A Guide to Tainan, Taiwan’s Oldest City Turned Food Hub

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Located on Taiwan’s southwestern coast, Tainan, the island’s oldest city and former capital, has a long history of cultural incursion, much of which can be traced through its existing architecture. Dutch traders started building forts here in the early 1600s, and Ming and Qing loyalists seized control about half a century later. From 1895 to 1945, while the island was under Japanese rule, city planners upgraded Tainan’s municipal grid with new roads, European-style shop houses and an imposing government hall with a mansard roof.

Today, relics of the past can be found all over town, sharing space with the street food vendors and restaurants that have made Tainan the culinary center of Taiwan. A ruined wall of the 17th-century Dutch Zeelandia fortress lies on the grounds of the restored Anping Old Fort, a site that, like the Qing-era Confucius Temple, draws weekenders from Taipei — a roughly two-hour bullet-train ride north. Nearby, department stores and museums have taken over some of the Art Deco buildings the Japanese left behind, and day-trippers crowd around the decades-old market kitchens, queuing up for shrimp-topped danzai noodles or milkfish ball soup.

Over the past several years, visitors have found even more reasons to explore the city. In the mazelike lanes, a fresh wave of creatives have transformed a number of Tainan’s neglected structures into craft studios and boutiques (such as Chin Chin Pottery and Mu Er, which specializes in ceramics, woodwork and jewelry) and celebrated cocktail bars, including Moonrock and the whiskey-centric TCRC.

“During the pandemic, lots of people moved here to escape the crowds and high prices of Taipei,” says the Tainan-born barista Noel Chang, who turned a former lawyers’ office into Irresponsible, a cafe serving specialty coffees and Indian-inspired curries. “Old, young, retirees — even Hong Kongers escaping the political turmoil back home. They come here for life at a slower pace.”

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U.I.J. Hotel & Hostel

Given the city’s many well-designed cafes and ateliers, it’s surprising that Tainan’s hotel scene skews more toward banal business stays than boutique inns. U.I.J. Hotel & Hostel, which…