April is one of my favorite months of the year in Taiwan. Spring in Taiwan has finally arrived! This means warm weather but not yet overbearingly hot, while in the south of Taiwan, it can already feel like summer. It’s the perfect time for hiking, and ideal weather if you’re visiting Taiwan with kids.
The month usually opens with a 4-day long weekend (in 2023 it will be a 5-day long weekend!), which is a very busy (and sometimes challenging) time to visit. There are several big music festivals happening around Taiwan during the April long weekend and other weekends in April – I’ll cover them all below.
You can catch the tail end of Taiwan’s cherry blossom season if you go to Alishan in April, but it’s incredibly busy and the rooms sell out fast. Besides cherry blossoms, you can also see beautiful calla lilies near Taipei (cover image). Another highlight of the month is the Matsu Pilgrimage, one of the largest pilgrimages in the world.
Read on to find things to do in Taiwan in April! Also see these common FAQs about visiting Taiwan.
Taipei in April: Best Things to Do
April is Taipei is in my opinion one of the best months of the year for hiking, with warm weather and lower chance of rain. Read my guide to visiting Taipei, my favorite hikes in Taipei here and other suggestions for things to do in Taipei.
April is also a great time for explorations on foot in Taipei, such as historical Di Hua Street and funky Ximending. On a clear day, head up to Taipei 101 Observatory for a bird’s eye view of the city or climb adjacent Elephant Mountain for the postcard views.
It’s also a pleasant time to visit Taipei Zoo or ride the Maokong Gondola next to it.
In April the cherry blossoms are done blooming in Taipei, but it’s a great month to witness another natural spectacle: fields of calla lilies growing in Zhuzihu area of Yangmingshan National Park. The official calla lilly blooming period runs from March 17 to April 23. At this time, you can often see people carrying the flowers in Taipei, after coming back from Yangmingshan.
April 1-5, 2023 will a 5-day long weekend in Taiwan. This could have a big impact on your travel plans. Basically everywhere will be very busy. April 1 and 2 are Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday the 4th is Children’s Day and Wednesday the 5th is Tomb Sweeping Day.
The government also gives people the Monday off to make it a long weekend, but makes everyone work/go to school on Saturday, March 25 to “make up for it”.
Because part of the holiday is Children’s Day, you can expect any family-friendly places in Taipei to be packed, for example Taipei Zoo, Taipei Children’s Amusement Park, and more.
Night Markets and restaurants in Taipei will also be busy. Same thing for trains out of the city and popular day trips from Taipei like Jiufen Old Street and Shifen Waterfall.
Tomb Sweeping Day is when locals head to graveyards (mostly outside of the city) to pay their respects. But in practice they tend to do this anytime during the long weekend, or even on prior weekends. There are no special activities for visitors related to this festival.
Every year, Taiwan’s Southeast Asian community, especially Burmese, celebrate Songkran (the SE Asian New Year) with water fights on Burma Street in New Taipei City. Songkran is on April 13 every year, but the exact date of the Taipei event may vary by year. The 2023 was on Saturday, April 15. On the same day in 2023, there will also be an organized Songkran event at Maji Square (Yuanshan MRT) in Taipei.
April 20, 2023, marks the end of Ramadan. An Eid al-Fitr celebration will be held on Sunday, April 23 in Da’an Park. Taipei’s largest mosque, the Taipei Grand Mosque (see my article on the top temples and religious structures in Taipei) is right next to Da’An Park. You can expect cultural displays, markets, and more, catering to the thousands of Southeast Asian Muslims who live and work in Taipei.
On April 23, Bao’an Temple in Taipei will have an opening ceremony for a series of traditional temple events related to the birthday of the Baosheng Emperor over the following month. The opening ceremony should involve firecrackers, traditional street performances and goes from 7 pm to 9:30 PM.
Urban Nomad Film Festival, the best indie film festival in Taiwan usually takes place from April to May. The festival usually kickstarts with a 3-day music festival at a great outdoor venue on Tiger Mountain. The 2023 dates aren’t announced yet, so I’m not sure if there will be an event this year, but you can check their website of Facebook page for updates.
Another fun April event in Taipei is the Treasure Hill Light Festival. Treasure Hill is an old military dependents village in Gongguan area of Taipei which has been converted into an arts village. During the light festival, there are all kinds of light-related displays and activities on weekends. Come in the evening for the best light displays. It will be running throughout April (official 2023 dates March 25 to May 14).
Ultra Taiwan, a large electronic music festival with big-name international DJs, will take place in Dajia Riverside Park in Taipei on April 16, 2023.
Easter is not celebrated in any visible way in Taipei.
In 2023, Bitan area around Xindian MRT in New Taipei City started a new water dance show that will run though the whole month.
See more ideas on how to plan your time in Taipei in my recommended Taipei itinerary and see here to find out where to stay in Taipei.
Taiwan in April: Best Places to Visit
April is a great time for exploring cities like Tainan or Kaohsiung, hiking anywhere on the island, or visiting outdoor attractions across Taiwan, such as the many family friendly places to visit in Yilan and Taroko Gorge in Hualien.
The April long weekend (April 1-5, 2023) means that popular destinations such as Sun Moon Lake, Taroko Gorge, and especially Alishan will be incredible busy. Hotels in these destinations, as well as trains across the island, could be sold out weeks in advance.
The April long weekend still sometimes referred to as “Spring Scream” in Kenting National Park. The original Spring Scream music festival was an alternative/rock-oriented music & arts festival that ran from 1995 to 2019 and was usually held on the grassland at Eluanbi Lighthouse on the southernmost tip of Taiwan.
Although the festival’s popularity dwindled in its final years, and there is no longer a Spring Scream festival, it helped to make Kenting the “go-to” place for the April long weekend in Taiwan.
Many other parties and festivals also sprung up on this weekend in Kenting, and they are sometimes collectively referred to as Spring Scream, even though Spring Scream music festival no longer exists. Basically, April long weekend is considered a weekend to party or hit the beach in Kenting. Book your hotel in Kenting early!
In 2021, the local Pingtung county government started a new indie music festival called Taiwan Music Festival. This totally free event usually takes place on the main beach in Kenting (墾丁大灣). The 2023 Taiwan Music Festival will be from April 1 to 3.
Spring Wave is one of the newer music festivals that started in Kenting (Henchun area) on the same weekend as Spring Scream, but this year it will be later. It is a pop and electronic music festival. Now it is held in a different place in Taiwan every year. It will be held in Taichung in 2023 on April 22 to 23. Click the above link to buy tickets.
Another big music festival during the April long weekend is Megaport Music Festival, which spans a variety of music genres. In 2023, Megaport Music Festival will be held at Pier 2 in Kaohsiung on April 1 and 2.
Yet another one will be East Wave Festival happening at Shanyuan Beach in Taitung from April 1 to 4 in 2023.
Last but not least, there will be a small, underground psy-trance music festival called Miracle Festival from April 14 to 16, 2023 in Miaoli, and another small, underground electronic music festival called Organik on April 21 to 23.
April is the tail end of the cherry blossom season; you can still see them in the high mountains, especially at Alishan in Chiayi county. But with limited hotels at the popular tourist resort, you’ll need to book a room at Alishan well in advance to be there for the cherry blossoms (note: some hotels only release their rooms 2-3 months in advance). If you can’t get a hotel room there, you can consider going from Chiayi to Alishan as a day trip.
Besides cherry blossoms, April also marks the start of the Tung Blossom season in Taiwan. Described as “April (or May) snow”, locals love to stand under trees as the wind blows the white pedals to the ground. Tung Blossoms are associated with Hakka culture, and the best places to see them are various locations in in Taoyuan and Miaoli county.
April is the first month that I would personally consider visiting the offshore Taiwan islands such as Green Island, Penghu Island, or Orchid Island. Before then, the islands are cold and windy, with reduced services. May and June are best for perfect weather before it gets super hot and crowded in summer, but late April would likely be fine as well. Xiaoliuqiu and Cijin Island are fine to visit any month of the year.
The Penghu International Fireworks Festival begins on April 20 in 2023, with fireworks every Monday and thursday until June 29.
The Pilgrimage for Matsu, the goddess of fisherman and the sea in Taiwan, takes place annually around her birthday on the Lunar Calendar. This year the pilgrimage will be from April 21 to 30, 2023. The pilgrimage starts and ends at Zhenlan Temple in Dajia, Taichung, and it visits multiple temples and towns in Central Taiwan. Millions of people participate every year.
Taipei Weather in April
Visit Taipei in April and you’ll find that the damp, chilly winter weather is finally over and spring has arrived. The average high temperature for April in Taipei is 26°C (79°F), while the average low is 19°C (66°F).
A little bit of rain is almost guaranteed in you visit Taipei in April (the same can be said for almost any month of the year in Taipei). April receives 180mm of rain, about the same as March, but much less than May to September. It rains during 15 days on average, but that doesn’t mean it will be raining all day for 15 days.
Just a little here or there, not like the heavy summer rains, and nothing that should affect your travel plans. If you do encounter rain, see my recommended Taipei indoor activities for rainy days.
Moreover, April’s light rain doesn’t chill you to the bone in the same way that it does in January through March.
What to wear in Taipei in April
People who are used to hot weather may still find it slightly cool in April in Taipei at night, so a sweater or light jacket may be useful. As always in Taipei, rain gear can come in handy, but is not as essential as winter, when rain is very cold, or summer, when it comes in massive downpours. You can always pick up a cheap umbrella or poncho from 7-11 in Taiwan, so it’s not necessary to bring one.
April is usually the month when I start wearing shorts and T-shirts pretty much every day in Taipei, but locals aren’t quite at that point yet.
Is a Taipei Unlimited Fun Pass necessary for traveling in Taipei? Find out in this article.
Taiwan Weather in April
Heading south from Taipei, the weather gets even warmer in April, with less chance of rain. See here for my suggestions on how to plan your overall Taiwan travel itinerary.
In Tainan in April, the average high is 29°C (84°F), while the average low is a pleasant 21°C (70°F). As Tainan sits just below the tropic of cancer, it is more tropical and experiences less seasonal variation than Taipei and the north. Tainan only has about 80mm (or 7 days) of rain in April, compared to around double that in Taipei.
Remember that these are just averages, and it can be even hotter (or colder, of course). I’ve been to a music festival in Kenting, Pingtung county, at the southern tip of Taiwan, on the first long weekend in April, several times.
Usually on that weekend the weather is fantastic; hot enough for the beach, but not too hot yet. But one year in particular stands out; it was already ROASTING hot at the beginning of April, similar to summer weather in Taiwan. Crowds of concertgoers were hiding under the shade of trees instead of going up to the stages, and performers on the stage were visibly suffering.
The weather in April in Taiwan is perfect for hiking, and it’s also a great time to visit Taroko Gorge.
Sun Moon Lake in Nantou, which sits at 748 meters, is usually warm but not quite hot yet in April. Alishan in Chiayi should be around a mild 10-15°C in the daytime, but it will still be very cold if you wake up early for sunset.
What to wear in Taiwan in April
If you’re sticking to lowland areas and major cities, then you’ll probably want to pack a mix of summer clothing and a few long sleeve shirts or a light jacket for evenings. And don’t leave your bathing suit at home; even beaches in the cooler north can be approaching beach weather in April, although the water may still be a little cold.
As always in Taiwan, it’s a good idea to prepare for rain, but it’s easy to find what you need there if you don’t want to pack it. And for Alishan or the high mountains, you’ll still need to dress warm, especially if you plan to wake up for sunrise.
Conclusion: Is April a good time to visit Taiwan?
Yes, it is! With warm weather and relatively little rain, April is a great time for just about everything in Taiwan.
A diverse range of options for an April trip to Taiwan can include partying on the beach in the Kenting, taking in the cherry blossoms in the high mountains, or participating in the Matsu pilgrimage, one of the greatest folk celebrations of the year in Taiwan.
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