The 5:15 AM Alarm You Won’t Regret
The phone goes off in the dark. Outside the guesthouse window, Luye Highland is just a silhouette against a sky that hasn’t decided what color it wants to be yet. You pull on a jacket — it’s cooler up here than you’d expect for a Taitung July — and walk toward the launch field, where a dozen crews are already unfolding fabric the size of small houses.
By 5:30, the first burners fire. The sound is surprisingly aggressive, a sustained roar that makes conversation impossible for a few seconds at a time. Then the envelopes start to rise, and suddenly the East Rift Valley has a new skyline.
What Actually Happens at Luye Highland
The Taiwan International Balloon Festival (臺灣國際熱氣球嘉年華) runs for roughly six to seven weeks every summer at Luye Highland (鹿野高台) in Taitung County. The 2026 edition is scheduled from around early July through mid-August — the exact dates usually get confirmed in the spring, so check the official site before booking anything.
The main draw is the tethered balloon rides, which run in two daily sessions: an early morning slot starting around 5:30 AM and an afternoon session from about 5:00 PM. You go up maybe 30 meters on a rope, stay airborne for 5 to 7 minutes, and come back down. It’s not a flight across the valley — that’s a different experience — but the views of the mountains and rice paddies from above are genuinely impressive.
Tickets for the tethered rides were NT$550 on weekdays and NT$650 on weekends in 2025. They sell out fast online — the 2025 July tickets disappeared within hours of going on sale in May. There’s usually a small batch of on-site tickets available at a slight discount, but that means lining up very early.
The other big attraction is the night glow concerts (光雕音樂會), held on select evenings throughout the festival. Balloons are inflated on the ground and their burners fire in sync with music. It’s more spectacle than substance, honestly, but it photographs incredibly well and kids love it.
International teams bring shaped balloons — animals, cartoon characters, abstract designs — that change each year. The 2025 edition featured a Doraemon collaboration. No word yet on what 2026 will bring.
Getting There Is Half the Adventure
Taitung is not the easiest place to reach in Taiwan, which is part of its charm.
By train: The Puyuma or Tze-Chiang Limited Express from Taipei takes about 3.5 to 4 hours. Book early — these trains fill up during festival season, and standing tickets for four hours along the coast are no fun. You can compare schedules and book through Trip.com, which sometimes has package deals that bundle transport with accommodation.
By air: Domestic flights from Taipei Songshan to Taitung take about 50 minutes. Mandarin Airlines and UNI Air operate this route. Prices fluctuate wildly during peak season.
From Taitung to Luye: About 30 minutes by car or taxi. During the festival, there are shuttle buses from Taitung train station, but the schedule can be inconsistent. Renting a scooter gives you the most flexibility, and the ride up through the pineapple fields is pleasant.
Book Your Bed Before You Book Your Balloon
This is non-negotiable. The festival draws hundreds of thousands of visitors over its run, and accommodation in the Luye area — which is basically a small farming town — is extremely limited. Taitung city has more options but means a 30-minute commute each way, and you need to be at the highland before 5:30 AM for morning sessions.
The ideal setup is a guesthouse or B&B within walking distance of Luye Highland. These tend to book up months in advance. Check Booking.com for hotels in both Luye and Taitung city, or try KKday which sometimes bundles accommodation with balloon tickets.
A few honest warnings about staying in Luye: the guesthouses are charming but basic. Air conditioning may or may not be powerful enough for a Taitung summer. Hot water can be inconsistent. And the roosters will wake you up before your alarm does — which, given you need to be up at 5 AM anyway, might actually be helpful.
The Parts Nobody Warns You About
The morning sessions happen before sunrise, which means you’re standing in an open field in the dark. Bring a headlamp or use your phone flashlight. The field gets muddy after rain — and it rains a lot in Taitung in summer, often without warning. Waterproof shoes are not overkill.
Crowds are significant, especially on weekends and during the night glow events. Cell service degrades noticeably when 10,000 people are trying to post to Instagram simultaneously. If you need to coordinate with travel companions, agree on a meeting point in advance rather than relying on messaging.
The sun comes up fast and hard. By 7:30 AM the highland feels like a frying pan. Sunscreen, a hat, and water are essential. There are vendors selling drinks and breakfast items near the launch field, but prices are festival-inflated.
Weather cancellations happen. Wind is the enemy of hot air balloons, and the festival frequently cancels or delays sessions due to conditions. There’s no refund for your alarm clock.
What Else to Do in Taitung
If you’ve come all the way to Taitung, don’t limit yourself to balloons.
Paragliding: Luye Highland is also one of Taiwan’s top paragliding spots. Tandem flights run about NT$2,500 and last 10-15 minutes. The view of the valley from a paraglider is, frankly, better than from a tethered balloon — you actually move through the landscape instead of bobbing in place. Several operators work from the same highland area.
Cycling the East Rift Valley: The bike path running through the valley floor is flat, well-paved, and gorgeous. Rent a bike in Luye or Guanshan and ride through rice paddies with the Coast Range on one side and the Central Mountain Range on the other.
Zhiben Hot Springs: About 20 minutes south of Taitung city. After a 5 AM wake-up and hours in the sun, a hot spring soak at the end of the day is extremely welcome. Some hotels in the Zhiben area have their own springs.
Taitung night market: Smaller than Taipei’s famous markets, but the indigenous food stalls are worth seeking out. Try mountain boar sausage and millet wine if you see them.
The region is also famous for custard apples (釋迦) and pineapples. The fruit here tastes noticeably different from what you get in Taipei — sweeter, more intense. Worth buying some from a roadside stand.
Shooting Balloons Without a Tripod Isn’t the Worst Idea
The golden hour light at sunrise is predictably photogenic, and everyone with a camera knows it. Get to the field 30 minutes early if you want a decent angle without heads in the way.
For the night glow events, a tripod genuinely helps — the burner flashes are brief and hand-held shots at ISO 3200 look rough. But if you don’t have one, just enjoy it with your eyes. The phone photos will be mediocre either way.
One thing that surprised me about the balloon photography: the best shots aren’t always of the balloons themselves. The ground crews working in the pre-dawn dark, the envelope fabric catching the first light, the spectators’ faces lit by burner flame — those tend to be more interesting than another perfectly framed balloon-against-mountain shot.
Before You Go
The festival website is at balloontaiwan.taitung.gov.tw — it’s in Chinese primarily, with some English. The 2026 dates should be confirmed by late spring. Tethered ride tickets typically go on sale about six weeks before the festival starts, and the booking system crashes regularly on launch day, so have patience and maybe a backup browser open.
Pack layers for the morning, sunscreen for everything after 7 AM, and rain gear because Taitung in July doesn’t ask permission. The highland elevation makes the mornings surprisingly pleasant, but that window closes fast.
The train ride back to Taipei is long enough to sleep through if you’re tired enough. Which you will be.
