How To Combine Taipei Zoo And The Maokong Cable Car In One Day

The Maokong Gondola and Taipei Zoo sit at the same MRT terminus, but their schedules and ticketing are completely separate, unless you buy the right combo. A single combined ticket exists, and it changes the arithmetic of a day trip. This guide lays out the hours, the Monday pitfalls, the exact order that works, and the one ticket that ties everything together without doubling your spend. For a deeper look at the gondola’s fare options, see our ticket and price breakdown.

How To Combine Taipei Zoo And The Maokong Cable Car In One Day?

You can comfortably see the zoo’s highlights in a morning, then ride the gondola to Maokong in the afternoon. The zoo opens at 9:00 am and the gondola runs until 9:00 pm on weekdays and 10:00 pm on weekends, so an early start leaves ample time for both. Buy the zoo combo ticket online to skip two ticket queues, and aim to leave the zoo by 3:30 pm to ride the gondola with daylight views.

The two attractions share the Wenhu Line terminus at Taipei Zoo Station, and the gondola’s boarding platform is a 350-metre walk from the MRT exit. Because the zoo’s last entry is at 4:00 pm, a logical flow is to enter the zoo first, spend three to four hours inside, then walk over to the gondola. The gondola runs until 9:00 pm on weekdays and 10:00 pm on weekends and holidays, so there is no pressure to rush out before sunset. In fact, a late-afternoon ride up the mountain often delivers the clearest views of the Taipei basin.

The zoo is large, 165 hectares, but a half-day visit can easily cover the giant pandas, the new red pandas, the Pangolin Dome, and the African savannah zone if you use the shuttle train. A combined ticket that includes the zoo, the gondola one-day pass, and the shuttle train starts from about $12.69 and is sold online. That single purchase removes the need to line up at two separate counters.

What Is The Zoo Combo Ticket And How Much Does It Cost?

The zoo combo ticket bundles Taipei Zoo general admission, a Maokong Gondola one-day pass, and a one-way shuttle train ride into a single pass that starts from about $12.69, which makes it a straightforward choice for a full day of zoo and gondola exploration.

The zoo combo is the most practical choice for a combined day because it eliminates three separate purchases: zoo entry (normally NT$100), the gondola one-day pass (NT$300), and the shuttle train (NT$5). The gondola day pass gives you unlimited rides on the day of activation, so you can hop off at Zhinan Temple Station or Maokong Station and ride back down at no extra cost. The zoo shuttle train runs from the main entrance to the far end of the zoo, cutting a long walk and making a half-day visit feasible. If you want to understand the gondola’s full schedule before committing, our hours and best-time guide lays out every closure day.

The voucher is open-dated and valid for 180 days after purchase, but once you activate any part of the bundle, by scanning the zoo gate or the gondola turnstile, the remaining items expire 14 days later. That gives you flexibility to use the zoo and gondola on different days if your schedule shifts, though most visitors activate everything on the same day.

Zoo First Or Gondola First: Which Order Actually Works?

Start with the zoo. The zoo closes its gates at 4:00 pm, while the gondola runs until 9:00 pm on weekdays and 10:00 pm on weekends. If you ride the gondola first, you risk returning to the zoo after last entry and missing the pandas entirely. An early zoo visit also means cooler temperatures for the animals and shorter queues at the gondola in the afternoon.

The reverse order, gondola in the morning and zoo in the afternoon, can work if you arrive after 2:00 pm and only want a quick zoo walk, but the 4:00 pm last entry is a hard cutoff. If the gondola is suspended for weather and you are stuck up the mountain, free shuttle buses bring passengers back down, but that can eat into zoo time. A more reliable plan is to enter the zoo at 9:00 am, spend the morning there, and take the gondola up around 1:00 pm or 2:00 pm. Maokong’s tea houses and trails are pleasant in the late afternoon, and the ride back down after sunset gives you a glittering city panorama.

If you want the Crystal Cabin with the glass floor, book an afternoon time slot online to avoid the longest queues. Crystal Cabins run Tuesday through Sunday, and only 31 of the 147 cabins have the glass floor, so waits can exceed 30 minutes on weekend afternoons. A regular cabin is faster and still gives you sweeping views. For more on the glass-floor experience, read our Crystal Cabin guide.

Zoo Hours, Gondola Hours, And The 16:00 Last-Entry Cutoff

Taipei Zoo is open from 9:00 to 17:00, but animal exhibits close at 16:30, so the last entry is strictly at 16:00. The Maokong Gondola runs from 9:00 to 21:00 on weekdays and 9:00 to 22:00 on weekends and holidays, with no published last-boarding time; arrive well before closing.

The zoo is closed on Chinese New Year’s Eve (16 February 2026) and for annual maintenance from 22 June to 1 July 2026. The gondola shuts on most Mondays for routine maintenance and undergoes a longer overhaul in June, in 2026 that ran from 8 to 28 June. If your trip falls in June, check both calendars carefully because the zoo and gondola closures overlap for several days.

The Monday Problem: Rotating Zoo Closures And Gondola Maintenance

Mondays are the trickiest day for a combined visit. The Maokong Gondola is closed on most Mondays for routine maintenance, though the exact dates vary month to month. The zoo itself stays open on Mondays, but individual animal houses rotate their closures: the Giant Panda House shuts on the first Monday, the Pangolin Dome and Penguin House on the second, the Amphibian and Reptile House on the third, and the Insectarium on the fourth.

The gondola’s 2026 closure calendar lists suspended days on 12 and 26 January; 9, 16 and 23 February; 9, 23 and 30 March; 13, 20 to 24 and 27 April; 4, 11, 18 and 25 May; 1 June and 8 to 28 June; 6, 13, 20 and 27 July; 3, 10, 17 and 24 August; 7, 14 and 21 September; 12 October; 9, 23 and 30 November; and 14 and 28 December. Three of those blocks are not Monday maintenance: 16 February is Lunar New Year’s Eve, 20 to 24 April is cable-splicing work, and 8 to 28 June is the annual overhaul, with service resuming on Monday 29 June. The zoo’s Monday house closures follow a fixed rotation, so you can plan around them if you know which Monday you are visiting.

If you must visit on a Monday, check your exact date against the operator's published calendar rather than any general rule, and accept that on a first Monday the pandas will be off display. Alternatively, visit the zoo on a Sunday and the gondola on a Tuesday, the combo ticket’s 14-day activation window makes that possible.

Getting To The Shared Station And Buying Tickets

Take the MRT Wenhu (Brown) Line to Taipei Zoo Station, the line’s terminus. The gondola’s Taipei Zoo Station is a 350-metre walk southwest along Xinguang Road, a 4–6 minute walk. Zoo entry is a 1–3 minute walk from MRT Exit 1. A single adult MRT fare from Taipei Main Station to Taipei Zoo Station costs NT$35, and the journey takes roughly 40 minutes with one transfer.

You can buy the zoo combo ticket online before you arrive, which saves time at both venues. The ticket is a QR-code voucher that you scan at the zoo gate and the gondola turnstile. If you prefer to pay at the gate, zoo admission is NT$100 for general visitors and the gondola one-day pass is NT$300, but you will queue twice. The online combo also includes the zoo shuttle train, which is otherwise NT$5 per ride.

Parking at the zoo’s underground car park costs NT$10 per hour on weekdays and NT$60 per hour on weekends between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm. The weekend daytime rate is six times the weekday rate, so taking the MRT is both cheaper and faster on busy days.

What To See At Taipei Zoo In A Half-Day Visit

The zoo houses about 2,407 animals across 354 species, but a focused half-day route covers the stars. Start at the Giant Panda House to see Yuan Yuan and Yuan Bao, then take the shuttle train to the far end for the African savannah and the Pangolin Dome. The new red pandas, Le Le and Tian Tian, are in the temperate zone and worth a stop on the way back.

The zoo’s layout is a long loop, and the shuttle train cuts a 20-minute uphill walk. Board the train at the main entrance, ride to the Bird World station, and walk back downhill through the African animals, the pangolin exhibit, and the red panda enclosure. The entire loop takes two to three hours at a comfortable pace, leaving you time for a snack before heading to the gondola. The red pandas debuted in July 2026 and have quickly become a visitor favorite, so expect a small crowd near their enclosure in the late morning.

The Giant Panda House closes on the first Monday of the month, so if pandas are a priority, avoid that day. Yuan Yuan turned 22 in August 2026, and Yuan Bao turned 6 in June 2026. Both are active in the morning, which is another reason to start your day at the zoo.

Gondola Highlights After The Zoo: What To Do At The Top

The gondola ride from Taipei Zoo Station to Maokong Station takes about 20–30 minutes, climbing roughly 250 metres over 4.03 km. At the top, the new Sky Green observation deck, opened in January 2026, gives an open view over the Taipei basin. The Camphor Tree Trail, a flat 1.5-km walk, starts a few minutes from the station and passes a restored charcoal kiln and a lupin field that flowers in late March and April.

Maokong is a tea-growing area, and the Taipei Tea Promotion Center is a 15-minute walk left from the station. It has a free exhibition on Tieguanyin and Baozhong tea production, an ecological pond, and a weather observation platform. It closes at 5:00 pm and is shut on Mondays, so plan to arrive by mid-afternoon if you want to visit.

For a shorter stop, the Denggao Trail is only 70 metres long and leads to a lookout pavilion. If you prefer a meal, several tea houses and restaurants sit along the lane outside the station. The gondola’s one-day pass lets you hop off at Zhinan Temple Station on the way down to see the temple complex, which blends Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian halls. Lingxiao Hall suffered a fire in August 2026 and is under restoration, but the rest of the temple remains open. Our Zhinan Temple guide covers the temple’s history and the current restoration timeline.

Tips For A Smooth Combined Day

Buy the zoo combo ticket online to skip the ticket counter at both venues. Wear comfortable shoes: the zoo is large and the gondola stations have stairs. Bring a water bottle, as only plain water is allowed in the cabins. Check the gondola’s Monday closure calendar and the zoo’s rotating house schedule before you go, and have a backup plan if the gondola suspends for wind or lightning.

The gondola’s one-day pass is activated on the day you first scan it. If you use the zoo combo ticket, the remaining items stay usable for 14 days counted from that first scan, so the zoo and the gondola do not have to fall on the same day. However, the voucher itself is valid for 180 days, so you can buy it weeks ahead and activate it when you arrive. Also note that gondola ticket holders can ride the Maokong Tour Bus for free on the same day, a handy way to reach the tea plantations without walking.

Common Questions About Combining Taipei Zoo And The Maokong Cable Car