Keelung in brief
Keelung is the port. Taipei is the city — about 25 to 30 kilometres away.
Keep that straight and the rest of the day plans itself.
The two get sold as one destination because that's how people search for them, and the shorthand is fair enough — but they are not the same place, and the difference decides your day.
Ships tie up at one of two passenger terminals, East (E2) or West (W2), both run by Taiwan International Ports Corporation and both inside downtown Keelung.
TIPC's own Cruise in Taiwan site puts E2 an 8-minute walk from Keelung Station's South Exit and W2 a 4-minute walk from the North Exit. That is unusually good for this region, and worth saying plainly.
There's no tender step. There's no shuttle to a town twenty minutes off.
You walk out of the terminal and you're in Keelung.
The second distinctive thing here is that Keelung isn't only a stop.
StarCruises' Star Navigator runs a full 2026 season based out of Keelung — February 17 to December 11, on trade-press reporting of the operator's own announcement, with 2-, 3-, 4-, 5- and 7-night sailings to Japan, South Korea and Okinawa.
We watched it happen. TIPC's live board on September 18, 2026 showed Star Navigator alongside berth W03 from 15:00 to 21:00 — a homeport turn, not a day call.
Taiwan works as a real base here — not the connective tissue between Japan and China it usually plays.
For most Western lines, though, Keelung is still one stop. It feeds a coach into Taipei and that's the day.
This page covers the berth and the paperwork — what's genuinely walkable, how you get to Taipei on your own, and what Taiwan actually asks of you at the border.
The paid tours, the Jiufen and Yehliu decision, and the honest night-market timing problem live in our Keelung and Taipei shore excursion guide instead.
On foot from the ship
TIPC's own figure. From E2 it's an 8-minute walk to the South Exit instead — check which terminal you're at, because they sit on opposite sides of the harbour.
Close enough to walk in under ten minutes. Whether it's open when you're there is a different question — see the practical notes below, because this one catches people.
Inside a 1915 bank building on the waterfront, and the nearest real indoor sight to the gangway on TIPC's own distance list.
Short on the map, but it climbs. The white Goddess of Mercy statue above the harbour is the view every Keelung photo is taken from.
What's nearby, broadly
Keelung gives you a free walk-off day if you want one, and a cheap train to Taipei if you don't — the mistake here is assuming you have to pick a vehicle before you've looked at the clock.
Almost all of this is a walk or a NT$41 train. Which one are you after?
- Miaokou Night Market
- YM Oceanic Culture and Art Museum
- Keelung Station (TRA)
- Zhongzheng Park
- Taipei — roughly 40 minutes
- Yehliu Geopark — 9.8 km
- Jiufen
- Zhengbin Fishing Harbor
- Heping Island Park
Commonly reached from
Keelung appears on East Asia itineraries that often connect Japan and Hong Kong, and on Star Navigator's own Keelung-based season. Southeast Asia loops on this circuit typically start in Singapore — see the Singapore departure port guide. If your sailing starts or ends in Japan instead, our Tokyo embarkation guide and the Tokyo cruise parking guide now cover that end too.
Practical notes
Entry here is simple, and after the rest of this region that's worth stating plainly.
Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs lists the United States among its visa-exempt nationalities at 90 days, and says outright that the stay is not extendable.
Passport validity is gentler than most of Asia. BOCA puts U.S. nationals in the group that needs a passport valid only for the intended period of stay, where most other visa-exempt nationalities need six months.
The same page asks for a confirmed return or onward air or sea ticket. On a round-trip cruise that's your booking — nobody is going to ask you for it at a cruise terminal, but it's the stated rule.
One thing has changed since most guides were written. Taiwan's paper arrival card is gone.
The National Immigration Agency made the online Taiwan Arrival Card mandatory from October 1, 2025, filed within the three days before you arrive, free.
It covers sea arrivals, not just flights — the NIA's own notice says it coordinated with airlines and shipping companies to put TWAC QR codes at check-in counters at airports and seaports. If you haven't filed, you can scan the code and submit on arrival.
What the NIA notice doesn't address is a cruise call, and we couldn't confirm whether lines file the card in bulk for their passengers.
Ask yours directly rather than assuming. That's a real gap, not a formality.
Money is the New Taiwan dollar. Cards work in Taipei and in the chain stores.
Night-market stalls are cash, full stop.
The train is the move, and it's almost free. Trip.com prices Keelung to Taipei Main Station at NT$41 on the TRA local service, about 45 minutes, with EasyCard accepted — roughly US$1.30.
Kuo-Kuang bus 1813 runs the same trip in about an hour for NT$55, around US$1.75.
A taxi is quoted at NT$800 to NT$1,200, roughly US$25 to US$38, and the journey times published for it look optimistic against Taipei traffic.
Both terminals sit steps from Keelung Station — so the cheap option is also the convenient one.
That's not usually how this goes.
How long Keelung to Taipei actually takes depends on who you ask, and the spread is wide enough to matter.
Our own Asia hub says about 40 minutes. Shore Excursions Asia says 35 to 50. Japan Shore Excursions says 40 to 50 by car over 25 to 30 km. Rome2Rio clocks the train at 40 minutes and CruiseMapper at about 50.
Norwegian's own excursion listing calls it a one-hour drive. Plan on the hour each way and you will never be caught out.
One figure sits outside that range and we have left it out of ours: Celebrity's Taipei port page puts the trip at roughly 20 minutes, and nothing else we read comes near it.
One thing qualifies all that walkability, and it's about the clock rather than the map.
Miaokou Night Market is 0.4 km from the berth and it is the famous one — but published hours for it flatly contradict each other, and a day call that sails at five reaches the street rather than the market.
We set the three sources against each other in the excursion guide, because that disagreement decides how you spend an evening, not where you tie up.
What belongs on this page is the call pattern underneath it. Overnights turn the whole question around, and they do happen — CruiseMapper has Diamond Princess arriving September 25, 2026 at 11:00 and leaving September 26 at 18:00.
That's one overnight in the only full month of schedule we could read, against ten Star Navigator homeport turns. One data point, not a pattern, and we're not going to dress it up as one.
So read your own arrival and all-aboard times off the daily programme before you plan anything around dusk.
No published per-day passenger cap for Keelung was found — and no full-year 2026 or 2027 call total was reachable in this pass.
The most recent authority number we could source is TIPC's own 2024 projection of 135 cruise voyages, 270 calls and 561,000 passenger movements — useful for scale, out of date for planning.
We also found no mention of a port shuttle — between the terminals, or into town.
Both are walkable anyway. The silence may simply mean there's nothing to run.
Every NT$ fare above is converted at roughly 31.6 to the dollar — the Federal Reserve H.10 rate for September 11, 2026. Rates move, so treat the dollar figures as approximate.
Sources: Seabound Journeys' own Asia cruise guide, Taiwan International Ports Corporation (Port of Keelung and the Cruise in Taiwan site), Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs (boca.gov.tw), Taiwan's National Immigration Agency (immigration.gov.tw), Norwegian Cruise Line's own Keelung excursion listings, Celebrity Cruises' Taipei port page, CruiseMapper, CruiseSheet, whatsinport.com, Shore Excursions Asia, Japan Shore Excursions, Cruise Industry News, TTG Asia, Travel Weekly Asia, Port Strategy, Trip.com, Rome2Rio, Klook, TravelKing, Taiwanderers, and the Federal Reserve H.10 rate via FRED — all consulted September 18, 2026.
Planning a Keelung port day?
Tell us how much time you've got and who's with you.
A short call, a full day, kids in tow or a couple wanting quiet water — we'll point you at the actual right answer, not just a list.
Answers verified against current pricing and itineraries before you book.
Keelung FAQ
Do ships dock or tender at Keelung?
Dock. Ships tie up at one of two passenger terminals, East (E2) or West (W2), both inside central Keelung and both run by Taiwan International Ports Corporation. There's no tender step and no long transfer to a town centre — TIPC's own site puts E2 an 8-minute walk from Keelung Station's South Exit and W2 a 4-minute walk from the North Exit.
Is Keelung itself walkable, or do I have to go to Taipei?
Genuinely walkable, which makes it unusual in this region. TIPC's own distance list puts Miaokou Night Market 0.4 km from the port, the YM Oceanic Culture and Art Museum 0.3 km, E-Square 0.2 km and Zhongzheng Park 0.8 km. Taipei is a choice here, not a requirement.
How do I get from Keelung to Taipei on my own?
By train, almost always. Trip.com prices the TRA local service from Keelung Station to Taipei Main Station at NT$41 — roughly US$1.30 — taking about 45 minutes, with EasyCard accepted. Kuo-Kuang bus 1813 runs it in about an hour for NT$55. A taxi is quoted at NT$800 to NT$1,200. The station is a four-minute walk from the West terminal.
How long does Keelung to Taipei actually take?
Sources disagree, and the spread is wide. Our own Asia guide says about 40 minutes, Shore Excursions Asia says 35 to 50, Japan Shore Excursions says 40 to 50 by car, and Norwegian's own excursion listing calls it a one-hour drive. The outlier is Celebrity's port page at roughly 20 minutes, and we found nothing to back it. Budget an hour each way.
Do I need a visa for Taiwan as a U.S. citizen?
No. Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs lists the United States among its visa-exempt nationalities at 90 days, and states the stay is not extendable. U.S. nationals are in the group needing a passport valid only for the intended period of stay, rather than the six months most other visa-exempt nationalities need. A confirmed return or onward air or sea ticket is part of the stated rule.
Is the Taiwan Arrival Card required for cruise passengers?
The card itself is mandatory and covers arrivals by sea. Taiwan's National Immigration Agency made the online Taiwan Arrival Card compulsory from October 1, 2025, filed free within three days of arrival, and says it worked with shipping companies to put QR codes at seaports as well as airports. What the notice doesn't say is whether a cruise line files it for you on a day call — ask your line rather than assuming.
Can I see Miaokou Night Market on a day call?
Often not. It's 0.4 km from the berth, so distance was never the issue — the published hours are, and Klook, Taiwanderers and TravelKing disagree about them outright. A ship that sails at five gets the street and not the market, though some daytime stalls trade either way. Our Keelung shore excursion guide weighs the three sources against a real port day.
Is Keelung really a homeport, or just a stop?
Both, depending on your ship. For most Western lines it's a single stop feeding an excursion into Taipei. StarCruises' Star Navigator, though, runs a full 2026 season based here — February 17 to December 11 on the operator's announced dates, sailing to Japan, South Korea and Okinawa. TIPC's own live board on September 18, 2026 showed her alongside W03 from 15:00 to 21:00, which is a turnaround, not a call.