Near the end of 2024, we traveled south to spend a day in Kaohsiung staying at the H2O hotel. It was a whirlwind trip, but still lots of new fun experiences with our 3Y9M daughter. We enjoyed a few tasty meals, played in the Science and Technology Museum, and took a ferry to Cijin the next morning before leaving Kaohsiung around dinner time.

Lodging at H2O Hotel

Last time, we stayed at Howard Hotel within walking distance of two metro lines. This trip, we got to stay at a nice hotel, H2O, thanks to a voucher my little sister won at a raffle at the last company holiday party. The hotel is conveniently located about a 5-minute walk to the Kaohsiung Arena metro station, and a 10-minute walk from the Ruifeng night market. The hotel pool was on the rooftop by the bar with a transparent side. For this winter, the water was unfortunately too cold to swim even in the sunny Southern city. Even though we couldn’t swim, the bathroom had a bathtub and a TV that our daughter loved.

Breakfast buffet

It’s pretty clever that they have a special menu item, usually a fancier dish, at the breakfast buffet if arriving before 8 AM. They have separate western and eastern style breakfasts, and we went for the eastern style just making the 8 AM lobster congee special menu item. There were a few other dishes made to order, along with the buffet area. The buffet part is smaller than other hotels in Taiwan, but it had everything we liked and we had a fulfilling start of the day.

Transportation

We took Uber for most of this trip because the places we went to were not easily accessible with the KRT metro. We used the travel car seat on normal Uber, and it was pretty easy to request one.

Kids activities at Science and Technology Museum

I have fond memories of the museum from childhood visits, which might have contributed a bit to my tech career. On the first afternoon, we went to the Science and Technology Museum for two hours until it closed. Given the limited time, there was a lot more than we would have loved to do. We focused on a special playground with fake snow, our daughter went to a driving school, and we ended with a quick tour of the robot exhibition.

Driving school for preschoolers at Fun City

The driving school was our favorite part, we lined up before the hourly schedule and paid 30 TWD to get a number for a vehicle. For her height between 90-110cm, she got to ride an electric scooter. The driving experience was five minutes long, and there were different road types and traffic lights for kids to learn traffic rules. Our daughter struggled to stay on the right side of the lane, but upon instruction, she was gradually getting it. Other than driving, they also had other areas like nutrition with shopping and barcode scanning.

Dinner number one at Dan Dan Burger

A chain only in southern Taiwan that we liked going to for nostalgia reasons, they serve fusion fast food at Dan Dan Burger with a mascot. After the science museum, we took an Uber to the location near the hotel and Ruifeng night market. Just a snack stop, our daughter and I both got a porridge cup and my husband got a chicken sandwich.

Snacks and games at Ruifeng Night Market

After Dain Dain burger, we walked to Ruifeng night market which used to be more for locals but has become more touristy in recent years. We came here a few years ago and liked the food here, it certainly felt more crowded this time. It was pretty dense especially in the food aisles. We got paella, steam dumplings, and half a scallion pancake to share. Our daughter also played a traditional pinball game and won three barley teas that she was very proud of.

Day trip to Cijin

A few years ago on a family trip, we took rental bikes to the ferry from Kaohsiung to Cijin. This time with our daughter, we navigated through Cijin on an electric bike contraption.

From Gushan ferry station

We took an Uber from the hotel to Gushan ferry station. It was also possible to drive to Cijin, but we thought the ferry was more unique. The Gushan ferry station was renovated, and we didn’t wait long to get on the ferry. Scooters, bikes, pets, and strollers could go on the bottom of the boat. The boat ride was pretty short, about five minutes long, short enough so that our daughter who got motion sickness often didn’t feel much. There were indoor and outdoor seats and enjoyed the view of the pier and 85 Building from the ferry.

Family car rental

After getting off the ferry in Cijin, we walked to the electric scooter car rental Xinyu that partnered with the High Speed Railway. The car was like an electric Surrey carriage, it was a fun experience driving it. We got the compact parent-child one that just fit three of us with limited baggage space. The rate for our car size was 300 TWD per hour, and we rode for 3 hours. The shop provided a map, but we still relied on Google Maps to find specific stops. The car can only go on the bike path and sidewalk, and is forbidden in certain busy areas. We got a bit lost to the lighthouse, but most of the path was pretty clear along the coastline.

Driving through Cijin bike path

We followed the route on the map, which we did a few years ago with my family with a bike. Our first stop was the Cihou Lighthouse, where we stayed for about an hour. There was a hill from the parking lot, fortunately, our daughter was motivated on the way up. The view from the lighthouse was nice, with special houses lined up next to the water. After walking through the lighthouse briefly, we also enjoyed an iced cold brew tea and refreshing popsicle at the coffee/souvenir shop next to a public bathroom. Later, we biked along the ocean with quick stops at Cijin Tunnel, Rainbow Church, Cijin Seashell (also a shell museum that had a bathroom but we didn’t go), and the wind turbine park toward the end. It was easy to explore Cijin with the electric vehicle.

Lunch at Wan Er Seafood Hall

After the wind turbine park, we walked to the Wan Er seafood hall across the street past the hospital. We saw some rental cars parked at the restaurant too, it might be easier to park there. The seafood restaurant was open-air with round tables and served family-style dishes in the kitchen area, it was traditional and hard to find in the cities in Taiwan. Visiting here in the winter was perfect, it could be hot in the summer. All food purchases here were with vouchers bought from the counter, any leftover vouchers can also be exchanged back. Rice, water, and utensils were at the self-service area. We shared salmon, cuttlefish balls, shrimp eggs, vegetables, and a giant bowl of fish soup. We had a lot of fun eating here, it was relaxing with a harbor view.

Back to Zhanerku ferry station

After lunch, we took a ferry back to the Zhanerku station on the city side. The ride was also about five minutes, and it was almost empty at 2 PM while the Gushan ferry line was overly long. The fare difference was just slightly higher than the Gushan station, at 80 TWD. The Zhanerku station is near Pier 2, and our daughter started her stroller nap after walking around the pier. We had a tea break at Happy Lemon after browsing the busy Eslite bookstore, and took the KRT back to the High Speed Railway.

Wrapup

With a quick High Speed Railway ride from Taipei to Kaohsiung under 2 hours, we had a great time despite the whirlwind trip. The ambience was quite different from Taipei, with easy access to the water. The air quality was not the best this time, but better than last time a few years back. We will surely come back to the harbor city to explore more places with our daughter when she is bigger.

Below is the full itinerary and lists of places that we considered for the Kaohsiung trip: