I was bit surprised I couldn’t find really cheap places to stay in Hualien such as what I found in Kaohsiung. After searching for ages, I decided on City Center Homestay and I’m happy with my choice.
The “homestay” isn’t a homestay. It’s a hotel which isn’t staffed which is how most hotels in Hualien seem to be run. This means that when I arrived, there were no staff available and I had to email the owner through the booking.com app — luckily I had data on my phone.
The room I was given was quite large and certainly big enough to store a bit of luggage in as well as house the bed and table and chair. The LCD TV is massive and has international channels, the wifi is fast and reliable and the air-conditioning is icy cold. Too bad it was already cold when I visited Hualien.
I thought the bed was excellent. Super soft, nice big soft quilt and really clean. The shower was hot and strong and the bathroom modern and clean.
What was really cool was that there was a washing machine on the top floor for free use by guests.
Location is great. I initially thought the location was bad because it’s 2.5km from the train station. But to be fair, the train station is miles away from the main centre of town. Around the hotel are coffee shops and great eateries and it’s easy to catch the bus to the train station from here.
All in all, City Center Homestay is a great hotel in the center of Hualien. Recommended.
City Center Homestay
No. 83, Xinyi Street, 970 Hualien City, Taiwan
Standard Queen Room: US$36 (check current price on booking.com)
The bathroom is basic, but clean and has hot water, but no shower curtain. The floor does get wet when you shower.
The price of this place is incredible. It’s cheaper than backpacker budget, but the facilities are definitely in the flashpacker range. That is, you get a proper hotel room for next to nothing. It’s one of the best value hotels we’ve ever stayed in.
The hotel is located in the very centre of town at the big round about. The MRT is a 30 second walk away.
Of course, this hotel is not for everyone. It’s still a budget hotel and not everything is perfect. But it’s good enough for most people and I recommend staying here.
Make sure you check the price on Agoda first to ensure you get a good deal. I found Booking.com to be slightly more expensive.
Firstly, the checkin procedure took less than 5 minutes and we were on our way to our room. As is with the case with many Japanese hotels, rooms here are quite small.
But small doesn’t mean crappy. The bed was layered with quilts and soft coverings, the TV was a massive thing of more than 43″, it came with phone charging adapters, pyjamas and the coolest little bathroom!
The breakfast downstairs is often included in your room price and offers a wide range of Japanese food as well as a few Western style dishes such as cereal and bread. It was definitely filling and we were happy with it.
Location of this place is really good if you need to catch a train because it is literally 5 minutes from the Nagoya train station, 2 minutes from the nearest convenience store, but about 2km from the main central district of Nagoya. And that’s something you’re going to have to think about when staying in Nagoya. Do you want to be close to the train station so you don’t have to carry your luggage far, or do you want to be close to the very centre of town so you don’t have to walk far to see the sights.
For our first hotel in Japan, Richmond Hotel Shinkansen was a winner! And judging by many of the other reviews we’ve since read, most people agree.
The rooms here are quite spacious, the bedding soft and the included pyjamas very comfortable. The TV is a big one and the wifi is fast.
The bathroom featured lots of good amenities and the shower was super hot and super strong. Cleanliness of the whole place was excellent.
We ate at the in-house restaurant twice. Once for incredible Hida beef at dinner and once for breakfast. Both were really impressive.
In fact, the breakfast was excellent with a wide range of dishes including salmon, pastries, bacon and crispy fried chicken.
The hotel itself is located just around the corner from the train station so you don’t need to a taxi to get there — you simply walk perhaps 150m. The old town is 750m away which is easy walking distance.
Located a 10 minute walk from the main Taichung train station, this hotel is in a great location. It’s also close to Taichung Park and Yizhong Street Night Market. There was no sign out the front and it didn’t really look like a hotel, but I asked a passing local and they pointed me in the right direction.
As of March 2017, it felt new! Fittings were clean and not broken, paint was quite fresh and the bathroom sparkling.
Facilities included a private hot water bathroom, air-conditioner, wardrobe, table and chair, relatively fast wifi, a couple of cups, a hairdryer, small toiletries set and a TV with international channels. Everything you need really.
The room is small, but it sort of doesn’t matter because it’s comfortable.
All in all, I thought this hotel was fantastic for the price. I paid about US$30, but you can 
The rooms at Dormy Kanazawa are quite small, but come with large LCD TV (no international channels), fast wifi, smallish double beds, air conditioning and older style bathrooms. Even though the rooms were a little bit older than we’ve previously experienced, they were very clean and comfortable.
There’s a free onsen onsite, but we didn’t try it but friends of ours did. They were suitably impressed!
The breakfast issue aside, Dormy Inn Kanazawa is a decent option if you’re visiting Kanazawa as it’s incredibly close to both the train and bus stations so that you can just walk around the corner to check in. Kenroku-en is a 3km walk away. Awesome.
The latest prices for the hotel 
