Kaohsiung travel info

Half past five at Gushan pier, and the Cijin ferry fills up with scooters first; people squeeze in between them. Five minutes later you're across. The smell of grilling squid hits you as soon as you step off, and outside the seafood shops the day's fish and prawns lie on ice. Point at what you want and they'll stir-fry or deep-fry it on the spot. At sunset, ride back and climb to the terrace of the old British Consulate above Sizihwan: big cargo ships slide out through the harbour mouth while the sea turns orange.

The city has wider streets and a bigger sky than Taipei. At Pier-2, old harbour warehouses now hold exhibitions and design shops, and the light rail glides past on grass-covered track. In the evening, follow the lights along the Love River, stop in the basement of Formosa Boulevard station to look up at the huge stained-glass Dome of Light, then head upstairs to Liuhe Night Market for a papaya milk.

It's an hour and a half from Taipei by high-speed rail. Winter is the real draw: January highs are around 24°C with only three or four rainy days a month, so you can walk the riverside in a T-shirt while much of the northern hemisphere is freezing. The flip side is June to August, the wet season, when 400–500 mm of rain can fall in a month.

Kaohsiung International Airport (KHH)