Tan Hui Modern Hotel

Good location opposite Zhongxing Parking Lot on the second street back from Shuishe Pier Area. Narrow and tall hotel, small rooms, comfortable bed, thin towels with the odd hole in them, large TV, fridge, tea/coffee facilities, dark bathroom, hot water 24 hrs, free WiFi. No safe, room was cold (could not use the air conditioner/heater remote - written language issue) Signs everywhere about rules - toilet paper, breakfast times, reception times, checkin and out, must scrap your breakfast dishes and place here etc. Some signs had English translation some didn’t. Very orderly and organized place. The staff and reception were very friendly and helpful. A bicycle hire place is literally next door. A few restaurants open in Mingsheng Street (the hotel goes through to that street) but most of the restaurants seem to close 8pm and were very Chinese tourist focused. Not many tables available. A few westerner menu restaurants on Mingsheng Street but they were vacant with no customers whilst the other restaurants had queues. Hints: If you park in the parking lot you receive a colored token. Enter through the far right barrier gate (the left side is for buses) - the red sign and arrow. Before getting the car out (after parking) give token to reception at your hotel - your hotel give you a ticket (180 TWD), pay the hotel, then take token to small manned station area at front of parking lot, they put token on a machine and hand it back to you. It must be a flat rate for hotel guests, subsidized etc. The parking lot is for the general public and it gets full very quickly but is very large. Don’t be alarmed if you can’t get in and a long queue forms, it clears quickly, as cars come and go all day long. We waited about 20mins one day, and no time the other days. Weekends is busy. Another hint: The good thing about the car hire is you can explore the surrounding townships because SML is overrun by Chinese tourists and it was a nightmare especially on the weekend. Driving in Taiwan was easy, signs in English and used google maps on IPad and phone (get sim/data card from Chunghwa Telecom in Taipei or Chiaya City) The townships around and the small countryside roads were amazing. We ended up in Lugu Township one day exploring and lunch at a Taiwanese Kiln Roasted Chicken Restaurant (No. 267-1, Section 3, Zhongzheng Road, Lugu Township, opens 11am), and the next day Puli Township (Dumplings at Wu Hua Ma Dumpling House opposite Nissan, corner of Section 3, Zhongshan Road, Puli Township). And also Feeling 18 for chocolate, cake and coffee. We did the same staying In Fenchihu and Alishan areas.