Where to stay in Taipei: the Mandarin Oriental
Favoured by actresses Karen Mok and Shu Qi, the MO in Taipei has the largest hotel spa in Taiwan
What is it? Fifteen storeys of urban sophistication on tree-lined Dunhua North Road (above), Taipei’s main boulevard. The Mandarin Oriental opened here in May 2014, in a building erected on the site of the old Mandarina Crown Hotel. Geographically, it has the three most important factors going for it: location (in Taipei’s most established business district), location (15 minutes by car from Taipei 101 and many of the city’s other top attractions), location (five minutes by car from Songshan International Airport, which, unfortunately, isn’t the one Hong Kong flights arrive at).
Beyond the marble entranceway and the magnificent Czech-made lobby chandelier, the hotel consists of 256 guest rooms and 47 suites, each a set of vestibule, lounge, bedroom, “powder room”, walk-in wardrobe and a bathroom that is further subdivided into discrete areas. The warren-like effect is favoured by the likes of Shu Qi and Karen Mok Man-wai whenever they’re in town, apparently. As well as having a “grand salon” for weddings, this MO boasts the largest hotel spa in Taiwan.
Ooooh … do tell us about that. Spread over two floors, the spa has 12 treatment rooms, including four couples suites and two VIP suites (below), a small sauna and a steam room. The signature treatment takes guests on a trip around Taiwan. On the 150-minute Formosa Journey, bodies are exposed to Tainan Qigu salt and Hualien dark jade, but I cannot confirm whether the therapists’ hands “slip and flip over your shoulders […] like butterflies flying across the mountains and descending on the fresh greenery [sic] plains,” as advertised.