Lunar New Year (春節, the Spring Festival) is Taiwan's biggest holiday. In 2027, Lunar New Year's Day falls on Saturday, February 6, and the official holiday runs for seven days, from Thursday, February 4 to Wednesday, February 10. Families travel home, the city gets quieter, and many shops and restaurants close or keep shorter hours. It can be a calm, interesting time to see Taipei, as long as you plan around the closures and book trains and hotels early.
2027 dates at a glance
- Official holiday Thursday, February 4 to Wednesday, February 10 (seven days)
- Lunar New Year's Eve Friday, February 5: the family reunion dinner, and the day most sights close
- Lunar New Year's Day Saturday, February 6
- Make-up holidays Tuesday, February 9 and Wednesday, February 10, because the first two days of the new year fall on a weekend
- Lantern Festival Saturday, February 20, the 15th day of the first lunar month, which closes the New Year season
How Taiwan celebrates
On Lunar New Year's Eve, families gather for a big reunion dinner. Homes are cleaned and decorated with lucky characters on the doors and windows, and families prepare rice cakes (年糕, niangao), whose name in Chinese sounds like "rising high in the year." Firecrackers go off after midnight to welcome the new year. For a visitor, the most visible signs are the red decorations everywhere, the New Year market before the holiday, and busy temples.
At Longshan Temple, the first lunar month brings a lantern display, around Lunar New Year and the Lantern Festival. → Taipei's temples
Before the holiday: the Dihua Street New Year market
In the weeks before the holiday, Dihua Street (迪化街) becomes the city's big New Year market (年貨大街), packed with stalls selling New Year snacks, gifts and festival food. In 2026 it ran from January 31 to February 15, from 08:00 to midnight, mainly along Section 1 between Nanjing West Road and Guisui Street, as a pedestrian street. The city sets the dates each year, and the 2027 dates had not been announced when I checked. In 2026 it opened about two and a half weeks before New Year's Day.
MRT: Beimen (Green Line, G13) for the south end, Daqiaotou (Orange Line, O12) for the north end. → Dadaocheng and Dihua Street
What's open and what's closed
Many shops and restaurants close or keep shorter hours over the holiday, so check each place on Google Maps the day before. Convenience stores are the fallback: they are on almost every block, most are open 24 hours, and they sell food and drinks, have ATMs and top up your EasyCard.
Many sights close on New Year's Eve, and some on New Year's Day too. In 2027 those are Friday, February 5 and Saturday, February 6. From each place's own rules:
| Place | Closed |
|---|---|
| Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (main hall) | New Year's Eve and Day |
| National Taiwan Museum and its Railway Department Park | New Year's Eve and Day |
| Taipei Zoo | New Year's Eve |
| Taipei Children's Amusement Park | New Year's Eve |
| Yangmingshan visitor centers | New Year's Eve |
| Lin Family Mansion and Garden, Banqiao | New Year's Eve and Day |
| Yingge Ceramics Museum, Yingge | New Year's Eve and Day |
| Fort San Domingo and Shihsanhang Museum, Tamsui and Bali | New Year's Eve and Day |
| Pinglin Tea Museum, Pinglin | New Year's Eve and Day |
The Maokong Gondola has stopped for New Year's Eve in past years, so check Taipei Metro's holiday notice before you go. The National Palace Museum is open on Monday, February 8, one of its listed Monday openings for 2027; for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, check its website. The easy rule: plan indoor sights for February 4, then from February 7 on, and keep New Year's Eve for a walk, a temple and dinner.
Getting around over the holiday
- The MRT runs every day. Over the 2026 holiday all lines ran on holiday intervals for the whole break, every 2.5 to 9.5 minutes on the main lines and about every 12 minutes late at night, with service adjusted for the crowds at Taipei Zoo, Longshan Temple and Tamsui stations. → The Taipei MRT
- Taxis add a holiday surcharge. In 2026 it was NT$30 a trip from February 11 to 22, set by the driver on the meter. → Taxis and Uber
- Book the high speed rail early. Families travel home across Taiwan, and holiday trains fill up. Taiwan High Speed Rail opens holiday bookings in one batch: for the 2027 holiday (its travel period runs from February 2 to 11), sales open on Tuesday, January 5, 2027.
- The Airport MRT added an early direct train from Taipei Main Station (A1) at 05:00 over the 2026 holiday. → Getting to Taipei from the airport
Ideas for a New Year trip
- Stay for the Lantern Festival. On February 20, 2027, the National Palace Museum's Exhibition Hall I is free for everyone. Taipei also holds its own lantern show (in 2026 it ran from February 25 to March 15 at Ximending and Taipei Expo Park; 2027 dates not yet announced), and Pingxi releases sky lanterns. → Pingxi and Shifen day trip
- Book hotels early, and check each hotel's holiday rates. → Where to stay in Taipei
- Carry some cash. Most market stalls and small shops take cash only. → Money and other basics
The rest of the year, from the dragon boat races to the New Year's Eve fireworks at Taipei 101, is in my calendar of Taipei festivals and events, and the weather month by month is on the best time to visit Taipei.
Sources
2027 holiday dates and make-up days: the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration calendar, as reported by ETtoday (May 21, 2026) and 104. Lunar dates: Hong Kong Observatory, 2027 calendar. Customs: Taiwan Tourism Administration, traditional festivals. Dihua Street market 2026: Business Today (January 30, 2026). MRT, Airport MRT and holiday transport 2026: NOWnews (February 14, 2026). Gondola on New Year's Eve: Taipei venue hours for the 2022 holiday. High speed rail booking 2027: Taiwan High Speed Rail, holiday travel periods and booking dates. Palace Museum Monday openings 2027: National Palace Museum, hours. Closures and the taxi surcharge come from the official sources listed on each of my linked pages. Checked November 5, 2026.