My family arrived just before the Taichung Green Museumbrary opened for the day. The children spotted a fairy circle of lime-green stools in the adjacent park and ran towards it. Inside, the building’s generous void deck, ramps and staircases engaged us as much as its cavernous galleries and lofty atriums.Before my visit, I had imagined Taichung as a typical urban centre. But several days in Taiwan’s second-most populous city revealed something gentler and more layered – a place shaped by progressive cultural spaces, green lungs and a diverse dining scene.Eric Swanson, general manager of InterContinental Taichung, described the city as having a “quiet confidence”. “What distinguishes Taichung from other major Taiwanese cities is this balance – cutting-edge technology coexisting with liveability, creativity, and space,” he said.Here are some ideas for three days in Taichung.ART AND THE PARK
Taichung Green Museumbrary. (Photo: Taichung Art Museum/Iwan Baan)
The Culture Forest rooftop garden at Taichung Green Museumbrary, which connects the Taichung Art Museum and Taichung Public Library. (Photo: Taichung Art Museum)
Located in Xitun District, the 58,016 sq m Taichung Green Museumbrary was one of 2025’s most anticipated cultural openings. It is the largest cultural project to date by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, founders of SANAA, and the firm’s first built work in Taiwan.The building brings together the Taichung Art Museum and Taichung Public Library across eight interlocking cubes that resemble a child’s building blocks scattered across the green carpet of 67-hectare Taichung Central Park. The park itself is an ambitious project, transforming the site of a former military airbase into an ecologically focused oasis.
