Cash or Card in Taiwan: Where Foreign Cards Work

Last verified 25 Oct 2026

Where cards work and where they don’t

“Works” here means the operator lists it. It does not guarantee that your own bank will approve the charge, so keep a second card and some cash.

Metro and Airport MRT

On the Taipei MRT you can tap a bank card or phone wallet at the gate instead of buying a ticket or an EasyCard. Taipei Metro says this suits people who have not bought a stored-value card or have no cash on hand. The page does not explain how fares are calculated for card taps, so see the Taipei MRT guide for fares and rules.

The Airport MRT lists contactless Visa, Mastercard, JCB and UnionPay cards and NFC phones. Paying this way is charged at the full-price single-journey fare. The Airport MRT page also lists EasyCard, iPASS and HappyCash 2.0. Use one card or phone at the gate, not two. For the whole airport-to-city decision, see Taoyuan Airport to Taipei.

High-speed rail

THSR has the most detailed payment rules of any operator, so read them before you buy.

• Ticket machines: a PIN is required. THSR attaches issuer restrictions to American Express, so check its page if that is your card.
• Online (T Express): THSR warns that Apple Pay or Google Pay with a Visa card might fail. Its suggested fix is to use a different brand, such as Mastercard or JCB.
• Station windows: the THSR page checked does not state payment methods here, so have cash as well.
• Convenience stores (7-ELEVEN, FamilyMart, Hi-Life, OK Mart): you pay in cash within 10 minutes of booking, and the store charges NT$10 per ticket.

More on booking and seat types is in the high-speed rail guide.

EasyCard: the cash-top-up option

An EasyCard is stored value, so you load it with cash and it needs no bank approval. EasyCard’s own scope page lists the MRT, buses, Taiwan Railway, THSR, taxis, ferries, public bicycles and parking lots, plus supermarkets, shops, food and beverage and unattended machines. The balance cap is NT$10,000. Details on buying, topping up and refunds are in the EasyCard guide.

Taxis

The Tourism Administration is clear on only one point: cash is always accepted. Some taxis also take credit cards or mobile payments, so ask before the ride starts. No official page found says which taxis take foreign cards. Keep small notes ready, since a NT$1,000 note is a large amount for a short ride.

Convenience stores

7-ELEVEN Taiwan’s home page lists payment tools (including icash Pay and the 7-ELEVEN app) and an in-store ATM service. It does not state whether foreign cards are accepted at the till, and no equivalent official wording was found for FamilyMart. Treat card payment at the till as unconfirmed, and keep cash for small purchases.

ATMs and foreign cards

No official bank page found states which foreign-issued cards work on Taiwan ATMs, or what a foreign card is charged. So this guide gives no list and no fee figures.

What to do instead:

1. Look for your card’s network logo on the ATM before you insert the card.
2. Ask your own bank about its foreign ATM fee and daily limit before you fly.
3. If a machine rejects your card, try another bank’s machine rather than repeating the same one.
4. If the machine offers to convert the amount into your home currency, compare that with your bank’s own rate. Your bank’s terms decide what is fair.

NT$ banknotes and coins

The Central Bank says the current banknote series has five denominations: NT$100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 2,000. Coins in circulation are NT$0.5, 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50. Source: Central Bank.

Common mistakes

• Relying on a single card. If it is declined or blocked, you have no fallback.
• Expecting every taxi to take cards because the metro does.
• Booking THSR by Apple Pay with a Visa card and finding it fails, when a Mastercard or JCB would work.
• Collecting a convenience-store THSR ticket without cash or after the 10-minute window.
• Loading more onto an EasyCard than you will spend, since refunds follow separate rules.

Rules change

Acceptance lists change. Check Taipei Metro, THSR and the Taiwan Tourism Administration before you fly. If you are arriving late, read Taoyuan Airport late night too, since cash may matter more when counters are closed.

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