Hello there. I’ll be going to Hong Kong in a few months and from there I plan to head for Taiwan. After a bit of searching I found this on wikitravel’s Taiwan article:
[quote]From Fuzhou (福州), China, there are two daily ferries to Matsu (馬祖). Take bus 69 from Fuzhou train station to Wuyilu, then bus 73 to the end station Mawei harbor (馬尾港). The ferry costs ¥350 from China and $1300 from Taiwan. The trip takes two hours. The old website, mit30.com.tw, appears to be down. From Matsu, there are two daily ferries to Keelung in Taiwan. $1050 includes a bed, as the trip takes 10 hours. Bookings can be made at +886 2 2424 6868
At Mawei harbour in Fuzhou there is an opportunity to buy an inclusive ticket all the way to Taipei that includes the Fuzhou to Matsu ferry above and a domestic flight from Matsu to Taipei (or Taichung). The price (780RMB) includes transfer between port and airport on Matsu, and a coupon for lunch at the airport while you wait for your connection. The ferry leaves Fuzhou at 9:30AM. Get to Mawei at 8AM to buy tickets.
There are also several ferry services between Xiamen and Quanzhou on the mainland and the island of Kinmen.
[/quote]
From HK to Taipei solely by plane, EVA specifically, is a $238 2 hour affair. The 780RMB ($117) ferry route might take anywhere from 5 hours to who knows how long. But the point is that I stand to save $121 that could very well be used for something else (like more than a few bowls of noodles at the night market) and I won’t be in a rush so taking the scenic route isn’t too bad. I have previously heard that none of these ferry routes are currently operating anyway. So I have 2 questions: Does this or any alternate ferry route between HK and Taiwan (any city) even exist? If there is a viable ferry route, is it worth taking instead of the plane?
There are no direct ferries from HK to Taiwan. Even if there were, crossing the Taiwan Strait would be unpleasant to say the least. From personal experience, both the Fuzhou-Matzu and Xiamen-Kinmen ferries are not for the faint-hearted. The boats tend to be small and overloaded w/ nauseous travelers and the ride is anything but smooth. However, Star Cruises reputedly offers a Xiamen (CN) to Keelung (TW) overnight boat, in which case you’d have to take a boat from HK to Xiamen… Take the direct flight from HKG to TPE and save yourself the aggravation–it’ll be worth the $120US.
There used to be a ferry from Kaohsiung to Macau, but it stopped a long time ago. But when I took that, and when I took the Keelung-Matsu ferries, I never had anything but a smooth, pleasant trip. The food was horrible, though.
[quote=“udon”]Hello there. I’ll be going to Hong Kong in a few months and from there I plan to head for Taiwan. After a bit of searching I found this on wikitravel’s Taiwan article:
[quote]From Fuzhou (福州), China, there are two daily ferries to Mazu (馬祖). Take bus 69 from Fuzhou train station to Wuyilu, then bus 73 to the end station Mawei harbor (馬尾港). The ferry costs ¥350 from China and $1300 from Taiwan. The trip takes two hours. The old website, mit30.com.tw, appears to be down. From Matsu, there are two daily ferries to Keelung (Jilong) in Taiwan. $1050 includes a bed, as the trip takes 10 hours. Bookings can be made at +886 2 2424 6868
At Mawei harbour in Fuzhou there is an opportunity to buy an inclusive ticket all the way to Taipei that includes the Fuzhou to Mazu ferry above and a domestic flight from Mazu to Taipei (or Taichung). The price (780RMB) includes transfer between port and airport on Matsu, and a coupon for lunch at the airport while you wait for your connection. The ferry leaves Fuzhou at 9:30AM. Get to Mawei at 8AM to buy tickets.
There are also several ferry services between Xiamen and Quanzhou on the mainland and the island of Kinmen.
[/quote]
From HK to Taipei solely by plane, EVA specifically, is a $238 2 hour affair. The 780RMB ($117) ferry route might take anywhere from 5 hours to who knows how long. But the point is that I stand to save $121 that could very well be used for something else (like more than a few bowls of noodles at the night market) and I won’t be in a rush so taking the scenic route isn’t too bad. I have previously heard that none of these ferry routes are currently operating anyway. So I have 2 questions: Does this or any alternate ferry route between HK and Taiwan (any city) even exist? If there is a viable ferry route, is it worth taking instead of the plane?[/quote]
Please also take note that this time of the year there is a lot of fog around Kinmen, and sometimes flights are postponed two or three days. No food, no bath, sleeping on a hard plastic chair at the airport. Last time, they had to send the people back to Taiwan proper in army planes…
I took the ferry from Keelung to Matsu about 4 years ago. it was a great trip, the cabins are simple but comfortable or you can have a cheaper ticket by sleeping in the bar. My advice is take a bottle of your favorite alcohol with you and sleep through it.
Yes that old ferry from K-town to Macau was pretty spartan I hear. My moms been on it a few times. Iv not. She and my auntie wanted to watch tv and went and asked the captain who said there was no tv. Auntie and the captain got to yakking. Next thing you know the captains daughter is married to my aunties son !!
And that never wouldve happened if she flew to macau.
Whats the visa and border crossing season like in Matsu? I know it opened up last year but does that mean I can go through Matsu on a visa run with a British passport?