If your #1 goal when visiting Taiwan is having a hotel room with an incredible view of the Taipei 101 Tower, look no further than the Shangri-La Far Eastern.
Yes, it’s a little more expensive than other hotels in the area. And yeah, paying extra for a room with a view of the city will hurt. But trust me – It’ll hurt in the good kind of way.
A full review of my 1-night stay at the Shangri-La Far Eastern Hotel in Taipei
Before getting too deep into this review, it’s worth noting that in addition to paying extra for a room with a view, I paid even more for a suite. This was expensive. But oh so ridiculously awesome.
Location
The Shangri-La Far Eastern is located in the heart of the Da’an District in central Taipei (very near to the Madison Hotel that I reviewed earlier). The surrounding area is quiet – and seemingly residential.
Even though it’s not located at the very core of the city, it’s still within easy walking distance to everything.
Welcome one and all to the Shangri-La Far Eastern in Taipei! (Or however the hell you say that in Chinese).
The lobby (and checking in)
The Shangri-La looks more like an apartment building from the outside, but you’ll feel a pronounced “big city hotel” vibe once you pass through the main entrance. Make no mistake about it – this is a massive chain hotel.
At least the lobby doesn’t feel as stale and corporate as the Taipei Grand Hyatt just down the road.
Way over there (on the far eastern side of the lobby) is the reception desk. See what I did there?FYI, “Shangri-La” is a fictional Tibetan utopia from a James Hilton book. Turns out that it’s also a very real (and really nice) hotel located in central Taipei. This lobby is stunning!
Getting to my room
The entire check in process took less than five minutes. From there, it was a quick ride up the elevator (filled with western tourists – just like me) and then a short walk down the hallway to room 2204.
Unfortunately, the “Tibetan utopia” thing isn’t quite is pronounced up here in the guest room hallways. You’re gonna have to use your imagination here if you want to stay in the zone.I take that back. My brother from another mother! Room 2204 is my utopia for the night.
Suite overview
It wasn’t until I opened the door that I remembered that I actually booked a suite instead of a regular room. But you know what? None of that mattered as soon as I saw those huge windows and the incredible view overlooking the city.
“Tibetan Utopia my a**!” Welp, that’s embarrassing. For the second time in this review, I must take back the previous comment. This is… incredible.That moment when you realize that maybe it was silly to be making fun of the fact that they dared to call this the Shangri-La. With a view like this, I’m fully onboard with that decision.I’ll show you pics of the room in a moment, but I’m going to need a moment to soak all of this in. Dayum!Ok… Let’s see if I can finish this review without it getting distracted by the view. Speaking of which, here’s a view of the entire room looking back towards the main entrance (which is on the left).Sorry. Got distracted again. I need to focus! Focusing on the bed is a good start I guess, because it was extremely comfortable. I highly appreciated how it faced the windows (negating the need to stand up to check out the view). At the risk of running out of pictures by the time I get to the section about the views (below), here’s the kind of view you can expect while lying in that bad that I just showed you.The couch? Extremely stylish. And comfortable. AND a fantastic place to check out that view. The furniture became less interesting the farther east in the room I went. (What about that? Did you see what I did there?) The desk was really nice and all, but let’s be real here. It could’ve been a slab of splintery plywood (with a milk crate for a chair) and I would’ve loved it just as much because of that view. James Hilton was right. This room is pretty much the big brand / chain hotel version of Shan-gri-mother-frickin-La. Honest question: how much do you want to bet that Mr Hilton’s version of Utopia didn’t include complementary bottled water and a coffee maker?
The view
Oh my God, that view! The Shangri-La is located just far enough away from the city to provide an excellent overview of everything. From my 22nd floor suite, I could see the entire city of Taipei. This was so much better than being in a hotel located smack dab in the downtown area (with a view blocked by other large buildings).
Even on the cloudiest and gloomiest days, the view from this hotel will not disappoint. That said, this isn’t the best view I’ve ever had from a hotel room.Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is best view that I’ve ever had from a hotel room. And I don’t even care that I had to drag my a** out of bed at 6:30 AM to see it. The view from the far eastern side of this room (there I go again) was good, but not as great. Do I even need to tell you that this is where I spent the majority of my time during this one night stay? The moral of the story is that I ain’t never had a hotel room with a view this good.
Closet (and storage) space
I’m sorry, but the closet and storage space necessitates its own section of the review. Not that I normally care about such things, but it was too good not to mention.
You know it’s a kick ass hotel room when going to the bathroom requires a walk down a freakin’ hallway.And it’s not just any hallway. Check out all that storage space!This is not surprising. I would expect nothing less than two robes at a Tibetan Utopia.
The bathroom
If I’m being honest, the bathroom was my least favorite part of this experience. Sure – It was nice and very well-maintained. It just had a dark and cold vibe to it which didn’t match the rest of the decor IMHO.
The bathroom. Considering that I could very clearly see inside the windows of the adjacent building, I’m not sure how I feel about this. Then again, this is probably paradise Shangri-La for anyone who loves “accidentally” showing off their goods in public. Other than the “everyone will see you naked” window, this is a really nice looking bathroom IMHO. At least that’s what I was feeling until I opened the shower door and saw the pattern of a face (and angry eyeball) in the marble texture. Yikes. Making matters worse was the fact that there was no light in the shower. And the award for the creepiest hotel room shower ever goes to… Then again, I had two sinks, a toilet, and a tub to cleanse myself in if I couldn’t muster enough courage to go into the shower. I like having options!
Room service and restaurants
After a long day of sightseeing (Taipei in May is awesome BTW), I didn’t have the energy to go out for dinner. The room service menu looked good, so placed an order and hoped for the best. It was worth it!
I can’t remember exactly what the name of this was, but it was essentially “pork rice”. It was phenomenal.
Note that the on-site restaurant (located in the lobby) looked very good as well. I was planning on eating breakfast there, but I was lazy and opted for room service again.
Serious question: When’s the last time you saw a restaurant this nice at a Tibetan Utopia?
Pros and cons
So far, this is the best hotel that I’ve stayed at in Taipei. Yes – it a chain hotel. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I usually prefer to stay in a boutique hotel if I’m spending this kind of money. I did feel like it was worth it though, so it’s all good.
Pros
The location is excellent. The surrounding area is quiet and very clean.
Views of the city are unmatched. It’s worth paying extra for a high floor room!
I never once heard another guest at any point during the night.
The room service menu is quite good. Well worth paying for.
Cons
This isn’t a very good place to stay if you want to blend in and mingle with the locals. Most of the guests are Western tourists.
Having the best experience will be expensive. Paying more for a view (and a suite) is a borderline YOLO-type thing.
