🇹🇼 Transport & Payments Check Before You Travel

Taiwan EasyCard: Buying, Transfers and Balance Refunds

Buy an EasyCard at airport and metro stations or major convenience stores, and top it up with cash. Transfer discounts vary by area and transport type, while balance refunds deactivate the card and may incur a fee.

As of 2026-09-05

This is the Transport & Payments item for a trip to Taiwan. The 3 checkpoints below can only be settled properly before you leave — put them off and you queue at an airport desk or spend the first day on them instead. Work through them once and nothing has to be reopened.

Key checkpoints

Buy a standard card at an Airport MRT or metro station information desk or a major convenience store, and confirm the separate card price and initial top-up amount.
For transfers between metro, bus and some light rail services in the Taipei area, tap the same card when boarding and exiting, and check eligible times and routes with the operator.
Refund the remaining balance at designated counters, including those at Taipei, Taoyuan and Taichung metro stations; after processing, the card cannot be reused and partial refunds are not available.

What to do before departure, in order

Two rules decide the order. First, anything with a deadline — pre-registration, bookings, documents to be issued: miss the cut-off and there is no substitute. Then whatever also works locally, which costs little to postpone.

Most of the items above can only be done before you leave. After arrival, patchy connectivity and opening hours make them harder, so finish what you can while you are still at home.

What to pay attention to in Taiwan

Entry to Taiwan is relatively simple, but schemes that need an application in advance — such as tourism incentives — run in fixed windows, and a missed window cannot be reopened.

In typhoon season, leave slack in the itinerary for flight changes.

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