I’m trying to get from Hsinchu to Kenting for the Spring Scream, but I don’t have a car or scooter, and don’t know what the public transportation scene is like. Does anyone know what buses to take or which ones have been good for them. Also, this is my first holiday in Taiwan, will the roads be too crazy packed to even make it worthwhile? I can’t leave until Friday morning. Any help would be much appreciated.
[Edit:] To the OP: Please ignore/forget everything I wrote in this post and read the posts below it.
It’s been a long time since I took any buses from the Xinzhu/Miaoli County area, and when I did, I was usually either going to or from the Taipei area, so I don’t have adequate information about the buses. But I imagine there are buses going from Xinzhu to Kending, or thereabouts. I don’t know what traffic conditions will be like; I’ve never been to Spring Scream. Hopefully someone else on the board will answer your questions about buses and traffic.
It looks as if there are trains running from Xinzhu to Kending. Taiwan Railways Administration has a webpage for schedules. The page is here. For some reason, I can’t figure out how to get the page to give me any departure or arrival times. But anyway, the page does have menus that indicate that you can go from Xinzhu to Kending (the menu spells it “Kanding”; for all I know, maybe their spelling is right and mine is wrong). You can just put “Hsinchu” and “Hsinchu” in the top two menus, and “Ping-tung” and “Kanding” in the bottom two.
Taiwan Railways Administration’s main website is located here. The site has the phone numbers of the various stations, so maybe you can call the train station in Xinzhu and find out more.
Anyway, hope this helps.
I suggest that you can take train from Hsinchu to Kaohsiung(about 3hr-4hr),
new.twtraffic.com.tw/TWRail_en/index.aspx
and then transfer a bus to Kending(3hr).
Buses come every 15 minute, and when you walk out Kaohsiung railway station, you will see the bus station
in your left front.
That’s the way I usually take. However, spring scream will be crowded, and a traffic jam will happen definitely.
Kanding (崁頂) and Kending (墾丁) are two different places. You can’t take a train all the way to Kending.
The way I’ve gone to Kending in the past was to take a bus/train to Gaoxiong and then hire a taxi from Gaoxiong train station all the way down to Kending. With a couple of people, it’s just as cheap as a bus and even quicker.
I wonder if you can hire a taxi/take a bus from the high speed train station in Zuoying.
take a bus/train to kaohsiung, and then a bus to kenting. it’s been years since i’ve been, but everything was really easy to find, even back then.
kanting is a different place.
Thanks very much for the correction. I’m very sorry about the mistake 
, and I certainly hope the OP reads/has read your corrections.
all roads lead to kaohsiung…from whence minibuses run every 20 mins to kending…its best to do it overnight with a six pack so you arrive amidst the madness of kending with zero sleep and a hangover…thus adequately prepared for 3 more days of zero sleep and hangovers…brilliant!
HSR Train Bus Bicycle Walk Roll yourself to Kaohsiung and then bus it to Kending…