Taipei for The Time Travellers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

Built in 1939 on the Fujian model with no incense and no idols, only a tablet; quiet courtyards and the Minnan roofs set the tone for the whole weekend.

Founded 1742 by Tong'an migrants and rebuilt in 1805, a UNESCO-awarded restoration of carved roof ridges and gilded beams; the evening incense is thick and the carvings repay a lantern-lit look.

A short stretch of stalls selling the oyster omelettes, taro balls and fish soups that Dadaocheng cooks have sold since the Qing; walk it end to end before you decide.

Three restored 1830s shophouse streets with Qing, Japanese and Republican layers visible in the same wall; an excellent free exhibition and shaded arcades, closed Mondays so go today.

The Neoclassical 1915 building for the Japanese governor's collections, with Doric columns and a domed hall; start with the Austronesian rooms upstairs for the island before the empires.

Beef noodle soup is a dish of the 1949 mainland veterans, and this plain room is one of its old homes; add hand-pulled dumplings.

A blue-tiled, white-marble hall opened in 1980 over a 76-step staircase; the bronze Chiang inside is changed on the hour, and the guards march perfectly in step.

The 1947 massacre and the long martial law era told in rooms of original documents and testimony, in a handsome Japanese radio station; allow ninety minutes and sit afterwards.

An upstairs café of 1949 where exiled writers wrote and informers reportedly watched them over Russian tea; get a window table and a slice of borscht.

Come as the morning worship starts: chanting, fruit offerings and drums under a roof of 1738 origins, a good counterpoint to the emperor's treasures you will see later.

The 700,000 imperial objects the Nationalists crated from Beijing, with Jadeite Cabbage and Meat-shaped Stone; ask at the desk for the free English docent tour, which fills quickly.

The museum's own restaurant makes its own dish of the Meat-shaped Stone, a braised pork belly cut to match the exhibit; a gently funny, grown-up lunch before the airport.