can talk about how Delish it is all day. Obviously. The flow of where we went and why…that’s perfection. It’s almost like Garen told a story of history and food along the route. It just worked. Pronominal experience. I don’t think I would call her a guide. That title seems so binary and simple. Garen is nothing short of amazing in how she conducts these experiences. I would more call her a liaison to Taiwan. Thanks for equipping me to master my time and experience in Taiwan Garen. You are appreciated. "

"We really enjoyed our evening tour with Garen. She spent the first part of the tour reviewing some important history of Taiwan which was very informative and interesting. Then we toured a local temple where she explained multiple fascinating aspects of the temple and customs associated with it. Finally, we walked through a night market and sampled some amazing food. Garen was so helpful in explaining which foods were best at this particular market. We enjoyed each food item that we tried! After visiting the busy, bustling market, she showed us a lovely quiet spot just one block behind the market on the river which was a perfect way to end the tour. "

"This is a wonderful tour of local food in Taipei. Each stop presented me with delicious food or drink that I enjoyed. There were choices at each stop so that you can customize to your taste, but Sonia will assist with recommendations if you are not sure. All were places that I would not stop myself without a guide, and each was really tasty and felt very authentic, with only Taiwanese patrons other than myself. Sonia was fun, intelligent, interesting, informative, and enthusiastic. Perfect balance of helpful recommendations but also letting me explore my own preferences. Also, when a venue was a bit busy she would wait in the line for us while I was able to explore some local shops, etc, while she collected our food. She was an absolute delight and I would recommend her for any of the trips she leads. "

"Our food tour with Garen was the absolute highlight of my two weeks in Taiwan. The food Garen chose was fantastic, every single stop was a winner. And Garen blended the food tour with thoughtful and relevant stories of local history, politics and culture, so that we got a real sense of life and current events in Taiwan. Garen’s energy is professional and so positive, and we knew immediately that we were in the care of an expert. She also took care to adapt to the dietary restrictions of one of our party (we were a group of 3 adults). This was the kind if evening we will remember forever. We finished the tour very full and satisfied, and even returned to some of the stops over the next few days because we loved the food so much. This tour is well worth the money - and choose Garen as your guide! You will be glad you did."

"We’ve done many tours over the years, and this was another standout. Nicolas gave us an incredible introduction to Taipei and made us feel completely at home from the start. He struck a great balance between highlights and more local spots, and like the best guides, he paid attention and adapted the day to what we enjoyed most. The pacing was excellent, and nothing felt forced or overly scripted. We learned a lot and had a lot of fun, coming away with a much better understanding of the city and its culture. We would love to tour with Nicolas again."

"Garen gave my family an outstanding introduction to Taipei and Taiwan. Her knowledge is broad, and her love of Taiwan is so pure and strong it was moving. She was great in the planning, proposing various options and getting a sense of what we wanted. 10/10 Garen rocks."

"Okay so my coworker and I were in Taipei, Taiwan on a business trip. We decided on our last day that we had some time to explore but we did not know where to start. I searched a few things on the internet, but lets get real here. We did not have the time nor the energy to try to plan something. I randomly had a thought and asked my coworker if he was interested in doing a food tour. He asked me what it was all about and I told him I don't know.....This is my first thing doing anything like this. I told him, lets just keep an open mind and whatever goes. Two dudes here for business work with a small window of time to see what Taipei was all about. In comes Judy! She was super awesome! What we expected was a walk through the night market and just trying small bites of local foods....Turned into a small tour of the city! We loved it! She started with asking us what we'd like to eat, what allergies we had if any, and what we would not like to try. I myself am game for everything (growing up in a Vietnamese "Quan Nhau" style restaurant I was down!)....My coworker was pretty good to go except for what I called "aroma" tofu :) Judy delivered and them some more! Gave us a lot of history of Taipei, Taiwan. Took us to places and explained the meaning of certain foods and significance of the food. We were able to do some whiskey tasting infused with oolong tea (I was so ready to buy this unfortunately the next day I was still on work travel to Malaysia). She explained to us how to take the metro and continued to provide us with various types of food. YES SOME OF THE FOOD is FRIED! It's part of the culture so if it's not for you....decline it and move along. As the night went on my coworker and myself had our fair share of multiple types on tastings, drinks, and cheers. We can sense a lot of energy from Judy and that she enjoys what she does. Her energy is infectious and will keep you going for more. Keep up the great work Judy! Will definitely call you up again once I come back again either for business or with my family on vacation. "

"We did a Taipei food walking tour with Eva on our first evening in the country and it was a real highlight of the trip. Walking the streets trying the food with a local was such a good introduction to the country as a whole, not just the food, and Eva was an excellent guide - friendly, knowledgeable and engaging. Highly recommend!"

"We learned so much from Garen, I would highly recommend her tour! Besides diving deep into the food culture, she covered a lot of history about the place and people. She is a wealth of knowledge and a pleasure to spend time with. Very rich conversations! "