Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan — established as a Dutch colonial outpost in the 17th century and later the seat of Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), who drove the Dutch out in 1662. The layers of history are everywhere, and unlike Taipei, Tainan has kept much of its older urban fabric intact.
The city is known among Taiwanese as the place with the best food on the island, and it's difficult to argue. Local specialities include coffin bread (a deep-fried toast block stuffed with creamy filling), milkfish congee for breakfast, shrimp rolls in the Anping district, and danzi noodles in a small bowl of pork-and-shrimp broth. Eat at the old-school stalls around the Anping district and in the lanes near Chihkan Tower.
Anping Fort (Fort Zeelandia) is the original Dutch colonial fort, partly rebuilt in later centuries. The nearby Anping Tree House — an old warehouse strangled by banyan roots — is more dramatic. Chihkan Tower in the old centre was built by the Dutch as Fort Provintia in 1653 and later expanded by the Qing. The grounds are good for a wander. The Tainan Confucius Temple is the oldest in Taiwan, built in 1665, and the Koxinga Shrine nearby commemorates the man who made that founding possible.
For art and architecture, the National Museum of Taiwan Literature occupies a beautifully restored 1916 Japanese colonial building, while the Tainan Art Museum has two buildings — one colonial, one designed by Shigeru Ban. The Hayashi Department Store, a restored 1932 Art Deco building with a Shinto shrine on the roof, is one of the city's most surprising sights.
With over 200 temples of varying sizes, a walk through almost any neighbourhood will turn up incense smoke and painted gods. The Grand Matsu Temple and the Great South Gate — one of the few surviving city wall sections — anchor the old core.