Pingxi and the Sky Lanterns

The Pingxi valley was coal country, and the little branch railway built to carry the coal now carries visitors instead, trundling between green hills and stopping at small towns whose main streets run alongside the track. Its tradition is the sky lantern: paper balloons lifted by a burning wick, once used to signal to villagers that it was safe to come back down from the hills, now written on with wishes in thick brush strokes and released to rise over the valley. At Shifen, the most popular stop, people release them from the railway line itself, stepping off when a train comes. The tradition peaks at the Lantern Festival, fifteen days after lunar new year, when thousands go up together in a mass release that is one of the great sights in Taiwan. Nearby, Shifen waterfall is a broad curtain often called Taiwan's Niagara.

What you actually see

• Releasing a lantern - writing wishes and letting one go over the valley.
• Shifen old street - the town whose main street runs along the railway track.
• The Lantern Festival - the mass release fifteen days after lunar new year.
• Shifen waterfall - the broad curtain of water a short walk from the town.

When to go

Lanterns are released year-round, so any day works; the Lantern Festival release is spectacular but requires ticketed entry and enormous crowds, with transport queues for hours. Weekdays are much calmer at Shifen. Dusk is the prettiest time for a release.

Honest expectations

The lanterns come down somewhere, and litter in the surrounding hills is a real and much-debated problem; some operators now use biodegradable paper and pay collectors to retrieve frames, which is worth asking about before buying. Shifen at weekends is extremely crowded, with queues to stand on the track. The mass festival release means hours of queueing for trains and buses.

Nearby

Jiufen's hillside lanes are nearby; Houtong's cat village is on the same rail line.