MY TRAVEL STYLE: If possible, I try to stay away from business and strongly prefer resorts that resemble the Four Seasons, Aman, and Oberoi but try to find similar properties at lower cost. I seek out the “wow” experiences and I encourage you to view hotels I have stayed at and their respective reviews (by clicking on my name). LOCATION: Excellent for Hualien. Next to a great pedestrian area with shops, restaurants (Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza hut if you desire western food). About 40 minutes from the start of Taroko Gorge. If you want to see the Gorge, it’s best to stay in the National Park for better scenery and a more memorable experience (except there is no good food there). BEST WAY TO GET THERE: Rent a car at Hualien Airport that is about 20 minutes away. TYPE OF ROOM: Standard BED/SHEETS/PILLOW: Bed is on the hard side and the sheets are better than average. Down pillows are a nice touch but they are a bit too thick (I think the pillow cases are too small for the pillow). LIGHTING: Lighting is good in bedroom and bathroom. BATHROOM/SHOWER: This is the worst part of the hotel/room. Bathroom looks old and not remodeled. The shower is in the tub and there is little space. Shower curtain gets in the way. The water pressure is low to medium but there is consistently hot water. TOILETRIES: Basic and cheap, best to bring your own. CLEANLINESS: Room is very clean. Bathroom is clean but doesn’t appear to be that clean since it’s very old. A/C: Quickly and quietly got our room cool. CLOSET SPACE: Better than average. Perhaps enough space for 2 people to unpack most items. STYLE OF ROOM: Nothing special. Typical hotel room layout and average size. QUIET/MORNING LIGHT: Room was very quiet and the curtains could block all of the morning sunlight. The next day there was too much construction that lasted at least until 730PM. There is a building next door that is being built and it is just in the beginning stages. We left the hotel since our hotel was shaking as if there was an earthquake and checked in at the Quality Inn across the street. FOOD: Only had breakfast here. Choice of 3 sugar cereals, premade eggs and French toast (without syrup). 2 juices that didn’t appear to be fresh. The rest is mainly Asian cuisine. TV/INTERNET: TV fairly old but I think the better rooms there may have flat screens. There are at least 7 English stations including 3 movie channels in English as well. Internet is provided at no cost and is wired only and very fast. SERVICE: Staff is very friendly and speak enough English to help with most travel requests. COMMON AREA: Lobby is a good 4 star but not really much of a place to hang out beyond checking in and out. SUMMARY & CITY TIPS: Higher rooms will have better views. Be sure to get a room that is away from the construction. We stayed at the Promised Land resort and the Quality Inn as well. The best rooms in Hualien have got to be the Quality Inn, it’s really excellent. The Promised Lands rooms are the most comfortable and it’s more of a resort but it’s 20 minutes from Hualien city in the opposite direction of Taroko. We really enjoyed hot pot at Korea restaurant in Hualien, one of the best hot pot places we have been to in Taiwan. I think the Azure is an good place to stay but the Quality Inn at the same price and the Promised Land at more than double the price would both be a better option.

We stayed at this hotel as part of a tour. It was a very nice hotel - the rooms were perfectly sized, and the decor was elegant. We only had breakfast at the restaurant. They offered both American and Asian style fare (and french fries for breakfast!). The location was okay, but we did have a hard time finding someplace that looked appetizing to eat in the immediate area. We ended up getting Pizza Hut and Bubble Milk Tea every evening. The room offered lot of Western TV Channels, which was nice for my American husband, and the hotel staff were very helpful. I'm not sure about the english capabilities of the staff, because I spoke Chinese, but my brother and my husband seemed to get around okay without me in the hotel. Our only problem was that the shower stall leaked over the bathroom, but we didn't bring that to the attention of the staff until we left. Overall, it was a wonderfully relaxing place to come back to after a long day of exploring Hualien.

We stayed at this hotel for 2 nights in September 2007. We were a party of 3 couples and 1 baby. When booking the hotel, we explained that we would be travelling down from Taipei by train and the hotel kindly arranged to pick us up at the station. They also took us back to the station on our departure. Nice touch. The hotel itself is spotless and the staff are very welcoming and kind. The location is also spot on as there is a Pizza hut next door and a Mc Donalds opposite. Go left out of the hotel and in approx 50 mtrs, the night market starts. Try and haggle if you want to. Most of them will come down in price. The hotel arranged for us to have a private mini bus & driver for the day to take us to the National Park. This is a must and we will definately be back as we only saw a small fraction of the park. This worked out approx £75.00 all in. We were fortunate as our daughers in law are taiwanese and therefore were able to communicate on our behalf. Be warned, very little english is spoken once you are out of the hotel.

We were impressed with our short stay in the Azure hotel in Hualien. It was easy to book, finding their e-mail address ([--]) via their website ([--]). The hotel is a short taxi ride from the main train station and is well located for looking around the local shops and attractions. The rooms, and all areas of the hotel, were modern, well decorated and comfortable. The price we thought was extremely good for the quality of hotel and service. The breakfast was great - serving a particularly large range of good, local and western cuisine (compared with other hotels we stayed at in Taiwan). The service was great - the staff were very helpful. As is the custom in Taiwan, people provide help whenever they can. They booked a trip on our behalf to Toroko Gorge, and helped 'translate' between us and the car hire company which I don't think we could have managed any other way. (Car hire seemed the only option for getting across from Hualien to Sun Moon Lake (or anywhere west of the mountains)). Overall a great hotel - can't think of any negatives!