Immigration is often clogged up by groups of Chinese tourists who are all in T2.

So yes it depends on which terminal you are going through. Early morning arrivals at T2 is okay as there are no short hual flights arriving before 8am/9am.

2100 @ T1 arrival. APEC card but have family and not technically on business. Thoughts?

T1 will not be that busy at that time. But not dead as well as quite a few short haul flights arrive between 7-9pm. Fridays may be more busy if it is on that particular day with people coming back home for the weekend.

Hi, did some of the things you mentioned just this past weekend.
Some thoughts:
1. Arrival T1 1930hrs last Friday night was pandemonium. Took 45minutes for the "foreigner" line to snake through. Noted that by 2030hrs pax flow was much less so hopefully your 2100hrs arrival will be much faster.
2. Novotel -- very convenient with its own shuttle. Hotel itself fine, but nothing great. (Spent one night here as was arriving late.) Then I transferred to...
3. W Taipei -- fab. Got a Taipei 101 view room and it was spectacular. But am berating myself for spending only 2 nights here -- lots to do and see nearby. So my take is limiting yourself to just a few hours might be frustrating? The taxi ride one way is about NTD1200-1400, or USD30-40, takes 35-40 minutes if not much traffic.
Hope this helps.

Ref T1 lounge, it was crowded when I got there, last Monday noontime. Food adequate. They had a noodle bar, some buffet food. Took me 5 minutes to find an empty seat. Ok to grab a bite, and maybe stay for 30 minutes. No comparison to CX HKG lounges -- any one of them would have more space. Well, except maybe The Cabin on a crowded afternoon. Not sure how your family can find seats for all of you in one section. I imagine it would be just as crowded before evening flights to U.S.?

Terminal 1 lounge is quiet from 6pm onwards. The reason for this is most passengers going to USA,Australia and Canada is directed to the Terminal 2 lounge as the flights will be out of terminal 2.

The only flights going out at night is a couple of short haul... Bangkok and the last Hong Kong flight out say after 7pm. Also it is possible that their will be a flight to Amsterdam, Vienna and Maybe Rome but these are not daily flights (3/4 weekly) going out between 10pm to 12:30pm. So there will be seats available after 6pm. Showers are a little better In terminal 1.

Sounds like it may not be worth the effort of arriving at the airport early. I had thought the facility was better reviewed. But I still like the idea that T1 may be more quiet during North American departure push...so I'll probably still head there.

Appreciate everyone's input - Jamie

BTW - as lounges go, we are the family that DOES typically schedule 2-3 hrs in places like the Wing, Pier, SQ Private Room, BA CCR, etc. So maybe this lounge isn't worth the usual time allocation.