Hi,
The search function wouldn’t work, so apologies if this has been asked a million times.
I’ll be travelling around Taiwan next month and a few of those days happen to be during the Chinese New Year. It’s a congested, inopportune time to try and leave the house here in Korea, and practically everything is closed anyway.
Never having been to Taipei during this holiday, I’m curious generally what’s open. My girlfriend and I will be content with just wandering the city, but will there be restaurants still open? Any shops? Any tourist attractions?
[quote=“Smee”]Hi,
The search function wouldn’t work, so apologies if this has been asked a million times.
I’ll be travelling around Taiwan next month and a few of those days happen to be during the Chinese New Year. It’s a congested, inopportune time to try and leave the house here in Korea, and practically everything is closed anyway.
Never having been to Taipei during this holiday, I’m curious generally what’s open. My girlfriend and I will be content with just wandering the city, but will there be restaurants still open? Any shops? Any tourist attractions?
Thanks.[/quote]
A whole lotta places will be closed for New Years eve and the first 4 days of the new year. On the fifth day business is supposed to start again. That means going to hotels to eat unless its macdonalds and the like. Taipei is kinda uninhabited during this period as so many do down south.
Most stores close half a day, one or two days tops. Restaurants remain open and only maybe -and I emphasize maybe- family run small xiaochi will close.
I used to stock up as if for war. No more. In 10 years, this place has gone from our Latin American equivalent of Easter week -no radio, TV, restaurants, buses, banks, public services, etc.- to fairly common holiday traffic and hustle.
Most people travel the first day, so wait until people come back to travel. Notice the flow, and go the other way. Example: first days, there is an stampede southward, so head north.
If by tourist attractions you mean museums, they only close on Chinese New Year, one day. Parks, and beaches, and other amenities remain open -though nightmarkets might be emptier than usual. Are you looking for something in particular?
However, this year, since “the economy is bad”, you may find crowds still…
What Icon said. The small mom-and-pop stores and restaurants close for a week or so, and some now for less. The big grocery stores tend to stay open but with limited hours for a day or two. Big tourist venues like the National Palace Museum, Democracy Hall (Chiang Kaishek Memorial) etc. remain open AFAIK. The NPM only closes for the strongest typhoons AFAIK. As for other restaurants, maybe we can post the info here as we get it. I’ll PM a few of the managers to see if they’ll post that in their own restaurant threads as well as here.
NPM: [quote]The [NPM] Museum is open every day of the year, and the hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Extended evening hours: Every Saturday, 5:00 to 8:30 PM (during extended evening hours, free admission). [/quote]
Icon and Dragonbones, Thanks so much for the info, as it is relevant to me. I will be visiting Taipei on the 3rd of the Lunar new year.
I also hope you guys can help me answer to some of my questions here:
Can t-shirt and pants be worn to Wulai public hotspring instead of swimsuit?
Is WenShan hotspring closed? If yes, will it reopen?
Is the Underground Shopping Mall from Ximending district to ChungShan MRT open on the 3rd of Lunar New Year?
Will most of the shop in Ximending be open on 3rd of Lunar New Year?
Depends on the place itself. There are some that allow swiming trunks in public pools -don’t know about T-shirt though-, others that don’t. I usually go to Peitou and I’ve been to both kind. Maybe someone else can reccommend a nice one with barbecue or Aboriginal dishes… :hungry:
Probably -but there are others around. Remember someone did end up under a heavy stone in that one… And Taroko on New Year is a definite no-no.
In high probability. I’ve been there past New Year’s and maybe the food stores will be closed but the Taipei Underground Malls stay open. :discodance:
In this economy, yes. Especially since we have “9” days off -yeah, right. :loco:
[quote=“Icon”]… And Taroko on New Year is a definite no-no. [/quote] Curious about this note. Somebody else has suggested it’d be a good time to visit Taroko since most people tend to head south instead of east (I figured it’s a huge tourist spot during vacation time & would be a mess). Really crowded or to be avoided for other reasons?
BTW, I was told quite specifically that Amy’s “La Casita” Mexican restaurant will be open during CNY. “We’re like a 7-11” she said & noted that lots of foreigners tend to show up that week. Good food too - much better than expected
Correct me if I am wrong, but that hot spring is just up from Tienhsiang on the right hand side of the road, down by the river, right? Last time I was there, all the pools had been filled in with concrete, and there was a gate at the tunnel ,so you can’t even get to the bridge. Looks like it is permanently closed. And yes, a few rocks do still fall now and then. Last I checked, anyway…
(The latest Lonely Planet suggests there is hope they might pipe the water to a safer spot)
I had been reading quite a few forums about Wenshan Hot spring, some says its open and some says it not. Im very confuse. I had sent an email to the “Welcome to Taiwan” govt web, but no reply at all. =( A minute ago, i just resend… hopefully they will reply.
[quote=“sjhuz01”][quote=“Icon”]… And Taroko on New Year is a definite no-no. [/quote] Curious about this note. Somebody else has suggested it’d be a good time to visit Taroko since most people tend to head south instead of east (I figured it’s a huge tourist spot during vacation time & would be a mess). Really crowded or to be avoided for other reasons?
BTW, I was told quite specifically that Amy’s “La Casita” Mexican restaurant will be open during CNY. “We’re like a 7-11” she said & noted that lots of foreigners tend to show up that week. Good food too - much better than expected [/quote]
It is all about timing. Most people will travel south to be with their families, but after the “visitors day” or third day, they will travel around. Full house in Taroko then.
Some others are small families, modern families, etc. who prefer a real vacation.
Still, it is a very popular destination, and unless other factors come into play, it will also be booked solid.
Both, Mexico Sabroso in Chung-Li and el Gallo in Tienmou Taipei will close for Chinese New Year vacation during January 25th to January 28th. We will re-open on January 29th.
Happy Holidays everybody just wanna hope everybody had great and safe holidays. I just wanna let everybody know that Eddy’s Cantina will be closed for Chinese New Year from January 24 - January 30. Sorry for the inconvienience but we will go back to my wifes hometown for a break and a recharge and we will be revamping the menu with new items when we come back. Fish Tacos, more salsas like Chipotle Salsa etc, soups and more. Thanx for the support during this very important first 6 months of operation and we hope to see you soon. Happy New year everybody from all of us here at Eddy’s Cantina in Danshui.
Correct me if I am wrong, but that hot spring is just up from Tienhsiang on the right hand side of the road, down by the river, right? Last time I was there, all the pools had been filled in with concrete, and there was a gate at the tunnel ,so you can’t even get to the bridge. Looks like it is permanently closed. And yes, a few rocks do still fall now and then. Last I checked, anyway…
(The latest Lonely Planet suggests there is hope they might pipe the water to a safer spot)[/quote]
WenShan is officially closed, but if you were to hop the gate as I did last summer, you’d find that the trail is somewhat dodgy now, but there is still one lovely useable outdoor hot spring pool. At the time I went, there were four other people there - all older locals.
Good news, you won’t have to pay “New Year forced tip”:
[quote]Taxi fare hikes
There will be no hike in taxi fares in the Greater Taipei area (Taipei City, Taipei County and Keelung City) during the Chinese New Year, as taxi drivers are trying to retain customers during the current business downturn.
But taxis in other major cities will have temporary fare markups during the holidays.
[/quote]
As to shopping, no trouble at all -though I noticed SOGO will close earlier a couple of days, but teh food court and supermarket won’t:
[quote]24-hour shopping
Wholesale stores will be open 24 hours until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 25 – New Year’s Eve on the lunar calendar.
Leading retailers like Carrefour, RT-Mart and Geant chain stores are all offering special discounts and incentives for more customers to use their government-issued shopping vouchers.
They expect revenues for the holiday season to surge at least 20 to 30 percent this year.
Flower markets
Taipei City’s major flower market on Ruiguang Road in Neihu District began 24-hour service yesterday and will be open round-the-clock until 1:00 p.m. Sunday.
Close to 300 vendors will jointly offer free flowers, posters, and booklets on horticulture to 50 lucky customers every hour – or 1,200 customers per day.
Several other major flower markets in the Greater Taipei area are extending their opening hours and holding similar special New Year’s sales.
Sorry for the off-topic post, and no criticism of any kind: I’m just wondering why I so frequently see people writing “Sogo” in all-caps. It’s not an abbreviation for anything; it’s just a company name, as in Sony.
Our Half Price-Happy Hour, now extends to all beer and wine, EVERYDAY, 12-6PM. 