Looking to give a Taiwan gift or find the perfect present for a Taiwan traveller? Or maybe you want a reminder of your time in Taiwan like recreating an amazing street food dish in your own kitchen.
From Taiwan tea or a ‘gaji’ bag, pineapple cakes to cooking lessons, we’ve got you covered with our Taiwan gift guide.
Many of these can be bought online to be delivered to your home or as a gift to your nearest and dearest – plus we also suggest some souvenirs if you visit Taiwan.
Whether your craving a Taiwanese cook book or some Bugcat Capoo bling, here is our ultimate guide to Taiwan gifts and presents, all of which are ideal for birthdays, souvenirs or a treat for yourself.
Taiwan checklist
We love using agoda.com (use the code TAIWANDERERS for a discount), expedia.com and booking.com for researching and booking all our hotels.
For booking tours, transfers and buying SIM cards/eSIMs we recommend Klook, Get Your Guide, Viator or KK Day. You can also purchase eSIMs from Airalo.
For booking rental cars visit Discover Cars. For private drivers and taxis, check out our Transfer guide >
For more recommendations, check out our Taiwan travel booking resources page >
All set for Taiwan? Do one final check with our Taipei first timers guide and our packing list guide. Travelling with kids? Check out our Taipei For Kids eBook >
Taiwan Presents, Souvenirs and Gifts
If you are lucky enough to be going to Taiwan soon, we are sure you’ll stock up on lots of Taiwan souvenirs to bring home or give to friends and family as gifts.
No trip to Taiwan is complete without some form of momentos, from tasty treats like mooncake or more lasting treasures like Taiwan Starbucks mugs or a souvenir stamp book.
Read our 25+ best Taiwan souvenir suggestions here >
However, you can only buy and bring back so much, especially with restrictive baggage allowances – so below we are going to also suggest other Taiwan gifts you can buy online and have delivered anywhere in the world.
P.S. Check out our guide on all the best places to buy souvenirs in Taipei which includes Dihua Street, Ximending or a huge Carrefour.
AirFly (for any travellers – not just Taiwan)
The best airplane gadget ever and a great gift for travellers – we (Neil & Caroline) both have AirFly units as we hate the free airplane headphones because of their bad sound quality and trailing wires.
AirFly uses Bluetooth technology and it wirelessly connects the sound jack from your airplane television to your own wireless bluetooth headphones.
The sound quality is superb and it blanks out all the aircraft noise – seriously, we don’t travel without them and this is a must buy for any trip.
Striped Taiwan shopping bag (“Ga Ji Dai”)
You will see these red, green, white and blue striped shopping ‘Gaji’ bags all over Taiwan, used to carry goods by locals and tourists.
Buy this striped bag by Dragon Mamas Kitchen on Amazon, or this other version on Amazon.
Taiwanese Books and Literature
Want to read up on Taiwan or get stuck into a classic Taiwanese novel?
Popular Taiwan novels
Give the gift of Taiwan culture and read a popular Taiwanese novel translated into English like:
- The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-yi >
- A Thousand Moons on a Thousand Rivers by Hsiao Li-Hung >
- Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin >
Taiwanese Cook Books
What’s cooking? Take your Taiwan inspired cooking to the next level with these street-food snacks and epic epicurean evenings:
Taste Taiwan
Over 60 recipes from Taiwanese home kitchens by Chelsea Tsai, founder of Cookinn – learn how to make lu rou fan, gua bao, tea eggs, popcorn chicken, scallion pancakes, boba tea and more.
Or buy someone a Cookinn cooking class voucher if they are visiting Taiwan with Klook or KKDay.
Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation
Taipei food journalist Clarissa Wei presents over 100 recipes inspired by the people who live in Taiwan today.
The Food Of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island
Acclaimed author Cathy Erway offers an insider’s look at Taiwanese cooking—from home-style dishes to authentic street food.
A-Gong’s Table: Vegan Recipes from a Taiwanese Home
90 plant-based recipes from George Lee.
Taiwan Kids Books and eBooks
Get children excited about an upcoming Taiwan trip with these fun books.
Taipei For Kids eBook
With 40 pages of fun facts, colourful photos and games, ‘Taipei for Kids’ is an educational eBook aimed at children aged 7 years + (and their adults).
From top Taipei 101 facts to themed 7-Elevens, tasty Taiwanese food to useful phrases and puzzles, this is a great way to get kids excited about visiting Taipei or learn about Taiwan.
We think it’s the best Taiwan travel book out there – but we are biased as we wrote and designed it!
Globetrots for Tots: Taiwan
From the tallest skyscraper in Taipei to the sun-kissed beaches of Kenting, join Mei Mei and Black Bear on an adventure to see the best Taiwan has to offer!
An English rhyming book with Chinese, Zhuyin, and Pinyin for dual language learning!
Taiwan Travel Guide Books
Obviously we think this website will always be your best Taiwan travel resource (so modest, eh) but we also like taking a printed guide book.
There aren’t actually that many decent printed Taiwan travel guides so we’d recommend either Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.
Lonely Planet Taiwan and Pocket Taipei (Pocket Guide)
Buy Lonely Planet Taiwan and Pocket Taipei on Amazon
Phrase Books
Taiwan’s official language is Mandarin Chinese.
Rosetta Stone Mandarin Chinese Picture Dictionary
Learn Mandarin Chinese for Adult Beginners
7 Books in 1: Speak Mandarin Chinese in 30 days!
Reading and Writing Chinese
An easy-to-use guide for reading and writing Chinese characters.
Travel Gift Vouchers
If you know someone or have a family member travelling to Taiwan soon, an ideal present would be a travel giftcard like Klook.
You can choose the denomination you want to give and then the recipient can choose what Taiwan trip or tour to spend it on.
Taiwan Food and Drink
“Měi wèi” as they say in Taiwan – this is the word for ‘delicious’ that you’ll continually be using when you buy these Taiwan food gifts.
From Taiwan snacks and oodles of noodles, there is so much good food to try from Taiwan that can be bought online and delivered to your door:
Taiwanese Pineapple Cakes
Taiwan’s classic pineapple cake is a decadent dessert that is a regular topic of conversation in our Facebook Taiwan Travel Tips (TTT) group. Many believe Sunnyhills pineapple cake or Chia Te Bakery to be the best but others have said Pan’s Cake and Suntone.
Mong Lee Shang Traditional Taiwanese Pineapple Shortcake (10 pieces)
Taiwan Tea (Loose Leaf)
Popular across Taiwan, the famous loose leaf tea is a popular purchase and it often comes from tea-growing regions like Pinglin and Alishan.
Milk Oolong Tea Taiwan loose leaf premium Jin Xuan tea
Full Chea – Natural Alishan Oolong Tea Loose Leaf
Xin Qing Dong Ding Oolong Tea Dongding Tea Taiwan High Mountain
TEARELAE – Taiwan Alishan Oolong Tea
Other Taiwan snacks
Mayde Shu Shin Bou Snowflake Cake Taiwan snack
Available in strawberry flavor or pineapple, mango and cranberry.
Shengxiangzhen Garlic Green Peas Taiwan snack
Taiwan Beer Gifts
If you miss your Taiwan beer sessions, raise a glass to these cool beer-illiant gifts.
Nostalgic Taiwan Beer logo 5oz glass
‘Taiwan Beer’ logo t-shirt
Taiwan Beer logo hoodie
Taiwan Starbucks Mug
Love it or loathe it, there is no denying there is a big market for collectible Starbucks mugs and cups from around the world and Taiwan is no different.
Starbucks Been There series Taiwan ceramic mug
Taiwan Street Food Apron With Pockets
Look cool in the kitchen with this Taiwan themed apron.
Taipei 101 Observatory Gift Voucher
If you know someone going to Taipei soon, gift them the best view of the city with access to the 89th floor observatory at Taipei 101.
Buy a Taipei 101 observatory admission ticket or buy a Klook gift voucher so they can buy admission on a date of their choice.
Bugcat Capoo
Bugcat Capoo (貓貓蟲咖波) is one of the most popular Taiwan cartoon characters, a cute cross between a blue cat and a bug, created by Taiwan illustrator Yara (亞拉).
You might like our guide to the Bugcat themed Taipei 7-Eleven or Bugcat Capoo House in Taichung >
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