At the risk of being off-topic, Thailand. Bad weather, people moving all over.
It depends on what you want to do.
Orchid is nice, quiet, beautiful and scuba diving is great.
Green is smaller, crowded and kind of shitty.
Peng Hu seems very touristy now.
Not recommended! Cold and windy at that time. Philippines could be a much better option if looking for islands/beaches/diving. If insist to stay in Taiwan then avoid all popular places - way too expensive and traffic situation can be troublesome.
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Thanks. I have heard this before. Wasnāt sure if it applied to all of the outer islands.
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How is Kaohsiung or Tainan at his time?
Normally there would be no good island to visit during Chinese New Year because it would be cold and wet but this New Yearās in mid February so thereās a 50-50% or 70/30 or 37% chance there might be some good weather.
Except Chinese New Year will be crowded as hell transportation and hotels and tourist attractions and expensive because taiwanesa donāt travel overseas will be filling them up.
Xiao Liuqiu canāt be a great getaway of course small and quiet but you know
We will be in Kaohsiung during CNY, come visit!
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Everyone leaves the big city to either be with family (usually just the unofficially mandated dates, aka the first couple days) then the tourist destinations . which get filled because everyone wants to escape their norms as well.
Frankly I find the best time to visit places like Taipei, read: the only time enjoyable to be in taipei, is during Lunar New Year (hahaha 
) because it āemptiesā out during this time of year due to the vast amount of migrants living there and leaving to see family. if you want to experience so me cool stuff during this time of year, hit up some popular/filled with old people districts in the countryside. not mountain proper, more like the fringes between city life and mountain life. I grew up this way in Pingtung in certain areas. and the cultural vibe during times like religious holidays/events, Lunar new year and etc were quite surreal when I first moved here. To be honest , they still are if one can remove themselves from the forced labor and view it more anthropological. now after becoming older and crusty, I still enjoy these times in such traditional strongholds because it exposes a raw reality of something different than the usual city bullshit. as well as the usual logical bullshit. itās a weird thing that impresses. worthwhile taking in before we all become the Borg.
if you really want to escape the situation, leave Taiwan and dont go somewhere where Hua Ren exist. tickets are more expensive, but worth it for many. otherwise, go camping in non campsites here and escape.
or do like many and work through LNY thus saving face avoiding family because money reasons (work) then take a vacation after when you are relaxed and not pressured by quotas and customers and all the usual BS .
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maybe we will!
What about the East Coast during CNY week? Is it any better/less chaotic? Thinking Taitung and Hualien
Hello all, weāre trying to get ahead of travel planning for the Lunar New Year holiday since my kids will have about a month off of school.
This is our first time spending LNY in Taiwan so we do want to stick around Taipei to see how locals celebrate. But we are also thinking of traveling somewhere in Asia. Is it true that most Asian countries (except Japan) pretty much shut down during the holiday? Would traveling to for example, Vietnam or China be pointless? If you have any suggestions for travel during this time, please let me know. Thank you!
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Places shut down for a day or maximum 2 days. After that itās wide open chaos hotels and public transportation and highways and airplanes are crazy within Taiwan and outside Taiwan in Asia.
If Chinese are traveling itās even more so.
Taipei on the other hand, is quiet almost a ghost town for the first part of the long holiday and still it doesnāt really get to chaotic. Itās only a good spot if you want to be in a quiet concrete jungle during a long holiday. The daily grind is kind of a non noticeable during the New Year.
Celebrations during LNY are mostly family affair, meaning eating and watching TV and basically doing nothing. Most traditional families will do the ancestorsā worship thing and travel inside Taiwan, so train tickets are sold out quickly and roads well, are challenging.
Best celebrations come after the LNY itself, with the Lantern Festival and other traditional events, like the beehive fireworks in Yanshui, or even just watching the cherry blossoms.
If you want to travel outside of Taiwan on the long holiday, book early. Most people head to Thailand -warmer- and Japan -cherry blossoms.
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How do Uni Airways and Mandarin Airlines release tickets during holidays? When do they typically go on sale and how hard is it to purchase tickets? Thanks!
Iām trying to make last minute travel plans and having a hard timeā¦ HSR headed south from Taipei is booked up til Fri evening (no surprise there)
How bad is the traffic if driving? Like if Chiayi is normally 3.5 hours, does that becomes 6?
Weather only looks good in the southwest these next few days (and TRA to Taitung seemed sold out anyways)
Keep checking those HSR tickets. People are canceling all the time. I got Friday lunchtime after originally only seeing Friday evening.
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Yes, unless driving at 3am, depending on day. Heavy, stop n go, worse if accident. Need at least 3? in car and police check at highway entries.
Or pay business car, thereās usually room in it.
Iād recommend taking the 3 to 5 am buses going down South. Youāll be there for breakfast.
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You donāt need a reservation for the HSR. Just show up a bit earlier and purchase a non-reserved ticket at the window, and line up at the platform. You may not get on the first train that leaves, but you should be able to get on nonetheless.
Or normal trains, can stand.
Tomorrow, and the day or 2 after are gonna suck even harder. But LNY is already less important than before. So between better transportation options and a lesser demand, things are improving quite a lot.
Exactly. Either plan ahead or plan to pay.