About our trip
August 2025, Febrina and I finally got the chance to visit Matsu, after it being for such a long time on our bucket lists. The Matsu Islands have caught our attention since we found out about the 'French'-looking villages on the islands, which reminds us of Europe. Furthermore the islands are also infamous for two other things, the Blue Tears and the military presence.
This blog is about our experience travelling to these unknown islands and all things you should know before planning your trip!
Disclaimer: if you decide to book anything through our link, we'll get a small reward, this does not cost you anything, but shows some support!
What are the Matsu Islands?
The Matsu islands are really unknown islands, which are governed by Taiwan. Their location is really unique, while these one of the only places is that's not at the Taiwanese coast, but the Chinese coast (about 10 km!). Because of Chinese treats on Taiwan, there's a heavily military presence on the island. But don't let this scare you, most of the bases have been turned into sightseeings and coffeeshops! The Matsu Islands become more and more inviting towards (foreign) tourists.
The Matsu islands are made out of 36 islands, Nangan and Beigan as the main islands and some smaller islands: Xiju, Dongju, Gaodeng, Dongyin & Xijin (and some few minor islands more).
Recently, the islands became infamous for the 'Blue Tears', a natural phenomenon of microscopic plankton, which turn blue when disturbed by the waves.
We have visited almost everywhere on Beigan and Nangan islands and we visited for a day Daqiu (deer island), Xiju (south) and Dongju (south). This means that I'm gonna share a lot about these islands and some general information about the other ones.
When to visit
We've visited the islands in the end of August (2025) to escape the rainy weather of Kaohsiung. We were met with clear skies, 30 degrees weather and no rain or clouds.
Many visitors and information on the internet tells you to visit the islands in the spring, because of the favourable, not too hot weather, lack of typhoons and winds and the biggest chance for seeing the blue tears. The summer can get really hot and rainy. In the autumn, the weather can still be nice with less hot temperatures.
About each island
Nangan:
Domestic airport
Harbour hub
Most facilities: 7-11, Family Mart
Museums
Many restaurants
Coffeeshops
Open air military buildings
Beigan:
Domestic airport
Harbour to two islands (Nangan and Daqiu (deer island))
Most beautiful village
Nightmarket
Bistro
Hikes
Nature and viewpoints
Dongju:
Two stunning villages
Lots of nature and viewpoints
Undiscovered
Beach
Xiju:
Beautiful cliffs
Relaxing harbour village
Lots of nature
Daqiu:
Deer island
Old village ruins
Walking
Beautiful cliffs / nature
We did not go to other islands, but we are planning to go in the future! Hopefully, more will be open for tourism. Gaodeng island is not open for tourism (military).
How to get to Matsu Islands
There are only a few ways to get to the islands. By boat (either through Taiwan or China) and by airplane. We took the plane from Taipei Songshan Airport (Taipei's closest airport) via UniAir. Tickets can be bought online.
Buying the tickets online was for me not really an easy experience. Somehow there was no available flight on the website when I searched in English (the destinations), but when I tried a link from the internet to the same website in Mandarin, it showed flights that same day.
When I selected the flights, there was no button or any information about the luggage. I realised, that I could only book the flights without any information about the luggage. In my receipt it said that main luggage was not included and it showed a question mark at the cabin luggage. This left me really confused what to do.
I wrote the company, and after a late reply they said to just pay at the counter. We didn't want to take any risks, so we took as little as possible with us and only cabin luggage. They did not even ask about or measure our bags.
Once you're ready to board at the gate you will see that your airplane is going to be a really small airplane. It will take about 50 minutes to fly to the destination. Our flight to Beigan had a stunning landing on a beautiful airport.
Airports to fly to
There are two airports, which you can fly to. Nangan (the island with the most facilities) and Beigan (the island, where we flew to).
Choosing which one of these two you wanna go to depends on what you're seeking to do. If you are not sure, you could fly to Nangan (it's an easier option). Nangan is the main hub for all the boats of each island.
Transportation on the islands
The goto transportation method is renting a scooter. This will usually cost between 400-500 Yuan per day. Not on each island there's all types of transportation. See here the ways of transportation per island (which we visited):
General:
On mosts islands there are some busses. Busses are not really an efficient option. The information is mostly only in Mandarin and even for Febrina as a Mandarin-speaker, it was not easy to figure out how it works. We found out that for example the bus on Beigan Island will not go often (just every once per hour/two hours), just on some specific times per day (so not for example every whole hour, but different depending on the time), they barely stop in any other village except the main line (Beigan village to the harbour). Maybe the weirdest thing is, that the last bus leaves the harbour 15 minutes earlier, that when the last boat arrives. We had not really good experiences with the bus, you really got to plan well. One really good thing about the bus is, is that you have to pay only 15 Yuan per ride (you can pay per coin the exact amount or with your Taiwan bus/MRT-card, but you only have to check-in, because it's a set amount).
Scooter rental is at some of the islands available. At Nangan and Beigan there's some great options and for Dongju, there was also one option (read further down at Dongju).
Taxis are not available on all islands (mostly only on Nangan and rarely in Beigan). This can be quite pricey.
Nangan:
Nangan has busses, taxis and scooter rental services. I would really only recommend busses if you have no alternative and speak Mandarin, busses can be very complicated and do not (always) go to each spot.
The best way to explore any island is by renting a scooter. Renting a scooter in Taiwan usually expects you to have a 'A1' drivers license. An 'AM' drivers license is often not enough to rent a scooter (because this is for lighter electric scooters).
There's one great spot to rent from the harbour. You'll get one day free per three days renting and it's 500 Yuan per day. The scooters are new and electric. Normally when you rent an electric scooter in Taiwan, it's really difficult to recharge them (often you have to come back to the company for a new battery), but on this island, there are two spots where you can change the batteries (for free!).
There's only two spots to get new free batteries, one at the renting place at the harbour and one a little bit hidden next to a shop in the biggest village. Here is how it works: You drive up to the place and you see a white wall with the same batteries in it as the two of your scooter. You just pull your batteries out (they are in the scooter's storage). Then one by one you put the batteries in the wall in the two empty wholes. Once you secured it tightly in the wall, after five seconds, a full one will pop out. You can then put your new batteries back and you'll be fully recharged!
Taxis drive all around town and island. There will be multiple waiting at the harbour and most of the taxis drive in the biggest village (or the road to). Some wait at the airport as well. Taxis can be really expensive. We had a ride from the biggest village to the harbour (3 minutes) for 150 Yuan.
Beigan:
Beigan is already way more basic than Nangan. Transportation here can be a bit challenging. They have busses (which drive almost always only from the harbour to Beigan village and back). Taxis are almost non-existent. They can mostly be found at Beigan village and sometimes too at the harbour. Taxis are really pricey.
The best way to get around the island is by scooter. There's one scooter rental, that is also a scooter repair shop at the harbour. He only has gasoline scooters. You can fill the gas at the local CPC, this is the only petrol station. It's not 24 hours per day open (only during the day with a lunch break).
If you want to get by bus somewhere, you can check the local bus station in Beigan or at any bus stop. Right now because of maintenance of one road, the programme is different. Unfortunately the new programme is mostly in Mandarin. The bus is a really good option is you want to travel from Beigan village to the harbour or vice-versa. The bus mostly comes just 5 to 20 minutes after the arrival of the boat at the harbour. Unfortunately there's no bus after the last boat. It leaves about 15 minutes before.
If you ever miss the last bus, the only option is taking a taxi, walking or lifting.
Xiju:
Xiju is a small island with a lot. When we arrived, there was a non-governmental (small) bus. Before we knew it, it drove already off. We did not see any other busses, taxis or scooter rentals.
Dongju:
When we arrived in Dongju, the first thing that happened was a scooter rental owner came to us to ask if we needed a scooter. This was really convenient, because we didn't find any taxis or busses later. The man didn't ask for a drivers license or even a name or phone number. So if you come across a man with blue scooters at the harbour, give it a chance! We paid 300 Yuan and we could use the scooter from noon until the evening.
Other islands:
For more information about each island and other islands please visit .......
Transportation between the islands
There's just one way to get to each island and it's per boat. The main hub for all boats between the islands and from/to Taiwan and mainland China is via the harbour of Nangan.
Boats go multiple times per day between the closest islands and a few times per day between the further islands.
You can buy a ticket (for Nangan-Beigan) at the harbour within 10 minutes (sometimes unofficially within a few minutes) before departure. You can also buy them in advance (like you buy the ticket of 17:30 already in the same morning.
For transportation to the further away islands, you have to scan a barcode or go to a link to reserve them online and then print them on a machine in 7-11, you pay at the counter).
For Taiwan and China, there's a special counter.
Please make sure not to forget your passport or ARC (Taiwan residence card). This is mandatory for travelling in between the islands and even the small islands. You need for purchasing the ticket and identifying when boarding the boat.
Where to stay
There are some places, which we recommend over other places. The villages and areas are easily reachable by scooter, but not always by public transportation.
Nangan:
When booking a hotel, there's actually just one beautiful village, which should be on your list. This is Jinsha Village. This village has beautiful looking houses, cosy environment and you can swim here. Unfortunately there's not many restaurants nearby and it's far from nearby bigger villages and the airport/harbour.
Beigan:
Beigan has two places, which we recommend. Beigan Village (the airport and scooter rental is here, also really efficient with taking a bus to the harbour) and Qinbi Village. Qinbi is maybe the most beautiful village on all of Matsu. It really feels like you're in a French village, with a coffeeshop and restaurants (busses don't come often per day here, it's better to rent a scooter).
Other islands:
In the other islands, it's efficient to stay at the harbour village and rent a scooter. On Dongju, there's a beautiful village with swimming place called Fuzheng.
Matsu Itinerary
This itinerary is based on a start at Nangan island, because of the logical sea hub from mainland Taiwan and China, but also because of its easy flying access. In case you want your trip to start in Beigan, you can switch the schedules Beigan and Nangan, but keep the length of the days in each island. Also, this itinerary is based on the islands, where we've been to, if you want to include more islands, you can use this itinerary as a base to add your own plans to. For example, keep this schedule as it is, but at in between your plans to the other islands.
Before the trip:
We recommend to book your tickets for the plane and reserve the stay in advance. Sometimes, the options can be scare, when booking (too) late. The islands host mainly two types of accommodation: hotels and hostels. Hotels are usually more expensive and hostels offer cheaper options as well as dorms and sometimes cooking possibilities.
You can book your plane tickets easily in the website of the designated airlines. For example, we took UniAir. Through this link, you can see the timetable for flying to Nangan. Also it shows the availability each day.
Our tips:
Download offline Google Earth or a different navigation app to navigate.
Internet is in almost every hotel, hostel, restaurant and convenience store available.
Mobile network (from Taiwan) works mostly on all of the islands well anywhere.
If you have a Taiwan EasyCard (bus/MRT payment card) you can also use it here in the busses. Make sure to only 'checkin', because it's just a one time 15 Yuan payment (so checkin out means paying twice). If you don't have an EasyCard: you can pay by cash, but make sure you have the exact amount! There's no cash back, because you throw the coins in a container.
For tips for restaurants, coffeeshops (working) and snacks/drinks, check here!
Day 1, Arrival in Nangan Island:
Your trip begins when you arrive at the airport or harbour. In the Matsu Islands, cash is mostly king. Almost all 7-11 and Family Mart convenience stores have ATMs, which work for Visa and Mastercard. Nangan has the most 7-11s of all islands and almost everywhere, you can withdraw money.
After you've gotten your cash, you can rent a scooter for transportation, this is a really reliable and easy option. You can also take a taxi or an airport transfer (that's sometimes included in the hotel price). Scooters can be rented at the harbour. Keep in mind, that an 'AM'-license is not enough to rent a scooter. Make sure you'll have A2-drivers license.
Depending how late your flight is, you can already check in your hotel or leave your stuff at the hotel for some first day exploring!
Day 2, Nangan
Day 3, Nangan
Day 4, Nangan
Day 5, Nangan to Beigan
Day 6, Beigan
Day 7, Beigan
Day 7, Daqiu (Beigan)
Day 8, Beigan to Xiju
Day 9, Xiju
Day 10, Xiju to Dongju
Day 11, Dongju
Day 12, Dongju
Day 13, Dongju to Nangan
--Space for more islands--
Things to do on each island
Nangan: