Skyline 460 is a relatively new experience at Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taiwan and one of the top places Taiwan is known for.
Unlike the usual Taipei 101 Observatory experience, which grants visitors access to the 88th to 91st floors (with optional add-on to visit the indoor 101st floor), Skyline 460 allows you to stand outside on the actual roof of Taipei 101, with 360-degree views of Taipei.
This VIP experience is only offered twice per day. It is more thrilling and requires safety harnesses.
In this article, I’ll share my personal experience at Skyline 460 and everything you need to know for doing it – if you dare! Also see my Taipei 101 guide and the best views of Taipei 101.
Skyline 460 Quick Facts
- Current price: TWD 3000 per person
- Reserve your spot here – it’s likely to sell out at peak times!
- Height: 460 meters (hence the name!) The tip of the tower’s pinnacle is 509.2 meters.
- What’s included: skip-the-line entry, VIP elevators to the top, safety equipment, standing on the roof for approximately 20 minutes, access to the regular observatory after (value TWD 600), photo of you on the top, souvenirs (value TWD 800), free drink coupon, insurance
- Age restriction: Available for ages 12 to 75
- Entry times: Only two per day at 2 PM or 3 PM. The 3 PM entry is perfect for watching sunset from the regular observatory after.
- Time needed: The whole experience only takes 1 hour. Add another 1-2 hours after for enjoying the regular observatory on your own.
- Poor weather: They may cancel and refund your money.
My Experience Doing Skyline 460
Here’s my personal story of doing Skyline 460 in October 2023.
Exploring Taipei 101 Area Before the Experience
When I did Skyline 460, there was only one entry per day, at 3 PM. However, I spent a whole day enjoying other attractions in and around Taipei 101 before that.
I started my day with early breakfast at Yonghe Soy Milk King, one of the most famous breakfast shops in Taipei. Find the location in my guide – there are several others with the same name in Taipei! It is a short walk from Da’an station on the MRT Red Line, only two stops before Taipei 101 or three stops before Xiangshan.
After breakfast, I rode the Red Line to Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain) stop for hiking Elephant Mountain. On a weekday morning, there was almost no one on the trail (most people go for sunset). See my map and guide to hiking Elephant Mountain.
The Taipei views from the mountain are fantastic in the morning, too. Plus, the weather is more likely to be clear in the morning.
After my early morning hike, I walked to Taipei 101 (15 minutes from the Elephant Mountain trailhead), with a goal to visit Simple Kaffa Sola on the 88th floor of Taipei 101.
Simple Kaffa Sola is a Taiwanese coffee chain. Even though the former Starbucks in Taipei 101 –once the tallest Starbucks in the world (35th floor) – has permanently closed, I would say this one is much better than Starbucks, not to mention is quite a bit higher up in Taipei 101!
It’s actually on the same floor as the lowest level of the Taipei 101 Observatory, but you can’t get to it from the observatory.
To visit the café, you either have to book a group table online (minimum charge 3000) or just show up at the ground floor check-in and queue up for spot.
When I showed up at 10 AM (the cafe’s opening time) on a weekday, I was the first and only person there, so I even got to ride the elevators up unaccompanied. Minimum order if you enter this way is one drink.
After enjoying the café and its views, I went to Taipei 101’s Food Court at B1 for lunch (see the vegetarian meal I found here).
With time to kill after lunch before my 3 PM Skyline 460 experience, I took a walk to 44 South Military Village nearby. The former military dorm now has a small souvenir shop, bubble tea shop, and nice view of Taipei 101.
Arrival and Check-In
The check-in area for Taipei 101 Observatory and Skyline 460 is on the 5th floor of Taipei 101. To get there from Taipei 101 MRT station, take exit 4.
You’ll exit the MRT station into an outdoor plaza, where you can gaze up at the skyscraper. Crossing the plaza, you’ll enter B1 of Taipei 101, which is the food court. From there, simply take an elevator up to 5F.
According to the official instructions, you should show up 30 minutes before your 2 PM/3 PM starting time. However, I found this was too much time. 10 minutes early would be enough.
I just waited in the normal line because there were very few people in it. However, at peak times, the lines can be very long (which is why they offer a skip-the-line “express” entry for the normal observatory).
If there’s a big line when you get there, just go directly to the Skyline 460 counter (visible in the two photos above) on the right side.
At the desk, I was asked to sign some safety/insurance forms then advised to be at the designated spot just to the right of the check-in counters at 2:55 for my 3 PM starting time.
Going Up
At 3:00 sharp, the staff met our group of approximately 10 people and escorted us on a series of elevator rides to the roof of Taipei 101.
The first elevator we took was the same as the one that all tourists take up to the 89th floor observatory. It is one of the fastest elevator rides in the world. A digital panel on the side shows you exactly where you are on the building and how fast you’re going as you’re ascending.
The elevator goes dark once you start riding up, with shining stars on the ceiling. Just like when visiting the regular observatory, they pack people in quite tightly.
At the 89th floor, we walked past all the tourists in the observatory to a secret VIP elevator hidden at the back of the gift shop. That one took us to the 93rd floor, then another one took us to the 101st floor.
The indoor area of the 101st floor, i.e. the top floor of Taipei 101, can be visited as an add-on to a normal Taipei 101 Observatory ticket (costing you TWD 980 instead of 600).
The 101st floor basically has some more selfie stations with the same city views as the regular observatory (slightly higher up but the view is pretty much the same). It has fewer visitors so it feels a little more VIP.
For our Skyline 460 experience, even though we started on the 101st floor, we didn’t get time to explore the indoor area. I only managed to click one pic (see above). I kind of wish they would have given us 5 minutes to take a look around that area.
Instead, as soon as we got to the 101st floor, we went directly to the Skyline 460 preparation room off to the side.
Gearing Up
Once we arrived in the gear room, there were small lockers for placing any valuables we didn’t want to take outside. They suggested we put our hats or anything else that could easily fall off due to the high winds outside.
The harnesses were laid out on the floor. Our guide proceeded to show each of us how to put those one.
Skyline 460 is very safe and there’s virtually no way you could fall off unless you intentionally climbed over the railing and jumped.
Still, putting on the harnesses adds a sense of danger or adventure, so I can definitely say that my heart was beating in my chest as we prepared to step outside!
Each person was also given a sunglasses strap (in case your sunglasses blow off) and cell phone holder to hang around our necks.
Within minutes, we were all ready to go!
Standing on the Top
From the 101st floor, we exited a door to the outside then walked single-file up a set of stairs to the roof.
As soon as we arrived on the roof, each person was instructed to clip our harness to the metal safety bar which runs along all four sides of the square-shaped roof, with the building’s pinnacle rising above us in the middle.
I can confirm, the winds really are strong up there, even on a nice day!
As the first person in our group’s line, no one could pass me because we were all tethered to same the bar.
At first I felt a little pressure because I had to set the pace, but it soon became clear than we had plenty of time up there, enough to walk around all four sides several times, so there was no rush.
Reaching the first corner of the roof, there was a professional photographer waiting to take a shot of each of us posing as we passed. These photos were provided to us at the end of the experience (see mine at the end of this article).
Because the experience takes place in the afternoon, I found that the lighting facing most of Taipei City wasn’t great for pictures – you’re basically looking into the sun.
You’ll definitely get some glare in your city photos – I’ve used photo editing software to minimize it, but you can still see it on the left side of the above photo.
However, the lighting facing east to Nangang Mountain (which Elephant Mountain is part of) and beyond is perfect. So my best pictures from this experience were actually facing the mountains, not the city.
You can even see as far away as Maokong Gondola and Yangmingshan.
Overall, by the time the guide asked us to do a final circuit around the deck, I felt we had more than enough time to explore the roof and get all the selfies we wanted.
If you’re visiting alone like I was, you may want to ask whoever is before/after you, or the guide, to help you take some photos of you.
Gift Bag and Visiting the Observatory After
After exiting the outdoor deck and returning the gear, we were taken back to the 89th floor observatory, handed our gift bags, and left to explore as long as we wished on our own.
My gift bag contained the following: framed photograph of me taken on the top, Taipei 101 water bottle, Taipei 101 Observatory mug (value TWD 420), and a free drink coupon for the café in the observatory.
Having started the Skyline Experience at 3 PM, I now found myself in the Taipei 101 Observatory at just after 4 PM. I had about an hour to kill before the sun would even start setting (the exact time of sunset will vary by month).
I’ve been to the observatory many times (I even once gave a speech in Mandarin here for Taiwan Tourism to introduce a new app they were launching – I was even more nervous than when standing on the roof of Taipei 101!). But I still enjoy visiting the observatory and the views are a little different every time.
If you’ve never been to Taipei 101 Observatory before, it’s very easy to spend an hour there. See my Taipei 101 Observatory guide (coming soon) for all the things to see and do on the three floors you can visit there.
After I watched the sunset, I left Taipei 101 and made my way to Tonghua (Linjiang Street) Night Market (15-minute walk or 1 stop on the MRT to Xinyi Anhe Road + 5 minute walk from there). Here’s my guide to the best foods at Tonghua Night Market.
This relatively crowd-free traditional night market is one of the best in Taipei and the perfect way to finish off a day at Taipei 101!
