We began our Taiwan trip by first spending a week in Taipei before heading to Hualien and Taichung, after which we would come back to Taipei again for a couple more days. For our first hotel in Taipei, we chose Taipei M Hotel Main Station as it was within walking distance from Taipei Main Station, which is the main railway and metro station in Taipei city centre. This is where you take the train (either Taiwan High Speed Rail THSR or Taiwan Railways Administration TRA) to other parts of Taiwan or the MRT to get around Taipei. It’s also connected to the Taoyuan Airport MRT and Taipei Bus Station.
If you’re still wondering how to get from Taoyuan Airport to Taipei, just click on the link and refer to my earlier post.
Getting around / Location of the hotel
The hotel wasn’t exactly a stone’s throw away from the station as shown on Google map because the underground passageway-cum-mall is really huge. Quite a fair bit of distance to walk but not a big deal as we could window-shop and look at stuffs along the way.
Check-out anytime before 12:00
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Taipei M Hotel Main Station was pretty much smack in the middle of everything. We went a lot of places on foot, which was definitely one of the best ways to explore the city.
Some of the ‘walkable’ places include:
- Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越百貨) 300m
- 2/28 Peace Park 400m
- National Taiwan Museum 450m
- Ximending 700m
- The Red House 850m
- Ningxia Night Market 1.3km
- Dihua Street / Yongle Market 1.4km
- Bopiliao Historical Block 1.8km
- Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall 1.8km
- Huaxi Street Night Market 2km
- Lungshan Temple 2.1km
When we felt lazy or too tired to walk, we just hopped on the Taipei MRT. Didn’t even have to take taxi to go anywhere because Taipei is really accessible by MRT. We also found it easier to go back to the hotel via Ximen Station Exit 5 as the overground route was more straightforward.
For supplies and late night snacks, we would go to 7-Eleven (1 min) and/or Family Mart (3 mins). The nearest Carrefour Supermarket was about 15 mins away.
Food wise, there were plenty of snack shops, eateries and restaurants around Taipei M Hotel Main Station that offer a good range of affordable eats. However, I shall not go into details for now as I’ll be sharing posts on the most recommended eats later on.
Hotel Lobby
Upon stepping into the hotel lobby, the first thought that came to my mind was that the hotel looked really worn out on the inside. Desperately needing refurbishment to give it a fresh new look. But again, it also had this vintage retro charm with the wood-panelled walls, chandeliers and warm lighting.
Front desk staff spoke excellent English. Check-in was a breeze.
Lift was a little creaky, lol.
Deluxe Double Room
Room size was about 21m². Not particularly big but good enough to lay out our luggage with ample walking space.
✓Blackout & day curtains
✓Slippers
✓Kettle
✓Complimentary bottled water
✓Mini fridge
✓Hair dryer
✓Safe
✓Basic bathroom amenities
TV reception wasn’t fantastic so picture quality wasn’t great.
Bathroom
There were shower gel and shampoo dispensers in the shower. Never used them though as I brought my own.
Bathroom was generally clean but I was shocked to see a small cockroach crawling on the bathroom wall on the 2nd night. Probably came out from the floor trap. Eeeww!
Having said that, there were couple of plus points that are worth a mention. Great water pressure in the shower. Fantastic aircon—cooled down room really quickly. Comfy bed and pillows—every night was a good night’s sleep.
There were free shared washing machine/dryer facilities upstairs – just needed to purchase laundry powder from the front desk at NT20 per pack if needed.
Free beverage dispensers (coffee, tea, chilled drinks) at the restaurant/breakfast area which we could help ourselves to 24/7. Chill out area at rooftop, which always had people around so we didn’t get to enjoy the space but we could get a nice view of the city!
There was also a fitness centre or rather, a small gym corner with a few machines. Didn’t really see anyone using them. But I guess it’s good to have it. Will come in handy when you need to work off some calories to be ready to fit in your next meal, lol!
What we appreciated most was the hot/cold water dispenser at the lift lobby just outside our room so we could regularly refill our drinking water supply without having to buy extra bottled water from convenience stores.
Final thoughts
Overall, it was a decent experience to stay here but I probably would not pick this hotel again if I visit Taipei in future. Unless they undergo a major revamp, if not I can probably find other better and newer looking hotels at the same rate.
By the way, Taipei M Hotel Main Station is temporarily unavailable on major hotel booking websites at the moment. Not sure why. Maybe it’s undergoing renovation. Will update again when it’s up and running.