Drafting a blueprint for a holiday to Taiwan’s capital? Aesthetics devotees will rejoice at the heady selection of carefully curated design hotels to choose from.
With its wellness resorts and winter hotels, Taiwan is a jewel of a place to take a holiday. From properties praised by the likes of Wallpaper* and Forbes to those included in the taste-making Michelin Guide, Taipei has a host of aesthetically pleasing hotels created with design firmly in mind. Influential design firms like Neri&Hu, Mecanoo, and Ray Chen + Partners are attracted to the city’s unique blend of high-tech living and old-world charm. Set out for a day of hunting tiny speakeasies and Japanese vintage stores in winding urban alleyways, safe in the knowledge that you’ll be laying your head to rest in individually crafted accommodation. Without further adieu (and in no particular order), let us introduce you to the best boutique hotels in Taipei.
Designed by Shanghai-based Neri&Hu and pictured above, it’s not surprising that Kimpton Da An was named in Wallpaper*’s 2019 Best Urban Hotel Shortlist.
Tucked around the corner from the main road and just a few steps away from Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station, this boutique luxury hotel is as convenient to Taipei’s clean and efficient subway system as it is for car pick up and drop off. Arriving guests are often taken aback at the double-height lobby. Filled with plants and running water, it’s an urban sanctuary.
The hotel boasts 129 rooms spread throughout a hotel layout that takes its cue from the city’s labyrinthine alleyways. Sunlight beams into once-dark corridors through skylights, illuminating them with warmth. Beds are fitted with plush mattresses and luxurious 400 thread count linen, TOTO fixtures, design-led Bolon carpet, and Atelier Bloem bath amenities.
Looking for a hotel that you can cosy up in? Experience Taipei’s iconic skyline and buzzing urban energy from the rooftop terrace or relax morning or night in the cosily fitted out lobby with a quality wake-up coffee or a sleep-inducing nightcap. Restaurant and bar The Tavernist was conceptualised by James Sharman and features tasters from Taiwan’s burgeoning organic food movement.
Click through for details on Kimpton Da An
A list of the best deign hotels in Taipei would not be complete without this stalwart. From the moment of its conception, Eslite Hotel was destined to attract design aficionados. This luxury accommodation offering is housed in a curvaceous exterior shell crafted by Pritzker-winning Japanese architect Toyo Ito. Once inside the property, guests are surrounded by local design touches.
For the interior, local design firm EHS ArchiLab drew on the legacy of traditional Taiwanese crafts. Innovative terrazzo tile patterns are scattered throughout the bathrooms, reception area, and main lobby. They commissioned master bricklayer Zhan Jingcheng to create a red brick feature wall separating the restaurants. He used patterns commonly seen in Taiwanese farmhouses and mansions of yesteryear. Sculptures and paintings by local artists have pride of place in guest rooms, hallways, and public spaces.
Uniquely, each of the hotel’s 104 rooms has a balconied view that overlooks the historic Songshan Cultural & Creative Park. Once a derelict Japanese-era tobacco factory, the site is today home to the Taiwan Design Research Institute, design library Not Just Library, and an array of exhibition spaces, cafes, and retail outlets dedicated to Taiwan-made design and craft wares.
Read our full review on Eslite Hotel here.
Discover what Eslite Hotel has to offer
Launched in 2002, Les Suites Hotel has been delighting guests with a penchant for style for years. Conveniently located just by the Nanjing Fuxing Station, it’s a favourite for both business and leisure travellers.
Rooms blend a minimal aesthetic with artistic additions including 60s-style furniture and patterned furnishings. Head to the lounge for unlimited drinks during Happy Hour and be sure to indulge at the lavish buffet breakfast.
Find out more about Les Suites Hotel
With two unique branches in bustling Taipei centres, Home Hotel takes its design inspiration from the comforts of a Taiwanese home.
Celebrated interior designer Ted Su transformed a bland office building into a series of fascinating spaces waiting to be discovered inside Home Hotel Xinyi. The font for the room numbers is inspired by Chinese calligraphy strokes, bathroom amenities feature blue and white porcelain, and the colour palette comes from a local traditional parasol: wood and crystalline stone.
Taiwanese indigenous culture is front and centre in Da’an. From the facade of the building to the interior decoration of the rooms, wood and earth tones abound. Custom furniture is spaced in a way that mimics gathering around a life-giving fire, hanging table lamps are inspired by torches, and the door numbers are based on indigenous ways of counting. Home Hotel Da’an was fitted out in a brand new building by Dynasty Design Corporation.
In both hotels, guests will experience the best in Taiwanese design first hand. Your mattress comes from sixty-year-old bedding company Teh Tai, LED fixtures are created by lighting specialists Meta Design, shower products are crafted from tea by boutique beauty brand Cha Tzu Tang, and coffee cups crafted by The Shu’s Pottery.
Home Hotel regularly hosts art events and design projects, from theatre and mixology collaborations to hotel room art exhibitions. Check their website to see if anything is on when you plan to stay.
Find out more about Home Hotel
With seductive interiors sculpted by renowned London-based architects G.A. Design International and a 31-floor radiant glass exterior conceptualised by famed Japanese architect Tadashi Yamane, W Hotel was designed for designers from the very beginning.
Rooms feature the signature W beds with 350-count linens, technology plug-ins, and a guilt-free Green Program aimed at conserving energy and water. You also can’t stay closer to the architectural marvel that is Taipei 101 anywhere else in the city. Get a full view of the gravity-defying, bamboo-inspired tower from inside every room.
WOOBAR had a revamp in 2018 and features wooden floors, leather furniture and brass decoratives. The bar is flanked at one end by a wall made of traditional green Koji pottery. A massive geometric paper art installation by Studio Sawada takes the centre stage in the space.
More recently, the hotel has joined forces with Taiwanese glass recycling company to create W Hotel branded products from the property’s discarded drinks bottles. Partnering with well regarded Taiwanese designers like Pili Wu, the hotel released a limited edition mooncake gift set featuring two upcycled tumblers.
Learn more about W Hotel Taipei
Expertly coiffed inside and out by one of Taiwan’s most influential architects, Ray Chen, Hotel Proverbs combines the best of contemporary hotel trends with classic European luxury.
Despite a dramatically rigid exterior, the architecture incorporates environmentally friendly elements. Mesh screens let in abundant sunlight to ensure the lush indoor landscaping thrives. Warm materials like copper, wood, textured leather, and elegant fabrics like silk contrast dramatically with Medieval iron ceilings and Austrian crystal chandeliers.
While each of the 42 rooms is divided into lounge, sleeping, and bathing sections across five types, the layouts are all completely individual. Quirks, like an Adamsez bathtub in the entrance to one room, are lying in wait to surprise and delight guests. Stay in any room and you’d never experience the same layout twice.
Other facilities include an exquisitely landscaped rooftop swimming pool, premium steak restaurant TK Seafood & Steak, and East End, named among Asia’s 50 Best Bars and Design Hotels™ international cocktail bars.
Read all about Hotel Proverbs
Designed by AB Concept, this boutique hotel in Taipei is all about sophisticated tranquillity. An indoor heated swimming pool with luxe loungers can be found on the top floor, while a comprehensive fitness centre offers sweeping views of the neighbourhood.
All the rooms and suites here are contemporary in style with a muted colour palette featuring pops of colour. A restaurant on the second floor serves a selection of healthful options for dine in or takeaway.
Find out more about Humble Boutique Hotel
What could be more Taiwanese than tea? The island is, after all, home to some of the finest high mountain green and oolong teas in the world. Today, the mixed-use building that houses The Place Taipei is surrounded by high-tech companies and high rises. But in the Qing Dynasty, the area was at the centre of the global tea trade.
When crafting the interior for The Place Taipei, world-leading design and architecture studio Mecanoo took inspiration from the tea houses that still to this day grace the winding city alleys and misty mountainsides of Taiwan.
The lobby is a tea house, a social space meant for gathering, chatting, unwinding. The corridor carpets are patterned with hoop-like shapes meant to resemble the curves of hillside tea plantations. The guest rooms feature a chevron wood floor that mimics the woven bamboo baskets used for drying tea leaves. Even the colour palette used throughout the hotel is inspired by the hues found inside a cup of freshly poured cha.
As well as the kinds of quality amenities expected in a luxury hotel, the rooms embrace a free-style functionality. Bedside tables are mobile and can transform into work desks. Holes embedded in the walls allow guests to hang clothing, bags, or other items within easy reach.
Look to book The Place Taipei
With just five strikingly different concept rooms, you can’t get more boutique than Play Design Hotel.
The brainchild of interactive Taiwanese designer Daniel Chen, this design-driven accommodation takes hospitality to connect Made in Taiwan craft, art, and products with international visitors.
“If we redefine or redesign a hotel as a gallery, a cultural portal, or an interface, then the result would be more likely to lead to something other than just a hotel,” says Chen. Play Design Hotel justifiably took home a coveted iF Design Award in 2018.
For those who want to dig deep into the design process, Play Design Hotel offers Guest Selection Rooms. Use virtual technology to choose the Made in Taiwan furniture pieces, lighting, and accessories (like clocks or coat racks) that you want to see in your room.
Other rooms include the Future Lab, where guests can predict future design trends; the Maker Room, decked out with working tools inspired by the maker movement; and other rooms featuring Taiwanese design products and cultural experiences.
Just six minutes walk from Zhongshan MRT Station, this hotel is ideally located for weekend tourists and weekday business stays.
Study the Play Design Hotel website
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