In 2026 Taipei marked out just five riverside barbecue zones for Mid-Autumn
Related guide: Mid-Autumn Festival 2027 in Taiwan
Not every riverside park in Taipei allows barbecues. In 2026 there were four permanent zones: under the freeway bridge by Gate 10 in Dajia Riverside Park, under Huazhong Bridge in Huazhong Riverside Park, the round plaza under Hengguang Bridge in Daonan Riverside Park, and the riverbank plaza outside MacArthur Bridge No. 1 in Chengmei Right Bank Riverside Park. For Mid-Autumn an extra zone opened under Dazhi Bridge in Dajia Riverside Park.
Kaohsiung takes the opposite approach: barbecues are banned in all city parks. The Love River and Pier-2 have waterfront paths, both reachable by MRT and light rail. Tainan has no MRT, so take a bus to Anping and walk along the canal; for a barbecue, the Hutoupi scenic area has paid zones.
Barbecuing has not been part of Mid-Autumn for long: it is usually traced to barbecue-sauce adverts in the 1980s. The moon legends are far older — Chang'e flying to the moon and the jade rabbit pounding medicine in the moon palace — and still appear on mooncake boxes.
The table usually holds mooncakes, mung bean pastries and pomelos. The thick white pomelo peel is often put on children's heads as a hat. Some families still set out offerings to the moon in the courtyard or arcade.
The full guide to this festival
Mid-Autumn Festival 2027 in Taiwan: barbecues, pomelos and mooncakes on 15 September
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