Guides · Thu 29 Oct 2026
Taiwan's hot spring season: Beitou, Jiaoxi and the winter bathing map
Taiwan's bathing season runs under one national banner from September to June, but the water is at its best from late November, when Jiaoxi lights up for winter and the southern season opens at Sichongxi. The three springs that anchor a winter trip, the seasons layered over them, and how to plan around dates that are confirmed and dates that are still expected.
The short answer: Taiwan's hot spring season runs under the Tourism Administration's Taiwan Hot Spring and Fine Cuisine Carnival, whose 2026/27 edition covers 19 spring areas from Friday 4 September 2026 to Wednesday 30 June 2027. The season is long, but the bathing is best once the air turns, from late November to February. Three springs anchor a winter trip. Beitou is the city spring, an MRT ride from central Taipei. Jiaoxi is the festival spring, with a county season confirmed to the end of February and its lantern festival expected from late November. Sichongxi, down in Pingtung, is the southern season, expected to open on Saturday 21 November. Everything else on the island strings between those three.
One island, four spring belts
The carnival's 19 areas fall into rough belts. In the north, Beitou and Yangmingshan sit above Taipei, and the Yilan springs lie about an hour east. The centre and south hold Guanziling in Tainan, known for its mud springs, and Sichongxi in Pingtung. The east, along the Rift Valley and the Taitung coast, has Ruisui and Antong in Hualien and Zhiben outside Taitung City. Each belt layers its own season over the national one, so the calendar reads as a rolling programme rather than a single launch: Hualien's festival closes in mid November just as the Yilan and southern seasons are getting going, and the national carnival banner runs underneath all of it into next June.
Beitou: the spring you reach by metro
Beitou is the easiest hot spring in Taiwan to fold into a city trip. The Beitou hot spring valley sits at the north edge of Taipei, at the end of the Xinbeitou branch line, a station built for the springs in the first place. The steaming Thermal Valley is the sight, the Japanese era Hot Spring Museum is free, and the bathing runs from public outdoor pools to hotel spas and private rooms. The public pools take a small entry fee and require swimwear and a swimming cap; the water runs at 38 to 42 degrees, children must be accompanied, and each facility sets its own rules, so check before taking small children in. For families, a private family bath room is the workable option. Pair the soak with the Yangmingshan day trip above the valley and you have the classic north Taipei winter day: mountain air first, hot water second.
Jiaoxi: lanterns over the bath town
Jiaoxi, Yilan's hot spring town, runs the fullest winter programme of any spring in Taiwan. The county's Winter Love Lanyang Hot Spring Season is confirmed on the official Taiwan Hot Spring site from Thursday 15 October 2026 to Sunday 28 February 2027, across the Jiaoxi and Su'ao spring areas. The opening parade and street carnival falls on Sunday 6 December, a hot spring food market runs with multicultural concerts on Friday 11 to Sunday 13 and Saturday 19 to Sunday 20 December, and a Lanyang night lights programme runs from mid November into late February. Bathing is paid at each venue; the street events are free.
On top of that sits the Jiaoxi Hot Spring Lantern Festival, and here honesty matters: the township has not yet published its 2026/27 dates. Last year's edition ran from 28 November 2025 to 4 March 2026, with lanterns in four zones around Tangweigou Hot Spring Park lit nightly from 18:00 to 23:00, and our calendar carries the new edition as expected on that same span, Saturday 28 November 2026 to Thursday 4 March 2027. Treat those dates as a strong pattern rather than a promise, and check the event page before building a trip around the lights alone. The soak, at least, needs no announcement: Jiaoxi's baths are open all winter regardless. Runners get their own version of the town on Saturday 12 December, when the Jiaoxi Hot Spring Marathon starts at Jiaoxi Elementary School and finishes, by design, within reach of a bath.
Sichongxi: the southern season
Sichongxi, in Checheng Township at the top of the Hengchun Peninsula, is one of Taiwan's four historic great springs, and its winter season is the south's answer to Jiaoxi. The position at the time of writing: Pingtung County has confirmed the Sichongxi season returns this autumn and winter, but the 2026/27 dates had not been published when we checked. The previous season ran from 21 November 2025 to 1 March 2026, and our Sichongxi Hot Spring Season record carries those dates forward as expected, Saturday 21 November 2026 to Monday 1 March 2027. The park's public foot baths and the season illuminations are free; bathing at the inns and hotels is paid. The trip south is a two stage one: the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Zuoying, then the road down the peninsula, which puts Sichongxi within reach of a Kenting trip rather than competing with one.
The east coast springs
The Rift Valley's season comes first and finishes first. Hualien County's Pacific Hot Spring Festival runs across the Ruisui and Antong spring areas from Saturday 17 October to Sunday 15 November 2026, with themed lantern displays, a lantern night walk in Ruisui on 31 October, a Two Springs cycling event on 7 November and free shuttle buses linking the two areas. If you are reading this at publication, it is the one season on this page about to close. Further south, Zhiben's springs outside Taitung City work year round; the valley's moment is Sunday 1 November, when the Zhiben Hot Spring Charity Marathon runs through the canyon and the runners soak afterwards.
Planning a bathing trip
Three practical points cover most of the island. First, the split of costs is consistent: festival programming, lantern zones, foot baths and street events are free, and the bathing itself is paid at the door, from a small fee at public pools to hotel spa prices. Second, the etiquette is consistent too: wash before entering shared water, and in outdoor public pools wear swimwear and a cap where the facility asks for them. Third, timing: winter weekends in Jiaoxi and Beitou fill up, so a weekday evening is the calm version of the same soak. For stays, the spring towns are the base, not the nearest big city; our hotels pages cover the main ones. Pick your belt, then let the local season set the dates.
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