One of the highlights of visiting Penghu in spring/early summer is the Penghu Fireworks Festival 澎湖海上花火節 over the backdrop of a rainbow bridge 西瀛虹橋.  Besides the fireworks performance, the rainbow bridge has also caught the attention of many visitors.

By day, the 西瀛虹橋 Xiying Rainbow Bridge in Penghu is a pedestrian walkway. The transformation of the bridge by night is amazing as the bridge’s neon lighting paints a shimmering rainbow (with the exact colors of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet 紅、橙、黃、綠、藍、靛、紫七彩霓虹光)  in the water below.  If you have ever wondered what walking on top a rainbow is like, this is as close as you get.

The rainbow bridge, built in 2004, is 200 metres long and 4.6 metres wide.  The tallest part of the bridge (at the top of the arc) is 15 metres above sea level.  西瀛虹橋是一座長200公尺的三跨鋼拱橋，呈現三跨如白雲般的弧形，橋面淨寬4.6公尺，最高處橋底距海平面約15公尺.  The Xiying Rainbow Bridge is part of a walking trail for Guanyingting Recreation Park 觀音亭.  It connects 2 breakwaters built to deflect sea waves that could erode the coastline along 觀音亭.  The area around the 觀音亭 Guanyingting Recreation Park is already well-known as far back as 400 years ago for its view of the beautiful sunset over the Xiyu island 西嶼落霞.

The Penghu Fireworks Festival celebrates the arrival of summer and is one of Penghu’s top events/tourist activities.  It is an annual event that has been ongoing for a long time (by 2013, it will be its 10th run).  It only takes place from mid-April to mid-June and only on Monday and Thursday nights.

It is not just about fireworks though – the festivities start as early as 7.30pm as there are pre-fireworks song and dance performances by local children, students and bands.  There are different types of food and souvenir stalls setup around the area – giving it a fun carnival type of atmosphere.

The fireworks performance will then start at 9pm and last for 15 minutes.  Every year, organisers will showcase a special fireworks segment to illustrate local Penghu sights or culture e.g. in some years, there were fireworks that showed the shape of a squid and fish and for 2013, we saw the Twin Hearts Weir symbol 雙心石滬 in one of the fireworks explosion!

每週一、週四晚上7點30分起於馬公市觀音亭園區活動現場舉行，9點施放15分鐘花火秀，讓民眾徜徉在澎湖海灣，欣賞璀璨耀眼煙火美景。

For a quick preview of what you can expect to see at the Penghu Fireworks Festival (西瀛虹橋海堤觀賞煙火施放) over the Rainbow Bridge, check out the video below from PassportChop.com Singapore Travel Blog Youtube Channel.  For us, this fireworks performance marks a grand finale to our unforgettable 4-Day 3-Night Penghu round-island and island-hopping trip.

The Penghu Fireworks Festival takes place every Monday and Thursday 每週一&週四 between mid-April and mid-June each year at Penghu Magong City. There will be song and dance performances at the stage at Guanyingting Recreation Park 觀音亭 at 7.30pm to get the crowd warmed up for the exciting spectacular fireworks show. The fireworks performance will start at 9pm (lasting for 15 minutes).

Do note that all roads leading to Guanyingting Recreation Park 觀音亭 will be closed at around 5-6pm every Monday and Thursday 每週一&週四 whenever fireworks performance is scheduled.  So if you are driving, be prepared to park quite some distance away.  Expect a lot of people and big crowds – as usual keep your valuables close to you (just in case).  There are quite a number of places (see map below marked in red) where you can see the fireworks but as it gets very crowded around 8+pm so be there early to “chope” your seats and space for your tripods (if you are intending to get a good shot of the fireworks).