Best time to visit Sun Moon Lake
Taiwan · East Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Sun Moon Lake
Tap a month for its page
- JanJSun Moon Lake in January: sweet spot
- FebFSun Moon Lake in February: sweet spot
- MarMSun Moon Lake in March: avoid
- AprASun Moon Lake in April: avoid
- MayMSun Moon Lake in May: avoid
- JunJSun Moon Lake in June: avoid
- JulJSun Moon Lake in July: avoid
- AugASun Moon Lake in August: avoid
- SepSSun Moon Lake in September: avoid
- OctOSun Moon Lake in October: ok, busy
- NovNSun Moon Lake in November: sweet spot, busy
- DecDSun Moon Lake in December: ok, busy
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
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Where to stay
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Things to do
Car hire
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Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Month by month
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19° | 11d | 81% | 9.0h | sweet spot | 19C max, 11 rainy days |
| Feb | 20° | 12d | 80% | 9.4h | sweet spot | 20C max, 12 rainy days |
| Mar | 22° | 18d | 81% | 9.9h | avoid | monsoon: 18 rainy days, 263mm |
| Apr | 24° | 22d | 83% | 9.9h | avoid | monsoon: 22 rainy days, 344mm |
| May | 26° | 24d | 85% | 9.5h | avoid | monsoon: 24 rainy days, 485mm |
| Jun | 26° | 24d | 86% | 9.2h | avoid | monsoon: 24 rainy days, 478mm |
| Jul | 27° | 22d | 87% | 10.0h | avoid | monsoon: 22 rainy days, 396mm |
| Aug | 26° | 22d | 88% | 9.2h | avoid | monsoon: 22 rainy days, 461mm |
| Sep | 26° | 15d | 87% | 10.0h | avoid | monsoon: 15 rainy days, 241mm |
| Oct | 25° | 12d | 85% | 9.9h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Nov | 23° | 8d | 83% | 9.5h | sweet spot busy | busier than usual |
| Dec | 20° | 9d | 82% | 8.9h | okbusy | busier than usual |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at Shuishe village, on the lake: ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Sun Moon Lake's December days now average 19.8°C, 2.7°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 12 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 16.5° | 17.7° | 19.9° | 22.0° | 23.5° | 24.6° | 25.4° | 24.9° | 24.3° | 23.4° | 20.7° | 17.1° |
| 2017–26 | 18.5° | 19.8° | 21.7° | 23.7° | 25.5° | 26.5° | 26.7° | 26.3° | 26.0° | 24.7° | 23.1° | 19.8° |
| Change | +2.0° | +2.1° | +1.9° | +1.7° | +2.0° | +1.8° | +1.4° | +1.4° | +1.7° | +1.3° | +2.4° | +2.7° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
Fly into Taichung (Qingshui) (RMQ), then drive. The flights under Where to book are to Taichung (Qingshui).
| Taichung (Qingshui) (RMQ) | the drive is not measured yet |
|---|---|
| Taoyuan (TPE) | the drive is not measured yet |
The drive from each airport is the road's, from openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT: typical, not a schedule.
How far Sun Moon Lake is depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Hong Kong
- from Manila
- from Busan
- from Hanoi
- from Seoul
- from Osaka
- from Ho Chi Minh City
- from Tokyo
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Sun Moon Lake, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and B plugs at 110 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the New taiwan dollar. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise normal security precautions. US State Department: Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. Everything for Taiwan: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Carry cash: many restaurants and most small shops take no cards, and some convenience stores refuse foreign cards. EasyCard also pays in convenience stores; local QR wallets mostly need residency.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not expected, and taxi drivers return exact change; full-service restaurants usually add a 10% service charge.
Getting around Sun Moon Lake
- Apps — Rides: 55688 Taiwan Taxi, Bolt, LINE GO, Uber. Maps: Google Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: LINE.
You can get around by bus, car, scooter, bike or boat. A loop road more or less circles around the lake, although you'll need to get off the road to view the lake. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Sun Moon Lake, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police 110 · ambulance and fire 119.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
- Hospitals near Sun Moon Lakea search on Google Maps
- Pharmacies near Sun Moon Lakea search on Google Maps
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 3 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (15)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/taiwan/getting-help
- english.metro.taipei/News_Content.aspx?n=034BD8E0AB821D47&s=19CEC09373C12170&sms=5B794C46F3CDE718
- english.metro.taipei/cp.aspx?n=BECC2E7AC426F659&s=74E62C405BBE3069
- taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/06/30/2003860007
- uber.com/global/en/cities/taipei
- bolt.eu/en/cities/taipei
- apps.apple.com/us/app/55688-taiwan-taxi/id579255069
- zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_GO
- taipeitourism.org/taipei-taxi-guide
- developers.google.com/maps/coverage
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Taiwan
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Taipei
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- nipl.com/uploads/NPCI_International_Press_Release_LIQUID_GROUP_TO_POWER_UPI_QR_ACCEPTANCE_IN_10_ASIAN_MARKETS_bcb05ffeee.pdf
Sun Moon Lake in pictures
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CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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LowensteinYang, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Sun Moon Lake is like
Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area (日月潭國家風景區; rìyuètán) is in Nantou County of Taiwan. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- Wenwu Temple (文武廟). The biggest temple on the northern bank of the lake. Ci-en Pagoda (Ci'entang / 慈恩塔). This Chinese style pagoda is a must and the best place to overview the lake. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Antique Assam tea farm (日月老茶廠) (north of the lake, on approach from Puli). Rent a bicycle and ride around the lake. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- No trains go directly to Sun Moon Lake; the closest major station is Taichung, from where you will need to take a bus or taxi. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Sun Moon Lake, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Sun Moon Lake
Also in Taiwan
- Hualien best Feb, Mar, Apr
- Kaohsiung best Feb, Mar, Apr
- Kinmen best Feb, Oct, Nov
- Taichung best Jan, Feb, Nov
- Tainan best Feb, Mar, Apr
- Taipei best Feb, Mar, Apr
Nearby
Kind of place
Sun Moon Lake is in Taiwan, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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