Taiwan High Speed Rail Pass: How to Save Money on the HSR

The Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) is Taiwan’s own bullet train. Tickets are pricier than regular trains (TRA or Taiwan Railways), but you can reach your destination twice as fast (and in style!)

There are some ways to cut your HSR costs. One is trying to score early-bird tickets on the official site (see my HSR booking guide). Another is to get 15% off one-way tickets on Klook or KKday.

Yet another is to buy a Taiwan HSR pass (see on Klook / KKday). The pass will save you money if you plan to take two or more rides within a short period of time.

However, at first glance, the pass is complicated. There are four options (2-day flexible, 3-day consecutive, 5-day standard, and 5-day premium), each comes with varying days of unlimited rides on the HSR, plus the 5-day passes include some TRA rides.

In this article, I’ll make everything clear, with three real usage examples for each pass (one saving lots of money, one only a little, and one losing money). If you’re short on time, just skip to my conclusions at the end of the article.

Taiwan HSR Passes: Quick Summary for Travelers

Here are some quick tips for those considering to buy a Taiwan HSR Pass.  

• The passes are only available to tourists (residents or citizens can’t get one)
• You’ll purchase the pass first here on Klook or KKday, then you have to use it within 90 days. Your first ride will count as Day 1.
• After purchasing the pass, you’ll go to the pass management page to reserve your HSRs seats online or to any HSR station ticket window to do it in person (both subject to availability). You should reserve them one day or more before departure.
• If seats are sold out on the HSR you want, the counter can give you a non-reserved ticket and you can sit (or stand) anywhere in the non-reserved section (usually cars 10-12, check digital displays in stations).
• The 5-day pass does NOT give you unlimited HSR rides for five days. You’ll only get 2 out of the 5 days.

• TRA trains are only included on the 5-day joint (HSR + TRA) passes.
• For the 5-Day Standard Joint Pass, besides your HSR rides, you only get Local train rides. You’ll have to pick up a physical pass in person, then show it at the gate to board them.
• For the 5-Day Premium Joint Pass, you also have to pick up the physical pass then show it to book Express trains at ticket windows.
• You can’t book the TRA trains online with either pass (not ideal for those who want to book trains early for high-demand routes or busy travel periods).

• For travelers with kids, aged 0-5 rides free on all trains and HSRs in Taiwan but don’t get a seat. For kids age 6-11, or if you want a seat for your under-six-year-old, there are child tickets or HSR passes available, both 50% off adult prices.
• If you buy an HSR pass for your family or group, you’ll be able to book the HSR seats as a group, so you’ll all be together (unless the train is almost totally full and available seats are dispersed).
• Alishan Forest Railway tickets are not included on any HSR passes, but they CAN be included on the Taiwan Pass.
• Also see my guide to the Taipei Fun Pass, which is for transportation and attractions in Taipei city only.

Find more money saving tips in my guide to visiting Taiwan on a budget.

THSR Passes Compared

Here’s a table comparing exactly what you get with each of the four Taiwan HSR passes.

Pass	HSR (High Speed Rail)	TRA (Taiwan Railways)	Original Price	Klook / KKday Price
Flexible 2-Day Pass	2 days unlimited rides within 7-day period	X	2500	2375
3-Day Pass	3 consecutive days of unlimited rides	X	2200	2090
5-Day Standard Joint Pass	2 days unlimited rides within 5-day period	5 days unlimited rides on Local trains	2800	2660
5-Day Premium Joint Pass	2 days unlimited rides within 5-day period	5 days unlimited rides on Local and Express trains	3600	3600

 
Now I’ll dive into each pass and introduce everything you need to know about it.

Flexible 2-Day Pass

The Taiwan HSR Flexible 2-Day pass (see on Klook / KKday) is the simplest one. You get two days of unlimited HSR rides within a seven-day period.

So if you use the pass to take one or more HSR rides on Monday, you get to choose one more day to enjoy unlimited rides, with the coming Sunday being the last possible day.

Now I’ll give three real traveler examples. The first shows high savings with the pass, the second only a little savings, and the third is an example where the pass would not be worth the money.

Pro Tip: Make your own price comparison by looking up the individual HSR rides you want to take on the official HSR site and/or Klook. Add them up then compare the total to the pass price. Which one is cheaper?

Example 1

This traveler decided to stay in Taipei for their whole trip and do two days trips by HSR: one to Zuoying (Kaohsiung) and another to Taichung.

And keep in mind the days don’t have to be consecutive. They only have to be within one week.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
	Zuoying to Taipei	1490	1264
Day 2	Taipei to Taichung	700	594
	Taichung to Taipei	700	594
Total		4380	3719	2375
Savings				1344*

As you can see, with these four rides, the traveler has saved TWD 1344 compared to buying individual tickets on Klook (with 15% off), or TWD 2005 compared to the full-fare prices on the official HSR website.

I could have gotten the savings even higher if the second day trip was to a further destination, like Chiayi or Tainan.

The only catch is that not very many travelers will do two day trips by HSR like this because it involves some backtracking. But some travelers really do.

Example 2

This pass will even save you money if you only ride the HSR from Taipei to Zuoying and back within a week.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
Day 2	Zuoying to Taipei	1490	1264
Total			2528	2375
Savings				153

Example 3

The two-day HSR pass won’t always save you money. Here’s an example where it would be cheaper to buy the tickets individually on Klook or KKday.

This shows the importance of using the pass for longer (more valuable) rides or more than two rides per day.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
Day 2	Zuoying to Taichung	700	594
Total			1858	2375
Savings				-517 (not worth it!)

Taiwan HSR 3-Day Pass

With the three-day HSR pass, you gain a third day of unlimited HSR rides. However, you lose a little flexibility, because the three days must be consecutive.

In other words, if you take your first ride on Monday, you will get unlimited HSR rides until Wednesday and that’s it.

Because of the way many travelers travel around Taiwan (stay for a few days in each city), this pass is only going to make sense for those who are traveling around faster.

This reduced flexibility is why the pass is actually cheaper than the two-day one, despite giving you more travel days. Let’s check some examples:

Example 1

Just like in the first example for the 2-day pass, if a traveler stayed in Taipei and did three day-trips in a row, this pass could have amazing value. But not many travelers actually do this.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
	Zuoying to Taipei	1490	1264
Day 2	Taipei to Chiayi (Alishan day trip)	1080	915
	Chiayi to Taipei	1080	915
Day 3	Taipei to Taichung	700	594
	Taichung to Taipei	700	594
Total		6540	5546	2090
Savings				3456

Example 2

For travelers who aren’t looking to do return day-trips by HSR, savings with this pass are still possible, but you might not save much, as in the below example.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
Day 2	Zuoying to Chiayi (overnight at Alishan)	410	345
Day 3	Chiayi to Taipei	1080	915
Total		2980	2524	2090
Savings				434

Based on this example, you can still save TWD 434 even if you only take one HSR ride per day. However, you have to change cities every day, which is rushed. This is a major limitation of the consecutive days rule.

Also, if I shorten any of the rides (for example, make it Chiayi to Taichung on Day 3), it will no longer be a positive savings.

Example 3

Many travelers will find that this pass can actually lose money, even if they are traveling to a new city each day, such as:

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Taichung	700	594
Day 2	Taichung to Tainan	650	550
Day 3	Tainan to Zuoying	140	115
Total		1490	1259	2090
Savings				-831 (bad deal alert!)

For the above schedule, even if you rushed to a new city each day, you’d spend TWD 831 more on the pass than buying the tickets individually on Klook or KKday.

Moreover, for a very short ride, like Tainan to Kaohsiung, you may want to take the local train instead, which only takes an hour, doesn’t need to be booked, and gets you from city-center station to city-center station (most HSR stations are outside the city center).

5-Day Standard Joint Pass

Now we get to the two HSR + TRA joint passes, both valid for five days. These ones give you rides on both the High Speed Rail and Taiwan Railways. However, you don’t get unlimited rides on both for the duration of the pass.

The 5-Day Standard Joint Pass only gives you two days of unlimited HSR rides within a five-day period. In this sense, it’s similar to the simple 2-day pass, but you have shorter time frame to use it (within only 5 days instead of 7).

Keep in mind that, just like the other passes described above, you will be able to book these HSR rides online (via the pass management page) or at any ticket counter.

This pass also gives you unlimited rides on Local trains for the duration of the pass (5 days).

The explanation on the Klook page about the train rides is confusing. It says you get 5 days unlimited rides on “Chu-Kuang Express and Fu-Hsing Semi Express”. Who knows what that means?

The official pass page gives a slightly better explanation: You get unlimited rides on Chu-Kuang trains or any of lower value. Let me explain:

Taiwan has three levels of TRA train prices: Express, Chu-Kuang (only a few of these left), and Local.

This pass gives you access to Chu-Kuang and Local trains only. In other words, any trains which don’t require seat reservations. These are slower trains that stop at almost every station. Note that the popular Pingxi Line is a Local train.

To find which trains you can ride with this pass, do a route search on the Taiwan Railways site or Taiwan Railways app, then scan the list of trains for any called Chu-Kuang, Local, or Fast Local.

To ride these trains, you will first need to visit the ticket window at one of these train (NOT HSR!) stations: Taipei Main, Songshan, Taoyuan, Taichung, or Kaohsiung. You’ll need to show your 5-Day HSR pass booking to receive a physical Taiwan Railways pass.

Then you simply proceed to the train boarding gate and show the pass to the attendant to enter and ride any Local, Fast Local, or Chu-Kuang train (don’t accidentally ride any other kind of train, as you could be fined).

Note that Local and Fast Local trains have free seating, but Chu-Kuang trains have reservable seats.

If you use this pass to board one of the Chu-Kuang trains, you won’t have a seat reservation, but you can sit in any empty seat (until someone comes with a ticket for it, and they’ll ask you to get out) or you can just stand in the aisle.

Pro-Tip: With this pass, use the HSR for longer rides and Taiwan Railways for shorter rides only. There aren’t many Chu-Kuang trains, while Local trains are painfully slow for long rides.

I understand it can be tough to visualize how and when to use the pass on your trip. Examples will help.

Example 1

Let’s bring this all together with an example of this pass saving a lot of money. Once again, the strategy of maximizing the HSR days (with two day-trips by HSR per day) will produce the most savings:

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Day trip from Taipei to Pingxi Line with multiple short rides	195 (local)	X
Day 2 (HSR day)	Taipei to Taichung	700	594
	Taichung to Taipei	700	594
Day 3 (HSR day)	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
	Zuoying to Taipei (HSR)	1490	1264
Day 4	Taipei to Luodong (Yilan)	214 (local)	X
Day 5	Luodong to Jiaoxi	37 (local)	X
	Jiaoxi to Taipei	181 (local)	X
Total		5007	4343	2660
Savings				1683

The savings here are excellent. However, I could only get to this level of savings by doing two day-trips by HSR, using Taipei as a base. But not many travelers actually do two day trips in a row by HSR.

Also worth mentioning: on the other three days, all the trains have to be Local trains. For example, when riding from Taipei to Ruifang (for accessing the Pingxi Line), or from Jiaoxi back to Taipei, you can only ride trains called “Local”, not any of the faster express ones.

Example 2

I’ll be honest that I had to play around with the routing for a while here to get the pass into “saving money” territory on a more typical Taiwan travel itinerary.

Here’s an itinerary that saves, but just barely, and I still had to throw in one return day trip by HSR to make it possible.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Day trip from Taipei to Pingxi Line with multiple short rides	195 (local)	X
Day 2 (HSR day)	Taipei to Taichung	700	594
	Taichung to Taipei	700	594
Day 3 (HSR day)	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
Day 4	Kaohsiung to Tainan	102 (Local)	X
Day 5	Tainan to Chiayi	157 (Chu-Kuang)	X
Total		3344	2906	2660
Savings				256

In this itinerary, even with two HSR rides on Day 2 (a return day trip), and a long HSR ride from Taipei to Zuoying on Day 3, the total cost barely surpassed the pass price.

In large part, it’s because those local train rides are so inexpensive that they don’t add much value to the pass.

Example 3

For many travelers’ itineraries, this 5-day Standard Joint Pass simply won’t save you money.

Below is a pretty normal itinerary of taking the HSR down to Zuoying (Kaohsiung), doing a day trip by local train to Tainan, taking a Chu-Kuang train to Chiayi for visiting Alishan overnight, then onward to Taichung the next day.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1 (HSR day)	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
Day 2	Kaohsiung to Tainan	102 (Local)	X
	Tainan to Kaohsiung	102 (local)	X
Day 3	Kaohsiung to Chiayi (TRA)	263 (Chu-Kuang)	X
Day 4	Alishan overnight trip	X	X
Day 5 (HSR day)	Chiayi to Taichung (HSR)	380	320
Total		2337	2051	2660
Savings				-609 (goodbye money!)

As you can see above, even with all these HSR and train rides, the pass loses money. Even if I extended the HSR ride on Day 5 all the way back to Taipei, it still wouldn’t break even.

Day 4 is a wasted day with no pass usage. But for most travelers, you will have days like this on your trip where you don’t need to ride any trains or HSRs.

5-Day Premium Joint Pass

Last but not least, the 5-Day Premium Joint Pass opens up more possibilities for travelers in Taiwan. However, the downside is that it costs quite a bit more, so it becomes harder to save money with this pass.

It’s very similar to the previous pass, offering two days unlimited HSR rides within 5 days. Again, these will be booked online or in person at the HSR station.

But the key difference is that you get unlimited train rides and all train types, including all the faster express trains with reservable seats, for all five days.

To see your regular train options, do a search on the Taiwan Railways website. On the list of trains you see, the pass will work for any of them.

For Local, Fast Local, and Chu-Kuang (standing ticket only) trains, you can just pick up the pass from any major train station ticket window (as I described for the 5-Day Standard Pass) and show it at the gates to ride them.

But for any trains called Chu-Kuang (if you want a reserved seat on it), Tze Chiang, Puyuma, or Taroko Express, you’ll be able to reserve seats with this pass.

The best three trains (fastest and most expensive) are typically the Tze Chiang Limited Express 3000, Puyuma Express, and Taroko Express trains. These trains are best for the East Coast of Taiwan but also the fastest to sell out, on all routes.

To book seats on these trains, you’ll first have to pick up the physical pass (as I described for the 5-Day Standard Joint Pass).

Then, you show that pass at the same window, or any other train station ticket window in Taiwan, to book any train tickets you need in your 5-day period.

Unfortunately, you can’t book these TRA train tickets online like you can for the HSR tickets with this pass, or like you would do when buying tickets without a pass.

This can be risky if you need to get a ticket at a popular time or on a high-demand route (like tickets from Taipei to Hualien or Taitung, which often sell out).  

Pro Tip: If you’re coming at a busy time (long weekends, late December, Lunar New Year) or you have an important train you must catch (for example, you have to get a train to Hualien at a specific date and time), booking it at the last minute at the station in Taiwan could be a bad idea, as it could be sold out.

If getting an advance booking is important for you, then don’t bother with this pass, and book your tickets individually online before your trip, as soon as they are released (4 weeks in advance).

See my Taiwan Railways booking guide for more info.

Now, let’s jump to some examples with the 5-Day Premium Joint Pass.

Example 1

Just for fun, I’ve tried to get maximum value out of this pass, again benefiting from some pricey return day trips by HSR, followed by a (rushed) overnight trip to Hualien, and finishing with another day trip from Taipei, except by normal train.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1 (HSR day)	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
	Zuoying to Taipei	1490	1264
Day 2 (HSR day)	Taipei to Taichung	700	594
	Taichung to Taipei	700	594
Day 3	Taipei to Hualien	583 (express)	X
Day 4	Visit Taroko, evening train from Hualien back to Taipei	583 (express)	X
Day 5	Day trip from Taipei to Pingxi Line with multiple short rides	195 (local)	X
Total		5741	5077	3600
Savings				1477

Once again, the savings are maximized here due to the two day-trips by HSR, but only a limited number of travelers would actually do this.

The good news: even if you stayed in Hualien for an extra night (with no pass usage on Day 4), then removed one of the day trips (the Taichung one), the pass would still give positive savings (but just barely).

Example 2

Can this pass save money with no return day-trips by HSR? Sure, but not much.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Hualien	583 (express)	X
Day 2	Visit Taroko, evening train from Hualien back to Taipei	583 (express)	X
Day 3 (HSR day)	Taipei to Zuoying	1490	1264
Day 4	Kaohsiung to Taichung	616 (express)	X
Day 5 (HSR day)	Taichung to Taipei	700	594
Total		3982	3640	3600
Savings				40

I was able to get into positive territory here, but just barely (TWD 40 saved).

Moreover, this is a very rushed trip (only one night in Hualien, taking an evening train after a long Taroko Gorge visit, and only one night in both Kaoshiung and Taichung).

For such tiny savings, I wouldn’t bother with the pass, especially since it means I won’t be able to book those important train rides (to/from Hualien) in advance online.

Example 3

For my poor pass usage example, we’re doing a full circle around Taiwan. This is an unrealistic example (too rushed), but I’m just doing it to make a point.

You’d think a pass would save you money for the huge distance involved, but surprisingly it doesn’t.

Usage Days	Trips	Original Price	Klook / KKday price (15% off)	With Pass
Day 1	Taipei to Hualien	583 (express)	X
Day 2	Hualien to Chishang (Taitung)	343 (express)	X
Day 3	Chishang to Kaohsiung	603 (express)	X
Day 4 (HSR day)	Zuoying to Taichung	790	670
Day 5 (HSR day)	Taichung to Taipei	700	594
Total		3017	2793	3600
Savings				-807

As you can see here, despite traveling all the way around Taiwan in only 5 days (which few people would do anyways), this pass won’t even pay for itself.

Honestly, this pretty wild to me, and I feel they should adjust their prices to give this pass better value for most travelers.

Pro Tip: This example shows that the best way to get value from most HSR passes is to take more than one HSR ride per day on one or both of your HSR days.

Conclusion: Is the HSR Unlimited Pass Worth the Money?

If you’ve looked through all my examples, you’ve probably already noticed that the Taiwan HSR Unlimited Pass only saves money if you maximize your HSR rides – especially by taking longer ones and/or more than one per day.

But let’s break it down by pass type:

• 2-Day Pass (see on Klook / KKday): If you take an HSR trip from Taipei to Zuoying and back within 7 days, you save money. Any more rides on those two days add even more value. Two days of unlimited rides within one week is extremely flexible.

• 3-Day Pass (see on Klook / KKday): If you do three day-trips in a row by HSR, you can save a lot of money. However, three consecutive days is a major limitation for those following typical routes around Taiwan. If you only take one HSR ride each day, it may or may not save money, not to mention this is a rushed way to travel. It’s the cheapest but least flexible pass.

• 5-Day Standard Joint Pass (see on Klook / KKday): If you use your two HSR days for return day-trips, especially if one of them is Taipei to Zuoying, this pass can save a lot of money. If only one of the days is a return day-trip, it may only save a little money. And if each HSR day is only a one-way ride, this pass is most likely not worth the money. The local train rides included can be useful for short rides but aren’t worth much, as they are super cheap to buy on their own without a pass.

• 5-Day Premium Joint Pass (see on Klook / KKday): On the plus side, this pass gives you access to express regular trains, but the downside is you can only book them in person at the station (not online), so they could be sold out on busy days or high-demand routes. Like the other 5-day pass, it will only save you decent money if you take more than one HSR ride per day on one or both of your HSR days.

If you have any questions about HSR passes in Taiwan or you’re having trouble figuring out which pass makes sense for your trip, feel free to ask about it in my Taiwan Travel Planning group!