Where to Stay in Taipei: Best Areas, Hotels and Prices by Budget

Taipei Main Station is the single most practical base in the city. The Airport MRT terminus (A1) is a short walk underground from the main hall, the Red and Blue MRT lines cross here, and the Taiwan High Speed Rail and TRA trains leave from the same building for Jiufen, Keelung, Hualien and Kaohsiung. The neighbourhood south and east of the station, toward 228 Peace Memorial Park and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Zhongzheng, is full of business hotels, cram schools and cheap eateries rather than sights, so evenings are quieter than Ximending’s.

Good choices include the Caesar Park Hotel Taipei directly opposite the station, Palais de Chine on top of the Q Square mall next to the bus station (from about NT$6,000, art deco rooms and a good breakfast), and the many mid-range chains around Zhongxiao West Road and Huaining Street at NT$2,500 to NT$3,500. Star Hostel Taipei Main Station is the long-running backpacker choice, with dorm beds around NT$600 to NT$800. The underground malls run for blocks, so you can reach the MRT in heavy rain without going outside.

Ximending is Taipei’s youth district: pedestrian streets packed with sneaker shops, tattoo studios, cinemas, bubble tea and Ay Chung’s flour-rice noodles, with the octagonal Red House at its west end and the city’s main LGBTQ+ bar cluster beside it. It is one stop from Main Station on the Blue Line (Ximen, which also has the Green Line), so it works as both a party base and a practical one. Rooms are small and cheap: CityInn Hotel Plus Ximending and amba Taipei Ximending are reliable mid-range picks (about NT$2,500 to NT$4,000), and Meander Taipei Hostel is the social hostel.

Wanhua, the old district immediately south, is where Bangka Lungshan Temple stands, along with Bopiliao’s restored shophouses and Huaxi Street’s market. It has the city’s oldest streets and cheapest rooms, but also its scruffiest blocks around Longshan Temple station after dark, with homeless encampments and a few hostess bars. It is safe by any normal standard; it is just less polished, and families usually prefer to stay in Ximending and walk down.

Zhongshan is the best compromise in Taipei for many travellers: the Red and Green lines meet at Zhongshan station, the Tamsui-Xinyi Red Line runs straight to Beitou, Shilin and Taipei 101, and Main Station is a 10-minute walk through the underground mall. The lanes behind the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi store hold design shops, coffee roasters and the Chifeng Street workshops, and Ningxia Night Market is 10 minutes west. Further north along Zhongshan North Road sit the classic luxury hotels: The Regent Taipei and The Okura Prestige Taipei, from about NT$7,000. amba Taipei Zhongshan and the smaller boutiques on the side streets run NT$3,000 to NT$4,500.

West of Zhongshan, Datong district covers Dadaocheng, the 19th-century tea and textile port on the Tamsui River. Dihua Street’s baroque-fronted shophouses now hold tea merchants, fabric shops, herbal medicine dealers and small hotels in restored buildings, and Dadaocheng Wharf has sunset views and riverside bike paths. It is the most atmospheric place to sleep in the city and the quietest after 9pm; Beimen and Daqiaotou stations are the nearest. Beimen is also next to the Airport MRT’s Main Station end, so it is an easy airport run.

Da’an is where many Taipei residents would choose to live: tree-lined boulevards, Da’an Forest Park, the university area around Gongguan, and the densest concentration of good restaurants in the city. Dongmen station (Red and Orange lines) sits on Yongkang Street, with beef noodles, shaved ice and the original Din Tai Fung on Xinyi Road. Further east, Zhongxiao Dunhua and the East District around Sogo have department stores, bars and cocktail lounges. Hotels are fewer here and mostly boutique: Hotel Proverbs Taipei in the East District, Kimpton Da An Taipei on a quiet lane off Da’an Road (from about NT$7,000), and serviced apartments around Technology Building for longer stays.

Da’an suits couples, food travellers and families, who get the park’s playgrounds and quieter nights. The trade-off is fewer budget rooms and an extra change to reach the Airport MRT.

Xinyi is Taipei’s financial district, built in the 1990s on a grid of wide avenues around Taipei 101, City Hall and a dozen linked department stores (Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, Breeze, Bellavita, ATT 4 Fun). It has the city’s top hotels, the rooftop bars and clubs, and Elephant Mountain’s trailhead at Xiangshan station. Grand Hyatt Taipei next to Taipei 101 and the World Trade Center, W Taipei above City Hall station, and Humble House at the edge of the Xinyi shopping district are the established luxury picks, usually NT$8,000 to NT$15,000. Mid-range options are scarcer and pricier than elsewhere. Xinyi is less convenient for the airport (around an hour) and for the old city, which is 20 minutes on the Blue or Red line.

Songshan, north of Xinyi, has Songshan Airport for domestic flights and short hops to Tokyo Haneda, Seoul Gimpo and Shanghai, Raohe Night Market by the Green Line terminus, and the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The Mandarin Oriental Taipei on Dunhua North Road is here, from about NT$12,000. If you are flying out of Songshan, a hotel on the Brown Line saves time.

Beitou, at the end of the Red Line’s Xinbeitou spur, is the reason many visitors add a night. Most hotels pipe spring water into private tubs in every room, and many also have public baths and rent private rooms by the hour (from about NT$1,000 for 90 minutes for two). Choose between white sulphur water (acidic, milky, strong smell) and the clearer green sulphur springs; hotels list the type. The Grand View Resort Beitou, Villa 32 (a small adults-focused luxury spa), Gaia Hotel and Hotel Royal Beitou are long-established options from roughly NT$6,000 to over NT$20,000 a night; simpler Japanese-style inns along Guangming Road and Wenquan Road start around NT$3,000 to NT$4,000. Weekday rates are much lower than weekends.

From Beitou, Yangmingshan is 30 minutes by bus and the centre 30 minutes by MRT. One night here at the end of a trip, after the city sights, works better than using it as a base.

• Hotels: Taipei rooms are small by international standards; 15-20 sq m is normal for mid-range. Many include breakfast, often a Taiwanese and Western buffet.
• Hostels: clean, well run and concentrated around Main Station and Ximending. Dorms NT$500-900, private doubles NT$1,400-2,200.
• Hot-spring hotels: priced per room including bath use; book weekdays for the best rates.
• Serviced apartments: good for stays of a month or more in Da’an, Zhongshan and Songshan. Short-term apartment rentals of under 30 days in residential buildings are generally not legal in Taiwan, so stick to licensed hotels for short stays; licensed properties display a registration number.
• When to book: prices rise around Lunar New Year, the New Year’s Eve fireworks at Taipei 101 (Xinyi books out months ahead), and big trade fairs at the Nangang and World Trade Center exhibition halls. Typhoon season (July to September) brings cheaper rooms and occasional cancellations.

Prices include tax and service in most quotes. For the full daily budget, see the Taipei itineraries, which add food, transport and sights.

Taipei travel guide · Costs · Food · Getting Around · Itineraries