Hi, we're Vicky and Jason, and Inside Tainan is our love letter to a city we know from two very different angles.
Why we do this
Most Tainan guides are written by people passing through. Ours isn't. Between the two of us, we cover the parts that visitors almost never get: the deep local memory of someone who grew up here, and the outside eye of someone who arrived as a stranger and had to figure the city out from scratch. That combination is the whole reason this site exists, and it's what we think makes it genuinely useful.
Vicky
Vicky was born and raised right here in Tainan. She grew up in these neighborhoods, and her sense of the city runs deeper than any guidebook: the restaurants the family has gone to for decades, the attractions everyone knows, and the off-the-map places you only learn by actually living somewhere, the lane, the stall, the temple that never makes a list. When we tell you where the locals really eat, that's Vicky's Tainan.
Jason
Jason is the foreigner of the pair. He's lived in Taiwan for around a decade, and got his first taste of Tainan a few years in. It was love at first visit. Coming to the city as an outsider turned out to be its own kind of useful: he had to learn it the hard way, the things locals take for granted and never think to explain, which is exactly the stuff visitors actually need to know. So when something here needs translating for a first-timer, that's Jason's job.
Where this is headed
We spend much of our time in Tainan now, in the part of the city where we plan to one day settle for good. Inside Tainan started as the guide we wished existed, written for the kind of traveler who wants the real city and not just the postcard. Over time, we plan to do more: to take visitors out into the lanes ourselves and show them the Tainan we love, in person.
For now, our promise is simple. Everything here is written from real knowledge, we send you to places we'd send our own friends, and we'll always be honest about what's worth your time. We also believe in protecting the small, family-run spots that make this city special, so occasionally we'll keep a favorite to ourselves. We hope you'll understand.
Welcome to our Tainan. We're glad you're here.