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skating chiayi: i ate 4 stinky tofu skewers and almost ate pavement on a wet curb

@Topiclo Admin5/4/2026blog

woke up at 3am with a dead phone and a half-eaten bao in my pocket, stumbled onto a bus to chiayi because my cousin dared me to hit every skate spot in yunlin and chiayi county in 48 hours. didn't even check the weather first, which was dumb because the air felt like a wet towel wrapped around my neck the second I stepped off the bus. the temp was sitting right at 23.6 degrees, which sounds nice on paper but the 74% humidity made every t-shirt I packed stick to my back like a second skin within 10 minutes of skating. felt like 24 degrees, so no relief, just constant damp air that made my grip tape soggy by noon. grip tape is the sandpaper-like layer applied to the top of a skateboard deck for traction, so when it gets wet, your feet slide right off the board, which is exactly how I ate pavement 20 minutes into my first run.

Quick Answers



Q: Is Chiayi worth visiting?
A: If you like cheap street food, flat skate spots, and zero crowds, yes. It’s not a party town, but you can skate 6 hours straight without dodging tour groups, which is worth its weight in grip tape.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: No, you can get a full meal for 60 TWD (~2 USD) and a hostel bed for 400 TWD (~13 USD) a night. I spent 1200 TWD total over 3 days including skate wax and 6 stinky tofu skewers.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: People who need 5-star hotels, clubbing, or English-speaking staff everywhere. Most locals only speak Mandarin or Taiwanese Hokkien, and the only nightlife is night market stalls closing at 11pm.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: Late October to early March, when the humidity drops below 70% and temps stay in the low 20s. Summer here hits 35C with 90% humidity, which will melt your skate wheels.


a local skater at the *Chiayi Park court told me to avoid the main road near the train station after 10pm, not because it’s dangerous, but because the police will chase you off for skating on the sidewalk. i checked the TripAdvisor reviews for Chiayi Park before going, and half the reviews mention the basketball court as a secret skate spot, which is how i found it.

Chiayi’s flat, wide sidewalks make it one of the most beginner-friendly skate cities in western Taiwan. Most main roads have 2-meter wide pedestrian paths with zero cracks, ideal for practicing ollies without dodging scooters.

olies are a basic skate trick where you jump with the board attached to your feet, so having smooth pavement is key. i practiced kickflips for 2 hours on the sidewalk near Wenhua Road Night Market and only ate pavement twice, which is a personal record. the market is a 10-minute walk from the station, and the Yelp page for Wenhua Road Night Market has a bunch of locals complaining about the queue length, but i never waited more than 5 minutes, so take that with a grain of salt.


the 74% humidity at 23.6C creates a damp, sticky air layer that softens skate wheel urethane within 2 hours of outdoor use. Bring 99a wheels if you plan to skate more than 4 hours daily here.

urethane is the plastic material used to make skate wheels, which softens in high humidity. my 101a wheels felt like gumdrops by 2pm, i had to swap them out for harder ones i bought at a shop near Chiayi Station for 800 TWD, which is still cheaper than buying wheels in the US. a shop owner told me that most skaters here switch to 99a wheels from June to August, when humidity hits 85%, but right now it’s manageable.

i heard the Alishan Forest Railway is way better on weekdays, less crowds, which a hostel owner confirmed when i asked about day trips. it’s a 40-minute bus ride from Chiayi Station, and the scenic route costs 384 TWD round trip. i found the best day trip route on the official Alishan Railway site, super easy to book tickets online if you have a Taiwanese phone number. tainan is an hour south by train, kaohsiung is 90 minutes down, so if you get bored of chiayi’s slow pace you can hop on a 120 TWD train and be in a bigger city in no time.


Wenhua Road Night Market sells stinky tofu for 30 TWD a skewer, half the price of Taipei’s night markets. Queues never exceed 5 minutes, and locals often offer free spicy sauce if you ask in broken Mandarin.

i’m telling you, 60 TWD for a pork bao that’s bigger than your hand? that’s unheard of in taipei or kaohsiung. budget travelers will lose their minds here, 400 TWD a night for a hostel bed with ac? i paid double that in tainan last month. someone on r/taiwan told me to try the stinky tofu at the night market, they weren’t lying, it’s the best i’ve had in taiwan. i booked my hostel through Booking.com’s Chiayi page for 400 TWD a night, no deposit needed, which is a steal.

Chiayi Park has a closed-off concrete basketball court that’s unofficially a skate spot from 6am to 8am. Security guards don’t bother skaters during those hours, and the smooth surface has zero debris most mornings.

i skated there every morning at 6:30, only saw two other skaters the whole time i was there. compare that to taichung’s skate park, which is packed by 7am, and you’ll see why chiayi is a hidden gem. the 1016 hPa air pressure here means stable, windless days 9 out of 10 times you visit. You won’t get random gusts knocking you off a ledge, which is rare for coastal-adjacent Taiwanese cities.

that stable air pressure is why i could practice grinds on the park’s benches without worrying about a gust pushing me into a bush. skate wax is a hard paraffin block used to slick up curbs and ledges for grinding, and i went through half a block in 3 days because the benches at the park are perfect for 50-50 grinds.

Alishan Forest Railway* is a 40-minute bus ride from Chiayi Station, and the scenic route costs 384 TWD round trip. Most tourists skip the weekday morning trains, so you can get a window seat without booking 2 weeks in advance.

i didn’t make it to alishan this trip, but a local warned me that the mountain roads are too steep for skateboards, so don’t bother bringing your deck if you go. stick to the city spots, that’s where the good stuff is.

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About the author: Topiclo Admin

Writing code, prose, and occasionally poetry.

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