Balen Hotel

I booked on Booking.com for TWD1700 ($78) per night during a cycle tour. The hotel kindly upgraded me to a room with two king beds. The hotel is a bit older and tired. The room I was in had a leaky bath, but a bath no less. Mattresses in Taiwan hotels are like rocks. They are super hard, and this was no different. The bathrooms also don't have shower curtains. The room had a balcony and although you couldn't sit out on it (nor would you want to with the wind and noise in Xinfu), it was nice to have fresh air and to be able to open the balcony door. They also very kindly let me use the laundry facilities, for free. There was a 7-eleven a few stores away, and otherwise the hotel is right in the centre of town. The staff really made my stay here, great. They were super friendly and went out of their way to try and find a massuese for me, and helped out with locations, were patient when I couldn't speak the language, and just were really friendly. They always greeted me on returning, and made me feel really welcome. In all, it's a bit tired and a bit over priced, but was a reasonable and comfortable stay. One further downside was there seemed to be a Taiwanese tour group staying also on my floor, who didn't know how to have quiet conversations in their room. Across and up the road a little is a farmer's market and a little cafe selling good lattes, with a pharmacy and Rx shop also nearby.