Keelung — the rain port at Taiwan’s northern tip — is one of Asia’s home-porting successes: around three-quarters of a million cruise passengers a year, 25 minutes by train from Taipei Main.
Keelung works as both turnaround and port-of-call: ships home-port here for Japan’s southern islands (Ishigaki, Miyakojima, Okinawa) and the Korea runs, while round-the-world and repositioning ships use it as the Taipei gateway. The piers sit directly in the city — the Miaokou night market is a five-minute walk from the terminal door.
That intimacy is the product: few cruise ports anywhere let you dock, walk off, and eat through one of Asia’s great night markets within the hour. The cruise schedule runs year-round with peaks in spring and autumn; typhoon season (July–September) is the operational wild card.
Getting between Keelung and Taipei is solved: TRA local and express trains run every few minutes to Taipei Main in 25–40 minutes for pocket change, and intercity coaches fill the gaps. A cruise call in Keelung is effectively a Taipei call without the transfer penalty of most port cities.
Beyond the city, the port is the springboard for the northeast coast — Jiufen’s lantern lanes, the Yehliu geopark’s rock formations, and the Houtong cat village all sit within an hour’s drive on the coastal road.
If you’re sailing from Keelung, arrive a day early and sleep in Taipei — the train ride is shorter than most airport transfers in this series. On a port call, skip the organized tour: train to Taipei Main, metro to Longshan Temple and Ximending, back for the Miaokou night market before all-aboard.
Subscribe to the digest and receive key market signals every two weeks.