TAINAN FREE AND EASY: Kaoshiung Airport to Tainan Station

We landed at Kaoshiung International Airport. The airport is not really big. There is a visitor information center. There is also counter selling prepaid mobile cards and also a 7-11 for you to buy snacks and food or your youyou card( ezlink card). You can also get the easy card or also known as the youyou card from the metro station. The easy card can be use for payment for various occasions, including for bus, trains and in convenience store. There is a nt$100 (S$5) deposit, if you are staying for a short trip and intend to take a cab or hire a driver, there is not a need to get a card. If you are doing free and easy on your own, getting the card will save you the hassle of digging for coins. 

Sometimes the Taiwan Tourism Board gives away free easy card, watch out for it if you want to save on the deposit

We decided to take the HSR and change to a train to our Tainan hotel.

To reach the HSR station, you have to follow the signage and walk around 5 minutes to take the MRT. Take the train to Zuoying. It will take 13 stops and 26 minutes

You will need you Youyou card to pay the transport or buy a one-time pass. 

DIRECTIONS TO KAOSHIUNG MRT

ON THE WAY

The THSR station is much bigger than the train station with slightly more food and drink selection. We bought the one-way ticket from KLOOK as We intend to take another train to Kaoshiung.

Firstly, you need to redeem the tickets at the counters. Passport is need for verification purpose. There are seats allocated and this ticket cant be scanned at the gantry. You have to ask the staff at the control station and they will open the gate for you manually

The ride from the THSR is fast at 12 minutes. We took some time to settle down and before we know it, we reached Tainan THSR. Don't get too comfortable. Just get ready to get down.

THSR TICKET

KAOSHIUNG THSR STATION

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THSR

 After the THSR, we had to transfer to the local train. We had to walk around 5 minutes to the local train station (Shalun station) and we took the train to Tainan station

This is quite a tiring way to get to Tainan. It will take around 2 hours. The reason is because THSR is not located near Kaoshiung international airport and the main city of Tainan is also not located near Tainan THSR.
If you are travelling with elderly or very young kids, it will be a bit troublesome as you have to bring them up and down and to and fro. Although there are a lot of escalators and lifts, it will still some efforts to navigate the way and keep track of the stations.
This method is recommended if you like to take train, we took 3 different type of train. You want to try out some adventure rather than the safe way of booking a driver from point A to B. And this is cheaper, it costs less than $10 per person. There are other combinations of trains/bus to get you to Tainan. The time and pricing does not differ a lot

The more expensive but faster alternative is find a driver or taxi, it will cost around $50-$60 for 1-3 person and for a bigger car up to 8 person will be $70+. It will be worth it to take a car if you have a large group of people travelling together.  And they will send you right to the Hotel. No walking required.

I traveled with my parents who are in their 70s, they find it a bit tiring to travel via trains. However, they do like to explore the THSR and take the train and experience something different. The biggest challenge is our hotel is located 5 minutes from the Tainan Train station but the path is not smooth and even ground and some stairs, it is quite a challenge for elderly to walk on.