Okay so last month I totally messed up planning my trip to Hualien. Booked flights thinking Monday was a holiday, turns out nope – just a regular workday. Wasted cash changing tickets. After that disaster, I figured I better actually understand Taiwan’s holiday system properly.
The Starting Point: Calendar Confusion
First thing I did was dump like ten different calendar apps on my phone. Big mistake. Scrolled through each one showing this year’s holidays – and guess what? Every single app showed different dates for the same damn holidays! Some had Ching Ming Festival on Friday, some on Saturday… total mess. Got confused just staring at my screen.
Then I remembered the government probably has this figured out, right? Went straight to the source – the official announcements. Took me a good hour digging through those PDF files they love so much. Found the official list alright, but man, the legalese made my head spin.
The Rule Detective Work
Armed with the official dates, I started seeing patterns. Here’s the gist:
- Fixed Weekends = Easy Wins: If a holiday lands exactly on Saturday or Sunday? Boom, automatic long weekend. Didn’t need to do anything special there.
- The Annoying Midweek Ones: This is where it got interesting. Saw holidays landing on Tuesday or Thursday. Scratching my head, checked the rules. Ah-hah! If it hits Tuesday or Thursday, they usually make the Monday or Friday off work too! Creates a four-day break, nice.
- The “Make-Up Work” Headache: But wait, it’s never free. Found the catch. For every extra day off they give you, you gotta work some other Saturday to “make up” for it. Felt kinda ripped off trading a relaxing weekend day for a weekday off, but that’s the system.
Crunching the Numbers
Wanted to know the real deal for this year. Took my spreadsheet, punched in all the official dates, and applied those annoying rules:
- Total Public Holidays: Ended up with around 12-13 days marked on the calendar. Seems okay at first glance.
- Actual Days Off You Can Use: But this number is useless! The real magic is in how they combine. Applied the weekend/make-up rules… drumroll… we get like 7 or 8 long weekends this year! Way more than I thought possible just counting individual holidays.
- Key Gaps: Summer sucks. Noticed a massive dry spell after Dragon Boat Festival in June until Moon Festival way later. Better plan any big trips around that early summer holiday.
Why This Matters So Much
Here’s the kicker I realized later: Businesses, especially smaller shops, don’t always follow the gov’s “make-up day” orders. Government offices and schools will be closed, but you might show up ready for a long weekend only to find your favorite noodle shop open because they need the business. It’s chaotic! You absolutely cannot assume everyone plays by the exact same rulebook.
The Takeaway After All This
After wasting an entire Saturday on this mess? My simple tips:
- FORGET the standard holiday calendar apps. They lie.
- Bookmark OFFICIAL announcements when they come out each year (usually around June/July for next year). Only trust that PDF.
- Focus on the LONG WEEKENDS, not the individual days. That 3 or 4-day stretch is your precious travel time.
- Watch out for the “make-up work” Saturdays like a hawk. Mark those suckers clearly.
- Always call ahead! Expect weirdness about what’s actually open/closed during long weekends.
Took way more effort than I thought, but finally feel like I can plan a vacation here without another costly screw-up. Hope this saves someone else the headache I went through!
