Da'an is the most liveable of Taipei's central districts: tree-lined avenues, the city's best cafe culture, dozens of independent bookshops, and a generous concentration of small modern Taiwanese restaurants and bistros. It centres on Da'an Forest Park, a 26-hectare square of lawns and ponds that locals call "the lungs of Taipei", and runs north to the long shopping strips of Yongkang Street and Heping East Road.
For visitors the district is the easiest to spend a long afternoon in — Yongkang Street alone has the original Din Tai Fung, a clutch of mango-shaved-ice shops, and the kind of small specialist eateries that the city does so well. National Taiwan University, in the south of the district, contributes an active student population and a steady supply of cheap eateries and second-hand bookshops.