With this year’s Lunar New Year holiday being nine days — from Jan. 25 to Feb. 2 — Taipei and New Taipei City’s travel departments have recommended a number of tourist attractions to visit during the holiday, from museums and special exhibitions to scenic sites and hot springs.
The Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said last year’s five most popular sites, attracting millions of foreign and local visitors, were Taipei’s Ximending’s (西門町) shopping area, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Yangmingshan National Park and the historic Red House Theater.
The department recommends visiting Songshan Cultural and Creative Park during the holiday as it is holding a “Year of the Snake” exhibition from Jan. 10 through March 2.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City’s Tourism and Travel Department
The exhibition showcases Spring Festival decorations and merchandise, and people who collect all 16 stamps at decorated fire hydrants throughout the park can receive a small gift free of charge.
A Lunar New Year holiday campaign would be held at the National Taiwan Science Education Center from Wednesday to Sunday, featuring more than a dozen hands-on events and science talks, as well as quizzes for all visitors to participate in to win small snake-themed gifts.
The department also recommends visiting the Travel to Mars special exhibition at the Taipei Astronomical Museum, which runs until Feb. 9, and the Taipei Children’s Amusement Park, where a special campaign is held from Wednesday through Sunday offering free entry to visitors born in Years of the Snake as well as a scratch lottery ticket for each purchased ticket.
Longshan Temple (龍山寺) in Wanhua District (萬華), a historic landmark built in 1738, would celebrate the Yuan Xiao Festival (元宵節) tomorrow, during which the temple would be decorated with festive lanterns to symbolize good fortune. Visitors can participate in a do-it-yourself activity by making omamori (a type of Japanese amulet) at the historic Xinbeitou Train Station on Saturday and Sunday, or visit the hot springs in the area.
This year’s Taipei Lantern Festival, themed “Lucky Snake Comes,” would begin on Sunday in the city’s west — with four main display zones, including the main lantern near the historic Zhongshan Hall, Beimen (北門) near the historic North Gate, Zhonghua Road (中華路) and Ximen (西門).
The festival’s six City Light Corridors near Zhonghua Road were lit up on Friday, while the main lantern display zone — featuring colorful clouds surrounding a snake symbolizing prosperity and joy — would be lit up from Sunday through Feb. 16.
This year’s Yangmingshan Flower Festival, which features art installations of Disney princesses in collaboration with Disney, began on Friday last week, the same day as the Night Cherry Blossom Festival at LOHAS Park in Neihu District (內湖), which offers visitors a romantic experience.
The New Taipei City Tourism and Travel Department recommended two “secret spots” to view cherry blossoms, including on a road to Hunglodei Fude Temple (烘爐地福德宮) in Jhonghe District (中和) featuring rows of native cherry trees, Prunus campanulata, along it, and Erge cherry hiking trail (二格櫻花步道) in Shiding District (石碇).
Wuji Tianyuan Temple (無極天元宮) in Tamsui (淡水), a well-known cherry blossom viewing spot, launched its Sakura Blossom Festival on Wednesday, offering guided tours and do-it-yourself craft sessions from Saturday through Sunday. Shuttle buses to and from the temple from the Tamsui MRT station are available from Wednesday through Sunday.
As cold weather is expected to prevail until Lunar New Year’s Day, with lows dipping to 8°C in northern Taiwan, New Taipei City’s travel department has also recommended a few hot spring areas in the city, including Wulai District (烏來), Jinshan District (金山), Wanli District (萬里) and Gongliao District (貢寮).
The hot springs of Wulai are known as “beauty springs” because they are sodium bicarbonate springs, which are believed to be beneficial to the skin. Visitors can also take the waterfall cable car to see the mountain scenery and cherry blossoms, visit Neidong National Forest Recreation Area or try local indigenous food at Wulai Old Street (烏來老街).
Jinshan and Wanli districts are near the sea and surrounded by mountains, and as their hot springs are part of the Datun Mountain geothermal belt, there are four types of springs there, including ocean sand hot springs, sulfur springs, carbonated springs and iron hot springs.
The only rare chloride bicarbonate spring in Taiwan is in Gongliao, and visitors to the area can also travel on Route 2 Taiwan, a tourism route that connects scenic spots along the New Taipei City coastline from Bali (八里) to Sandiaojiao (三貂角) in Gongliao, the department said.
Separately, the Health Promotion Administration said that people planning to soak in a hot bath or hot spring should avoid doing so within two hours after eating or drinking alcohol, adding that they should gradually soak themselves in water no hotter than 40°C and stay for no longer than 15 minutes at a time.
To reduce health risks, people with conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or other chronic diseases should avoid going to a hot spring alone, the department said.
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