Taichung, Miyahara 宮原眼科

many options for chocolate ice cream

Location: google map, Zhongshan Rd #20, Taichung City, Central District

Pros: beautiful architecture, beautifully packaged souvenirs

Cons: TOO CROWDED!!!

This place is huge! It is mainly a gift shop (cookies, pineapple cakes etc) and there is a restaurant upstairs (not sure if they have real food or just afternoon tea). We had to wait in line for ice cream for about a good 30 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. Was it worth it? hmm...it was good ice cream, and you certainly can get some unique flavors and toppings, but there was really no place to eat it. We stood outside the shop holding the ice cream cups while trying to dodge the many people walking by. If you are pushing a stroller, you certainly would have some trouble getting around. Plus there is nothing around to do (with kids). But if you happen to be in the area, it might be worth it to swing by and take a look.

Okinawa, Araha Beach & Pirate Park

pirate ship playground with a zip line

beach

shower/feet washing station

ice cream vending machine!!!!

Location:google map

Parking: the entrance to the parking is this small alley way between a restaurant called Grapachina and Poco a Poco, it's free!

Pros: clean, restrooms/showers available, drinks/ice cream vending machine, toddler playground and big playground

Cons: the beach has a lot of shells, be careful walking around barefoot

The pirate ship playground is probably good for age 3 and up, depending on your child's climbing skills. But there is a smaller playground not far from it (we didn't go there) for little kids. The beach closes at 5:30pm (not sure if the time changes with season), but also do some research online first as I've read beaches might not open during certain seasons. 

Okinawa, Okinawa World and Gyokusendo Cave

Entrance

Cave

Location:  google map
Website: Okinawa World
Parking: parking lot available
Pros: cave, LOTS of gift shops, dancing and drum show
Cons: very touristy, not really a place to learn about Okinawa's history
Tickets: check their website for different packages, children's tickets are for ages 4 and up .

We bought the ticket package (Cave+Kingdom Village) and got there around 9:30 or so. We went straight to the cave and that took about 30+ mins. There were many steps on the way down and they were wet, so that was a bit scary (scarier than the cave itself lol). If you have a stroller, about 95% is strollable, just the beginning getting down part has lots of steps. I would not recommend this for kids under 4. If we didn't have the older brothers, I would not have brought just my 4 yr old here. It is a long walk for kids and there is literally nothing else but the cave. I had read about this online so I brought lots of snacks/candies to help them on the way as they got restless. But from an adult's perspective, the cave is really neat to see. After the cave we walked straight to catch the drum show at Eisa Plaza at 10:30am, and that lasted about 30 mins as well.

There was quite a bit of talking (in Japanese) during the show,  but overall I think it is worth the 30 mins to enjoy the traditional Okinawan performance. There were lots of other activities in the village that you can pay additional to try. We left Okinawa World right after the drum show to get to a restaurant for lunch.

Okinawa, A&W Fast Food Restaurant

Breakfast menu

about the only decent thing here

nice playground with sand

Location: A&W Makiminato 牧港店
Parking: its own parking lot
Pros: nice playground, flea market in the morning
Cons: food is subpar

Is it an American thing to crave REALLY good breakfasts? We certainly were at a lost finding decent breakfast spots in Okinawa. We were excited to try this since I don't even know if there is an A&W store in the U.S., but this just didn't do it for us. The only kind of exciting thing was that they have curly fries (which you can't find in Taiwan), but even that wasn't that good. But the kids enjoyed it, since they got to have root beer for breakfast!!!! and playground!!

Taipei, Elephant Mountain 象山

playground by the mountain

entrance

great view

Location: google map, take MRT red line to Xiangshan Station. The start of the trail is still a little ways from the MRT Station. (5~10 min walk)

Pros: Easy to get to, beautiful view
Cons: mostly all steps! If you can do steps, don't come here!

My 1st and 2nd grader had no problem walking this, but my 4 yr old started complaining within 5 minutes. I ended up waiting at the mid level with him on the bench while grandpa took the other two up more. lol!! There are lots of steep steps, so I would caution older folks to think twice about walking this trail! Other than that, it's definitely worth going up there to get a great view of Taipei.

Hsinchu, 18 Peak Mountain 十八尖山

map of the area

parking lot

water station

random work out spots

Location: google map ( you will see lots of signs there once in the vicinity)
Pros: close to the city, easy to park, easy for kids, stroller friendly

Cons: for kids that are either young enough to sit in a stroller, or old enough to walk a lot

If you want to take a nice walk away from the city without driving too far, this is the place for you! What I love about this place is that you can either choose the trails with steps, or the ones without (meaning it is stroller friendly)! My 1st and 2nd grader had no problem walking here, but I think my 4 year old would not like it too much ;). There are also some shops by the parking lot that sell bakes sweet potatoes for $20 or so, pretty tasty!