Grand View Resort Beitou

The hotel stands at 30 Youya Road in Beitou District, north of central Taipei; the Beitou Museum of folk art is a minute’s walk away, Thermal Valley 10–15 minutes and the Beitou Hot Spring Museum 15–20 minutes. A free hotel shuttle runs from Beitou and Xinbeitou MRT stations between 10:00 and 22:00 (no reservations, first come, first served). From Taoyuan International Airport the hotel recommends a taxi; by train or high-speed rail, travel to Taipei Main Station, then take the MRT to Beitou and the shuttle. Drivers will find 12 mechanical parking spaces with a 155 cm height limit.

The hotel’s water is white sulphur spring water from the Dahuangzui valley. The public baths sit in a courtyard garden raised 9 m above the ground and screened with bamboo; the men’s and women’s sides swap daily, and each has hot, cold and ice-cold pools, a sauna, a steam room, heated stone beds and a rest area. Bathing is nude and limited to guests aged 12 and over. Sixteen private hot-spring rooms of 14–45 m² — with a window, semi-open-air or with a Japanese-style lounge — can be booked for 90 or 120 minutes.

LI YANG SPA has two couples’ rooms, two single rooms and a shower room. Its aromatherapists work with natural essential oils from Britain: Chinese meridian massages, European and chakra-balancing aroma massages, a rose-salt scrub and body wrap, facials, and short back, scalp and hand treatments, a Dead Sea salt scrub and a seaweed wrap. Treatments are open to guests from 6 years, with a dedicated treatment for mothers-to-be after the third month.

The kitchens work with local, seasonal produce across three venues:

• Chinese Cuisine — Taiwanese cooking in a 62-seat room with an octagonal central pillar and mountains on three sides: braised beef noodle soup, sesame-oil chicken rice, lunch and classic set menus and a selection of Taiwanese teas;
• C’est Bon — modern French cuisine built on Taiwanese ingredients, in a 46-seat room with Guanyin stone walls and floor-to-ceiling windows facing Danfeng Mountain; the bread is baked daily;
• Aqua Deck — a 30-seat terrace by the Water Stage looking towards Guanyin Mountain, serving light Continental dishes, coffee, Taiwanese teas and afternoon tea on pre-order.

The open-air area, more than 661 m² and floored with pine logs, holds a swimming pool of mountain spring water and a hot-spring pool facing Danfeng Mountain. Swimsuits and swim caps are required, children must be accompanied by an adult, and the area closes on Monday mornings for maintenance.