Fun places for toddlers in Taipei: Taiwan National Museum - Railway branch

Our son loves cars and trains so when we heard there was a branch of the National Taiwan museum with trains, it was a must-see for our son.

It actually underwent restoration and was recently re-opened in July of 2020. 

The location is near the North Gate (北門) and accessible by the MRT, as you might have guessed it if you can read Chinese, Beimen station on the green line. 

They are open from 9:30am to 5pm, Tuesday-Sunday, including national holidays (except New Years 1/1 and lunar new years eve which varies from year to year). 

Admission is NT$100, children 6-12, students, military or police personnel, people aged 65 or older are all half price. 

Children under 6 are free. We got the annual membership as it was NT$300 and allows unlimited access to the other 3 branches of the Taiwan museum system. 

There are usually special exhibitions and some of the displays are interactive or captivating to a little boy who loves all things trains. 

There's also a kids' indoor play area where you can ride on the small train, but as there's only one train, the wait time is around 20 minutes on weekend mornings. 

To ride this train you actually need to queue up for a limited number of tickets and then wait in line and watch this train go around.

But if you want to ride the train, make sure to arrive early!

There are two times when tickets are distributed: 9:30am and 1:30pm. We normally arrive between 9:30 and 10:00am, and we always get tickets. You can get up to three tickets per kid, and they're all free. (Each kid can get a 10:00, 11:00, and 12:00 ticket. The 11:00 and 12:00 times are always sold out by 10:30.)

You can also line up to get tickets at 1:30. Again, each kid can get three tickets: for 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00. But the line for these gets REALLY long around 1:00. We've never managed to get tickets for the afternoon slots. (We only go on weekends)

If you want to go on a weekend afternoon, expect to be waiting for a VERY long time. Nobody can get tickets without lining up.

I highly recommend going in the morning. Try to get there around 9:30... but if you get there at 10:00, you should be ok. From 10:30 onwards, you're taking a risk.

Here's a video of what it is like at the train museum so you can get a better idea.