Taipei 101: Is the Observatory Ticket Worth the Price?
A straightforward look at what you actually get for a Taipei 101 observatory ticket, how it compares to free or cheaper alternatives, and who should skip it entirely.
Taipei 101 held the title of world's tallest building for six years after opening in 2004, and it remains the most recognizable structure on the city's skyline, built to resemble a stack of eight bamboo segments in a nod to numerology (eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture). The observatory ticket, however, is not cheap by Taipei standards, and it is a fair question whether it is worth adding to an itinerary or better to admire from ground level and spend the money elsewhere.
What the ticket actually includes
An observatory ticket covers the indoor deck on the 89th floor and, when weather permits, the outdoor deck on the 91st floor — the two together offer a genuinely different vantage point on the city than anything accessible for free. High-speed elevators, among the fastest passenger elevators in the world, take under 40 seconds to reach the 89th floor from the 5th-floor ticketing area, which is itself a small experience worth noting: ear-popping and near-silent.
The most distinctive part of the visit for many people is not the view at all, but the tuned mass damper — a 660-ton steel pendulum suspended between the 87th and 92nd floors that counteracts the building's sway during typhoons and earthquakes. It is visible from the 87th and 88th floors, lit and mascotted for tourists (it has its own cartoon character, Damper Baby), and is a genuinely unusual piece of engineering to see up close.
When it is and is not worth it
On a clear day, the view is genuinely excellent — you can pick out Yangmingshan National Park to the north, the Xinyi shopping district directly below, and on the clearest days, the coastline. On a hazy or overcast day, which happens often enough in Taipei's humid climate, the view is considerably less impressive, and it is worth checking the weather forecast before committing to a ticket rather than booking blind.
Elephant Mountain (Xiangshan), a short hike near Xinyi, offers a free view of the Taipei 101 skyline itself — including the building lit up at night — which some visitors find more rewarding than paying to look down from inside it. If budget is a concern, doing the hike instead of the observatory, or in addition to it, is a common workaround.
| Option | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Taipei 101 Observatory | ~600 NTD (~$19) | 89th/91st floor views, damper exhibit |
| Elephant Mountain hike | Free | Ground-level view of the tower itself, best at sunset |
| 85 Sky Tower, Kaohsiung (different city) | Varies | Not applicable to a Taipei trip, but a common mix-up in trip planning |
If you do decide the observatory is worth it, booking a timed-entry ticket in advance rather than queuing on arrival saves meaningful time, especially in the late afternoon when tickets are timed around sunset. Skip-the-line and combo tickets are available on GetYourGuide's Taipei page, which is useful if you want to lock in a sunset slot ahead of your trip.
Staying nearby
The Xinyi District surrounding Taipei 101 is also Taipei's main upscale shopping and dining area, so staying nearby makes sense if you want to combine the tower with an evening out. Options in that specific district are easiest to filter for on Hotels.com's Taipei listings, searching within the Xinyi/Taipei 101 area specifically.
