Longshan Park, Hsinchu 龍山公園

Location: google map

Pros: small, contained, there's a Family Mart near by

Cons: no bathrooms on site, no shade, might be hard to find parking

This is a cute little neighborhood park near Costco in Hsinchu. The playground structure is pretty big for the small park. If you get thirsty or need a potty break, there's a Family Mart about 2 min walk away. 

Zhongyan Park, Taipei 中研公園

Location: google map

Pros: swing, skating rink, climbing bars

Cons: there's not much around the park. no shade. no easy access with public transportation. 

It's the first park I've been to with artificial grass! it has a small playground that's suitable for preschoolers, and a wheel turning thing that my boys loved to walk on. It's a decent park you happen to be in the area, but I would not cab/drive here specifically for the park itself!

Hsinchu, Confucius Temple Park 孔廟旁小公園

Location: google map (Corner of Dongshan Street  & Shipin Rd.)

Pros: three different play structure, big open area on the side in front of the temple

Cons: hard to find parking on the weekends after 12pm

This is a nice playground to come especially if you want to stay into lunch to visit the market nearby on the weekends. But that is also why the parking is HORRIBLE in the afternoon. There is an underground parking garage on Shipin Rd, and street parking is also available. So come here early if you want to check it out, and hit the food stands after! :)

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. 

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.

Taichung, Beitun Children's Park 北屯兒童公園

Location: google map location Intersection of Beiping Rd. & Xing'an Rd, right across from Siwei Elementary

Pros: decent size park with playgrounds on both ends of the park. restrooms on site.

Cons: hard to find parking even on a weekend morning

This is a fun park with a few metal climbing structures, 3 playground structures, and a weird looking maze. Ours boys had the most fun with the maze and used them as military bases for their imaginary play. My only complaint would be that it was hard to find parking! We ended up parking on a red line :x .

Taipei, Zhonghua Park 中華公園

Location: google map location (closest MRT station: Taipei Arena Station)

Pros: monkey bars, big open space, lots of benches, 7-11 & coffee shops near by

Cons: no restrooms on site

We discovered this park while heading to a restaurant in this neighborhood. It is bigger than your usual neighborhood parks in Taipei, and it has monkey bars! It also has a big open space next to the playground for riding bikes/tag/running around. One side of the park is open toward a busy road (Jiangkang Rd.), but not so close where you need to worry the kids might accidentally kick a ball over. The rest is relatively fenced in. The park is great if you need to watch multiple kids at one time. There are also two good restaurants near by: Dian Shui Lou 點水樓 and Zhen Fu Ji 真福記 - I would recommend spending some time at this park before getting some yummy food!! 

Zhubei, Jiazheng Park 嘉政公園

Location: google map location

Pros: monkey bars!!

Cons: not really suitable for toddlers and preschoolers, no restrooms on site or nearby

The interesting looking blue playground structure is worth checking out if you have older children who can do monkey bars. There are no traditional slides at this park. My 4.5 yr old enjoyed climbing on the "surfboard", but other than that there was little he could do here. (but he still had a decent time) my 1st & 2nd grader liked this park because of the monkey bars (a hard thing to find around here). Parking was easy on a weekday afternoon, I was able to find street parking right next to the park.

Hsinchu, Jinshan Park 金山公園

Location: google map location (the park itself cannot be found on google map, this sends you to the 7-11 right across from the park)

This is a tiny park located in the Jinshan neighborhood in Science Park. Parking is horrendous here, you would either have to park at the school across the street (IBSH), or in the alley by the police station. Either way, there is nothing exciting about this park. Maybe the only plus is that there's a lot of food/drink places around that you can buy something and come here and eat on a nice day.

Taoyuan, Helloland 樂農莊

Playground

Splash pad

Ball bouncing area (my boys loved)

mini golf

food

Location: google map location, Taoyuan City, Xinwu District
Website: HELLOLAND
Hours and Pricing: CLOSED on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:00-17:00 Weekends, 11:30-17:00 Weekdays
$150/person can be used towards activities.
Pros: mini golf, fun playground, food on site
Cons: doing multiple activities will def cost you!

Activities:

1. Mechanical pony rides $99 per ride

Sounds fun? Yea I didn't think so. not for $99...

2. Cactus plant decoration DIY $59~$250 depending on the size of the plant

$59 option might be worth trying if your child insists.

3. Ball bouncing area FREE

I got lucky, my boys loved this and the playground (free) the best. They can probably play this all day.

4. Mini golf $250/person or $300 for two

suitable for age 4 and up. But this experience will really depend on who else is playing on the course with you. Since mini-golf is not a popular thing in Taiwan (that I know of), some might be unaware of the etiquette of playing mini golf...such as wait for the previous group to finish the course before you begin, or not lay your golf club down in the middle of the course and say "we are still playing"  when you walk off the course (yea that happened to us)...but strange things can happen here in Taiwan.

5. Playground FREE
6. Splash Pad FREE (no towels provided)
7. Train ride (didn't check the cost)

Verdict:
Maybe give it a try? We will probably not go back again, but we had fun when we were there.

Miaoli, Shangrila Paradise 香格里拉樂園

(I apologize for the weird picture layout. I'm not sure how to fix it ;(...)

I'm not sure what happened to the "M"in Miaoli...and FN??

Entrance

Location: google map location

Website: Shangri-La Paradise

Price: $500/adult, $280/children between 3-12, FREE for children under 3 (might be able to find cheaper tickets on external sites)

Pros: big open spaces, clean, inexpensive

Cons: rides and attractions are pretty old.

We got tickets from Gomaji for $249/person, so for our family of 5 it was $1245. For this price, I'd definitely recommend coming here to try it out! We followed the google map direction and got here no problem, it was easy to find. I love that it's sort of in the mountains, so you definitely get that out-of-the-city feel. (Make sure to bring mosquito repellent!!) 

Restrooms- they are located everywhere - they are clean, and with toilet paper!! That's sort of rare here in Taiwan, so bonus points there. 

Food - No restriction on bring outside food, and it's actually a great place for a picnic. There is a restaurant right when you walk through the entrance hall, but we didn't eat there so I'm not sure about the quality. There is also three snack bars located in the park: one by the basketball court, one by the net playground, and one in the Hakka building. By the look of them, I would recommend going to the one by the playground since it looked the cleanest. I ordered a coffee from there and it was pretty good.

Rides: 1.Spinning around thing (looks extremely old and we didn't want to risk our lives)

           2. Merry-go-around (creaky, slow, and old...but my 4 yr old rode on it 3 times)

           3. Bumper cars (old, foam was exposed on the seats. miraculously it works)

           4. Clowns on clouds (medium paced & relaxing....other than the fact that it's clowns on clouds)

           5. Bumper boats (BEST attraction in this park, we can do this all day)

           6. Blizzard (looks questionable...but hubby took the older two to try it before I could object)

           7. Train (slow, but my 4&6 yr olds liked it)

"net playground"

some kind of rocket ship looking thing that you can climb in

I was totally pleasantly surprised by this snack bar.

Price is decent and they have a legit coffee machine!

clowns on clouds....straight out of a horror movie

creepy snow white and dwarfs

ride at your own risk

Hakka structure, you can feed the fish nearby

first ride

playground

Taoyuan, Gloria Outlets 華泰名店城

Location: google map location HSR Taoyuan station exit 7. Playground is located on the 2nd floor by the food court.

Pros: cool park, clean restrooms, lockers, food court

Cons: don't come here to shop

The outlet is super easy to get to by HSR. Once you exit, you will just have to cross a street to get to the outlet. Taoyuan HSR also has 爭鮮迴轉壽司 (Sushi Express) and 一風堂拉麵 (Ippudo Ramen) if you plan on eating at the HSR station.

The shopping is not much, prices weren't exactly "outlet-like." But on a Thursday it was pretty empty and would make a great place for toddlers and preschoolers to run around without bothering anybody. The playground is on the 2nd floor by the food court. It has a lot of climbing area, suitable for age 3 and up. Toddlers will need some assistance playing on this structure. There is a restroom right by the playground.

The food court has many options - we had the ramen and Subway!!! (Yes we get excited easily these days. Seeing a Subway is quite exciting.) There are high chairs available, and everything was super clean. 

Taipei, Daan Forest Park 大安森林公園

Location:google map location

Pros: sand pit, metal cube climbers, swings, skating rink, large playground structure

Cons: not easy for parents to watch multiple children

It's a beautiful park, and east to get to by MRT (red line, Daan Park station) and bus. It is always busy on the weekends. If you have only one child to watch, this is a great park to explore. If you are like me with THREE......make sure you are not going there solo with all your kids. Even with my hubby and the grandparents around, I still get nervous at this park because it is so big, and there are so many people around. It is easy to lose sight of your kids. And if you have multiple children..you would know....they NEVER go the same direction.