Ice skating in Taipei

My wife Monik loves ice skating so it was no surprise she brought her and my skates from Sweden to Taiwan. I told her that there is a nice ice skating rink in Taipei called Taipei Arena 台北小巨蛋 on Nanjing East Rd, quite near my job. This is the place we go to for ice skating.

She began taking basic figure skating classes here since beginning of September. There are lots of private coaches, both males and females. The coach my wife has speaks good English.

One course has four 40min classes. It includes two free 2h sessions either for the student or anyone else. With this card, the student can also participate in bigger skating classes for free.
One course costs about 3000NTD depending on your preferred time.
She also bought a three months unlimited entrance card for 2500NTD. With this card, she can also buy courses at a discounted price.

The public rink is called Ice Land and is located on the second floor of the arena. The entrance fee is 190NTD for 2h with additional 45NTD/h if you exceed those 2h. You can rent skates and protection equipment there. However, I don't know the rental cost. Wearing gloves is compulsory. If you don't have your own with you the first time, you can buy a pair here for just 20NTD. If you don't wear a helmet, you have to sign an agreement.

Skating here is entertaining. There are lots of skilled young and small girls doing figure skating, while their mums sit on the spectator bench watching them. Of course there are older girls and even guys/men practicing figure skating as well. It's very impressive to see how skilled they are. It is also impressive how much time and certainly money parents spend on their kids to see them become "the next one". However, avoid going on weekends or holidays, the rink will be too crowded.

In general, people go there for fun. You can see very skilled skaters as well as just beginners trying to walk step by step. Most of the time, they reserve one side for small kids practicing ice hockey. In the middle, the area is dedicated for figure skaters.

In Taipei Arena, there are coffee shops, MOS Burger, McDonald's, convenient store and some other small stores. The main part of this huge arena is also used for sport games, concerts and other events.

Taipei Arena from Nanjing East Rd.

Too many people sometimes.

My wife with her coach.

You can reach there by taking MRT to Nanjing East Rd station on the brown Wenhu Line. From there you can walk 500m east along Nangjing East Rd before you see the huge arena in the intersection at Nangjing East Rd and Dunhua North Rd.

Another option is to get off at Zhongxiao Dunhua station on the blue Bannan Line and walk 1km north on Dunhua North Rd until you see the arena on your right hand side.

In December, the green line will be extended and there will be a stop just outside Taipei Arena.

There are other small rinks like Polar Bear Rink above Eslite Department Store in Ximenting and one really small and bad one in Living Mall in Taipei. Nothing can compare to Ice Land though.