Kaohsiung travel guide

Top 10 sights in Kaohsiung

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

1. 

   1© Chongkian · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Kaohsiung Mosque

   The second mosque built in Taiwan, completed in 1949 for Muslim families who came with the Nationalist retreat, and rebuilt on its present Lingya site in 1992. It serves about a thousand worshippers, many of them Indonesian workers and fishermen in the port.

   TiqetsKlook
2. 

   2© HANYU HSIEH · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Holy Rosary Cathedral

   The oldest Catholic church in Taiwan, founded in 1859 by Dominicans from Manila who landed at this harbour, and rebuilt in Gothic style in 1928. It was raised to a minor basilica in 1995 and stands on the Love River walk.

   TiqetsKlook
3. 

   3© CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Kaohsiung Confucian Temple

   The largest Confucian temple in Taiwan, built in 1976 beside Lotus Pond in the Song-dynasty manner, replacing a Qing temple of 1684. The autumn rite on Confucius's birthday is performed here with eight-row dance, and the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas are along the same lakeside walk.

   TiqetsKlook
4. 

   4© Taiwan Junior · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Kaohsiung Museum of History

   A museum in the former Kaohsiung city hall of 1939, an Imperial Crown style building from the Japanese period. Its permanent exhibition covers the 28 February 1947 incident, when troops fired on a crowd in front of this building.

   TiqetsKlook
5. 

   5© Outlookxp · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Fongshan Longshan Temple

   A Guanyin temple in Fengshan founded in the mid-eighteenth century, and one of the roots of Kaohsiung's religious life. Its bracketed timber roof and polychrome carving survive, and it is a nationally designated historic site.

   TiqetsKlook
6. 

   6© Felis domestica · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Cihou Fort

   A Qing battery of 1875 on the hill of Cijin island, built with British advice to cover the northern entrance to the harbour and shelled by the Japanese in 1895. The red brick gatehouse with its swallowtail carving survives; the lighthouse is a short walk along the ridge.

   TiqetsKlook
7. 

   7© 微型樂園 micro+playground · CC BY 2.0

   National Science and Technology Museum

   One of the largest science museums in Taiwan, opened in 1997 in Sanmin district, with applied science and engineering across six floors. Its hands-on halls make it the standard wet-weather plan, and it holds a full-size aircraft cutaway.

   TiqetsKlook
8. 

   8

   Takao Shrine

   A Shinto shrine of the Japanese colonial period in Takao, as Kaohsiung was then called, enshrining Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, Ōmononushi and Emperor Sutoku. It was dismantled after 1945 and the site on Shoushan became the Martyrs' Shrine.

   TiqetsKlook
9. 

   9© vegafish, vegafish in zh-wikipedia · CC BY-SA 2.5

   Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts

   The city art museum, opened in 1994 in a sculpture park in Gushan, and the leading art institution of southern Taiwan. Its collection concentrates on Taiwanese modern art and on the ceramics and woodcarving of the south.

   TiqetsKlook
10. 

    10© SSR2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Takao Railway Museum

    A railway museum in the original Takao station building of 1900, the terminus of the first line to reach southern Taiwan. The freight yard, signal box and tracks are kept in place outside, and the whole area is now a park called Hamasen.

    TiqetsKlook

Popular tickets & tours in Kaohsiung

Live products and prices are provided directly by Klook.

Trending now

Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

1. 

   1© Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Dragon and Tiger Pagodas

   Twin pagodas of 1976 on Lotus Pond, entered through a dragon's mouth and left through a tiger's — done in that order, tradition holds, the passage clears bad luck. They sit on the water on a short causeway and are best seen at sunset.

   TiqetsKlook
2. 

   2© SSR2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0

   E-DA Theme Park

   A theme park at Dashu built in a Greek Aegean style, opened in 2010 with an outlet mall, hotels and an eighty-metre big wheel. Its indoor rides make it usable in the summer heat, which is the point in Kaohsiung.

   TiqetsKlook
3. 

   3© Mike-tango www.mablehome.com · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Republic of China Air Force Museum

   An open-air air force museum at Gangshan, where the flying school has been since the Japanese period, with retired aircraft lined up outdoors. Trainers, F-104s and the aircraft flown in the Taiwan Strait crises of the 1950s are among them.

   TiqetsKlook
4. 

   4

   Asia New Bay Area

   A harbourside redevelopment of about 600 hectares where Kaohsiung's docks meet the city centre, carrying investment of some NT$130 billion. The exhibition centre, the public library, the music centre and the Pier-2 art district all stand within it.

   TiqetsKlook
5. 

   5

   Central Park

   A park in Cianjin district, a rectangle of green left in the densest part of the city, joined by underpass to the metro station and the Kaohsiung Literature Museum. Its metro entrance, a glass canopy by Richard Rogers, is the best-known thing about it.

   TiqetsKlook
6. 

   6© caich · CC BY 3.0

   Shinkuchan

   A pedestrian shopping quarter in Xinxing district, its name answering the older Kujiang market across the city. The word goes back to Horie-cho, a ward the Japanese administration laid out in 1915; the streets were repaved for walking after the department store nearby closed.

   TiqetsKlook
7. 

   7

   Shoushan Zoo

   A zoo on the northern edge of Shoushan Park, terraced into the hillside above the harbour. Lions, tigers, elephants, Formosan black bears and kangaroos are kept here, and a rebuilding completed in 2022 opened up the enclosures.

   TiqetsKlook
8. 

   8© MiNe · CC BY 2.0

   Taiwan Sugar Museum

   A museum on the site of the Qiaotou sugar refinery, which opened in 1901 as the first modern sugar mill in Taiwan and closed in 1999. Machinery, warehouses and the Japanese-era offices are left standing, and sugar was the island's main export for half a century.

   TiqetsKlook
9. 

   9© Pbdragonwang · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Chi Jin Mazu Temple

   A temple on Miaoqian Road in Cijin dedicated to Mazu, patron of fishermen, and the oldest temple in Kaohsiung — founded in 1673 by a fisherman blown ashore here. The street outside it is the island's seafood row.

   TiqetsKlook
10. 

    10© Legolas1024 · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Kaohsiung Martyrs' Shrine

    A shrine on the slope of Shoushan honouring the war dead of the Republic of China, established in 1946 on the site of the Takao Shinto shrine of the Japanese period. The terrace before it looks down over the harbour and the city.

    TiqetsKlook