Taipei

Airbnb is underwhelming in Taipei. Perhaps not quite to the same extent as somewhere like Tokyo, but at a price and quality level that is by no means enticing. Accommodation for this month would've been comfortably the most expensive I'd taken at any point, without much quality to show for it.

I stayed at an apart-hotel called Little Minsheng in Songshan. On arrival it felt more like a converted set of former commercial offices than dedicated apartments but I'd recommend it for a week-long stay. It was clean, well managed and relatively spacious, but for anything longer it's missing some amenities that make an extended stay more comfortable.

Apartments are small and expensive. Demand is high and supply scarce.

The good news is that these prices represent something of an anomaly within your wider budget. The cost of accommodation feels entirely disconnected from the day-to-day costs you'll encounter in the city, and also doesn't reflect what you'd pay elsewhere in the country.

Given you can have just as authentic a Taiwanese experience at a nightly rate of £35 in sunny Kaohsiung, as a £50 Airbnb studio apartment in a wet Taipei, the capital starts to feel poor value for anything beyond a short stay.

And this isn't a case of trading quality for cost, like choosing a provincial UK city over London. The gap between Taipei and other cities felt minimal. Your accommodation budget will stretch significantly further outside the capital, and there's little reason not to exploit that and get a more well-rounded view of the country.

Out of anywhere I've visited in the last few years, Taipei was the sole city where I found it impossible to settle into a consistent daily rhythm. Even after visiting ten or more spaces, I struggled to land on a regular spot to work from.

If you are looking at your costs over the course of a month, Taipei is something of a mixed bag.

The one place you will notice a substantial difference is the cost of eating out. Food is remarkably inexpensive.

A simple rice or noodle meal, or an assortment of breakfast items in a local restaurant, can cost under NT$100 (£2.35). Larger sit-down lunches at a casual Korean, Japanese or Vietnamese place routinely come in at around NT$200 (£4.70), with generous portions and a quality you'd pay several times over for in Europe.

As someone who almost universally eats out at all times of the day, when you look back over the course of a month you will no doubt feel this saving compound. Or, more likely, end up returning home several kilos heavier after squeezing in an extra couple of daily meals.

Rides on the MRT cost around NT$20 (£0.47), with longer journeys on local trains not too much higher. Travelling around the country via the High Speed Rail network comes at a price that might only get you from Stansted Airport to Liverpool Street in London.

When it comes to coffee and drinks from bars, prices begin to mirror or even exceed what you might expect to pay in Western Europe. Under 500ml of craft beer at NT$360 (£8.40) could quite feasibly cost several multiples the price of your lunch. Dine-in prices at coffee shops tend to factor in seat time, with maximum stay limits or minimum spend restrictions often applied.

You will likely need to overbudget on accommodation, but you can quite feasibly balance that over the course of the month assuming you are not surviving on a nightly diet centred around triple-hopped IPAs.

Taipei has what I could best describe as a modest charm. Even its biggest fans would likely stop short of proclaiming it among the world's greatest cities.

Its personality is orderly and functional. Its character is measured and mature. It lacks the frenetic energy and immediacy of its Southeast Asian counterparts like Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh.

It doesn't feel like a city yearning for global recognition. It's somewhere entirely content with its place and purpose. Its primary function is to act as a home for its residents to live and work rather than putting on a show to entertain mass crowds of tourists.

Looked at strictly as an urban environment, Taipei is underwhelming by global standards. When the clouds and rain settle in for a prolonged stretch, there feels very little to justify your presence. Navigating between its near-identical commercial districts and often drab building stock can feel unrewarding.

Yet when the clouds lift, it becomes an entirely different proposition. Hiking requires next to no effort or preparation, with an array of trails easily accessible from almost anywhere within the metropolitan area. Hundreds of kilometres of cycle paths lining the flood defences along the city's rivers make for perfect routes into its suburban fringes. The night markets and city parks carry a renewed energy as larger crowds are drawn out.

If you can magically time the weather, Taipei has a lot to offer. But it's worth building in the flexibility to change your plans should the weather have other ideas.