During a recent business trip to Taiwan, I spend the weekend in Tainan. I wanted to stay in the Anping area, west of Tainan. The Aloft Tainan Anping hotel seemed the perfect hotel in the perfect location. Please read my review below, to find out if the Aloft Tainan hotel is worth staying at when visiting Tainan.
Location
My interest at visiting Tainan was triggered by the history of the location. In the 17th century, the Dutch build a trading post and fort in the Tainan area. Parts of the old Fort Zeelandia can still be visited and there is a small museum onsite. At walking distance from the fort, is an old merchant house from the 19th century; the time the British were dominant with the tea trade. The Aloft Tainan hotel seemed the perfect spot to explore this area. Even though the Aloft hotel is fairly close to this area, you still would need a taxi to get there. By taxi, it’s a 10 minutes ride. It’s a 30 minutes walk, and the walk is not through a very inspiring environment. In fact, the Aloft is a bit in the middle of nowhere with no shops or restaurants in the immediate environment. So that’s definitely something to take into account when picking this hotel; you’ll need a taxi to get anywhere interesting.
I liked the check-in area of the Aloft hotel. The check-in counters are placed in a very welcoming area with some free game consoles and a pool table. A bit further down, is a coffee station and the restaurant. My check-in experience got even better when I received a complimentary room upgrade to a suite. So far, so good!
Room
The suite was a corner room and consisted out of a living room, a separate bed room and a big bathroom. There was also a balcony but that one wasn’t accessible. A pity, because the view to the harbor and sea was great and it would have been great to enjoy from the balcony.
The room did have a nice surprise; a massage chair! A first, for me to find a massage chair in a hotel room. After pressing a random selection of buttons, the massage chair woke up and it gave me an impressive massage. I could get used to this! One not so impressive feature was that the massage chair started to play loud music in the middle of the night. Not sure what triggered that event but I’m sure it didn’t just wake me up, but also my direct neighbors! After again pressing a random amount of buttons, the music eventually stopped.
The bathroom was very luxurious with a separate shower and bath. All in all, I was very impressed by this room and it wasn’t what I expected from an Aloft hotel.
Rooftop Bar
A great feature of the Aloft Tainan Hotel, is the rooftop bar. Especially with the weather I enjoyed when I was in Tainan, the rooftop bar was the perfect place to watch the sunset. It wasn’t very lively though when I was there; only a few people had the same idea than I had.
Restaurant
The restaurant is open in the evening as well as during breakfast. This is probably the least impressive part of the hotel. Breakfast is very basic and also the food in the restaurant during the evening, isn’t that fantastic. But for a short weekend-stay, it’s not too bad. Just don’t expect a big breakfast buffet that the more upmarket hotels offer.
Conclusion
For my weekend trip to Tainan, I stayed at the Aloft Tainan Anping hotel. The hotel is located in a quiet area of Tainan, relatively close to sightseeing attractions such as Fort Zeelandia. You’ll still need to use an Uber to get anywhere though and I highly recommend dining outside to enjoy the Taiwanese cuisine. The suite was fantastic though, with great views and a massage chair as bonus. Even though the chair decided to play for DJ in the middle of the night, I still appreciated this feature.
If you prefer to stay a bit outside of the busy city center, in a more quiet environment, I can certainly recommend the Aloft Tainan Anping hotel. To enjoy the sunset from the rooftop bar with some friends and some drinks, is not bad!
Also check out my video on my YouTube channel of my flight from Taipei to Bangkok with Eva Airlines in Business Class. Eva Airlines is a great airline with a great Premium Economy products and their Business Class also didn’t disappoint!
Leave a Reply