Taipei.

Student life centres on the Gongguan district around NTU and the Shida (NTNU) area, both packed with cheap eateries, bars and bubble-tea shops. Nightlife ranges from craft-beer spots and live-music venues to the big clubs in Xinyi near Taipei 101. Language exchanges are a brilliant way in, letting you swap English for Mandarin and make local friends fast.

• Hang out around Gongguan (NTU) and Shida for cheap food and student bars
• Join a language exchange, which many universities and cafes run, to meet locals
• For clubs head to Xinyi; for craft beer and live music try Da'an and Zhongshan

Taipei is affordable by big-city standards, so budget around NT$27,000-38,000 (roughly 800-1,100 euros) a month. Rent is the main cost, with a shared room or small studio running NT$10,000-18,000. Eating out is often cheaper than cooking thanks to night-market meals and cheap lunchboxes (biandang).

• Eat at night markets and self-serve buffets (zizhucan) for full meals at NT$60-120
• Load an EasyCard for the MRT, buses, YouBikes and convenience stores
• Get the TPASS monthly pass (NT$1,200) for unlimited metro and buses

Most exchange students take a university dorm (cheapest and easiest) or rent a room in a shared flat or tao fang studio. Off-campus, look around Gongguan, Da'an and Guting to stay near the action. Rooms are often barely furnished, and agents may charge a half-month fee, so read contracts carefully.

• Apply for your university dorm early, as they are cheap but fill fast
• Use 591.com.tw, the main rental site, and search Da'an, Guting and Gongguan
• Ask the Taipei group on Studcasa for landlord leads and help reading a Mandarin lease

The Taipei MRT is fast, cheap and immaculate, and one EasyCard covers the metro, buses, YouBike public bikes and even shop purchases. Buy a TPASS for NT$1,200 a month and travel unlimited across Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan. For short hops, grab a YouBike 2.0 from almost any corner.

• Get an EasyCard and top it up at any convenience store or MRT machine
• Buy the NT$1,200 TPASS for unlimited monthly metro and buses
• Use YouBike 2.0 for the last mile, as docks are everywhere

Taiwan's universities mix lecture-heavy teaching with strong research, and English-taught courses are widening every year. NTU leads across the board, NCCU is known for social sciences and communications, NTNU for education and Chinese-language study, and Taiwan Tech for engineering. Most host a free or cheap Mandarin course you should absolutely take.

• NTU for almost everything; NCCU for social science; NTNU for Mandarin study
• Enrol in your university's Mandarin classes, as even basics transform daily life

This depends entirely on your passport, so treat the below as a map, not gospel. Most European, UK, US, Canadian and Australian students get 90 days visa-free on arrival, fine for a short summer thing, not for a full semester. For a proper exchange you apply for a student Resident Visa at your nearest Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) before you fly, using the admission letter your host university sends.

Once you land, you convert that into an ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) at the local immigration office within a couple of weeks, this is your golden ticket for a bank account, phone contract and re-entry. Start early: TECO appointments and document legalisation can eat weeks. Your host uni's international office will hand-hold you through most of it.

• Short stay: 90 days visa-free for many nationalities
• Full semester: student Resident Visa via TECO before you fly
• After arrival: convert to an ARC within about 15 days
• Exact rules depend on your passport, check your own TECO office

Taipei might be the best street-food city on earth: beef noodle soup, xiaolongbao dumplings, gua bao, fried chicken and the bubble tea that was invented here. Night markets like Shilin, Raohe and Ningxia are dinner and entertainment in one. Convenience stores are a genuine institution, handling coffee, meals, bill payments and parcel pickup around the clock.

• Work through the night markets: Raohe for pepper buns, Ningxia for classics, Shilin for scale
• Try Din Tai Fung for xiaolongbao and any street stall for beef noodle soup
• 7-Eleven and FamilyMart do coffee, hot meals, ATMs and parcel pickup 24/7

Da'an is the leafy, central student-and-cafe district around NTU and Shida; Xinyi is the glossy downtown of Taipei 101 and clubs; Zhongshan and Datong mix old lanes with hip bars; and Wanhua (Ximending) is the youthful shopping-and-cinema quarter. Beitou, to the north, is famous for its hot springs.

• Da'an and Guting for student life, cafes and easy campus access
• Ximending (Wanhua) for shopping, cinemas and youth culture
• Beitou for weekend hot springs a short MRT ride from the centre

Taipei is a fantastic base. Jiufen's lantern-lit lanes and Pingxi's sky lanterns are an hour or so out, Yangmingshan National Park is on the doorstep, and Tamsui sits at the end of the red MRT line. The High Speed Rail whisks you to Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung in under two hours for bigger weekends.

• Take the MRT and a bus to Jiufen and the Pingxi sky-lantern line
• Hike Yangmingshan or ride the MRT to Tamsui for riverside sunsets
• Use the HSR (Taipei to Kaohsiung in about 90 min) for weekends down south

A few habits pay off fast: always carry your EasyCard, never eat or drink on the MRT (it is fined), and take your shoes off indoors. Typhoon season in summer and autumn can shut things down, and a typhoon day means no classes. And learn a little Mandarin, as even a few phrases open doors.

• Do not eat or drink on the MRT, as it is a NT$1,500-7,500 fine
• Watch the weather in typhoon season, since a typhoon day cancels classes
• Carry cash for night markets and small stalls, as not everywhere takes cards