Last updated on February 2nd, 2024 at 01:04 pm

One of the Best Hotels in Ximending District, Taiwan

I’ve stayed in plenty of budget hotels all over Taipei, Taiwan. And I prefer searching for hotels in Taipei’s Ximending District. Simply because it’s one of the best areas to stay for tourists. So what do I look for when I’m searching for hotels on the internet?

I start with hotels with weird names. And it doesn’t get any weirder than Hotel Papa Whale.

Sure, I know it’s an odd way to pick a hotel. But let’s face it, Hotel Papa Whale is an eye catching unique name. If this was a marketing ploy, it worked. Even while I was searching for Hotel Papa Whale reviews I could see a lot of guests who’ve stayed there previously have the same sentiment.

Anyways if it indeed was a marketing ploy it worked. After delving into Hotel Papa Whale’s details to make this review I took a good look at the hotel’s surrounding area.

I became satisfied as it looked like a decent hotel to stay in Taipei. So I leaped and booked a room. That was a few years ago.

After a few more stays at this wildly popular budget hotel in Taipei’s Ximending district, I decided to write up a review of Hotel Papa Whale this time to help bolster my most excellent post Guide to Visiting Taipei.

Guest reception area at Hotel Papa Whale…

The Location

Hotel Papa Whale is located in Ximending District as I already mentioned. It’s the best area to stay in Taipei hands down for first-time tourists visiting the city. Though the hotel property is on the outskirts of Ximending there is a benefit. And that is it’s not too crowded.

Yet still easy to walk out from the hotel and enjoy the atmosphere as well as find plenty of yummy Taiwanese food and snacks outside the hotel vicinity.

Plus the dozens of 7-Elevens nearby. I’m not kidding. You’ll see when you get there.

Ximending District is most active starting from the afternoon until late at night so expect a lot of people both locals and tourists alike. Although it’s mainly a shopping area I believe most people go to Ximending for the food.

Ximending District has a lively nighttime atmosphere. It’s a great area to stay for shopping and eating day and night…

Hotel Papa Whale is not exactly centrally located in Ximending. But you can still walk from the hotel to Taipei Main Station to catch the Airport Train in about 15 minutes.

The hotel property is huge and encompasses a third of the entire block. With a huge hot pot, sushi restaurant, and dessert shop on the ground level. It’s all part of the hotel so if you book a room at Papa Whale with breakfast included you’ll be eating hot pot for breakfast.

However, I never booked a room that included breakfast at Hotel Papa Whale. Only because there are so many restaurants outside to eat instead. But maybe one day I’ll try it out just for the experience.

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  A nice open courtyard...

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  Cafe section. You have to order something to sit there...

The Room

For this trip to Taipei, the room type I booked at Hotel Papa Whale for this review is called “Elegant Double Room” and the room size is 13 m² with no view.

If you’ve never stayed inside a room with no window before it’s odd at first. But you get used to it.

However, Hotel Papa Whale has this workaround where they place daylight LED strips outside faux windows. Which makes it seem like you’ve got a view of the outside. Well, sort of…

The weird thing is it’s on 24 hours. Unless there was a light switch but I couldn’t find it. It’s good that the hotel had blackout curtains installed or else my circadian clock would go bonkers.

I booked a room on Agoda.com for $80 USD a night with taxes included and no breakfast. Which is not a bad price at all for a hotel in a prime location in Taipei. But there are cheaper rates for rooms located on the basement level of Hotel Papa Whale.

Please excuse my pajamas on the bed. I don’t know what I was thinking…

The other side of the room and more of my dirty laundry…

A nice big work desk to fit the junk for a travel bloggers needs…

The bed was really nice and comfortable. And the large screen television in front of the bed was a bonus. With lots of television channels including a bunch of movie channels with Hollywood hits. It’s a nice room, big too with high ceilings so you don’t get that cooped up feeling. Unlike most newer hotels today that are built smaller.

Another plus point for Hotel Papa Whale is the amount of universal electrical sockets available in the room. Which comes in handy for any digital nomad. With gear that needs constant battery charges. And because the installed sockets are compatible with most plugs you don’t need to carry around power adapters.

To me, that’s a bonus point for Hotel Papa Whale.

What is a bit odd are the hallways of the hotel. And it is a big hotel with only one set of elevators. There are a total of 365 rooms with 4 floors of guest rooms.

So if you’ve got yourself a room at the far end you will be walking for a little bit. But of course, they do have hotel staff who can help you move large luggage around.

Doesn’t this look like a dormitory on a spaceship?

Check out that hallway that leads to my room. It has this cool sci-fi look and feel. I felt like a Storm Trooper was going to round the corner anytime soon. Anyways, back to the room review.

The Bathroom

Hotel Papa Whale has earned a lot of points in my book for their bathroom design. There are these cool bathroom fixtures sort of giving off a steampunk style and feel. The shower room and bathroom are separated by a wash basin.

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  A shelf with bathroom necessities tucked under the wash basin...

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  There's also a door to close the shower room...

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  Although you may not see it there is a door for the toilet room...

And of course, there’s free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel property. And I must say the connection was fast and I never had any problems with connecting and signal drop-offs.

Also, every room has an individual thermostat so you can set the temperature to cold or warm. There is also a small electronic safe plus a refrigerator with 2 bottles of water stocked daily during room cleaning.

The Overall Hotel Property

So there’s also a laundry room though I have never used it before. I usually save all my dirty laundry until I’m back in NYC to wash it all. Hotel Papa Whale is not considered a fancy hotel. There’s no swimming pool, or fitness center with white-gloved services.

But they serve the purposes of travelers who simply desire a modern and clean room to rest after a long day of sightseeing. Which suits me perfectly.

A large selection of books for guests to browse through in the hotel lobby

Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to review the breakfast offerings from Papa Whale Hotel. I try to be as thorough as I can whenever I do hotel reviews.

But to be honest, whatever Taipei hotel review I do I’m not tempted at all by hotel breakfast. Unless its overall room rate is too good to pass up.

Lots of restaurants in Taipei open early ready to serve breakfast…

You can find a ton of good restaurants near the hotel if you just walk towards central Ximending. Part of the overall travel experience is eating like locals. That’s my take on it so I don’t believe you need to book a room at Papa Whale Hotel with breakfast.

The Takeaway

On my most recent visit to Taipei, I stayed in Hotel Papa Whale for a week for this blog review. I had no problems with the rooms and services. There are lots of hotels in Ximending District to pick and choose from.

Hotel Papa Whale is one of the best ones in my book for anyone not looking to spend more than $50USD to $80USD a night.

For me, the price was just right. Hotel Papa Whale is not far from Taipei Main Station so you can easily access Airport Bus or Airport MRT train. It’s within walking distance to many of Taipei’s historical sightseeing locations like the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial and also the Taiwan National Museum and others.

Most importantly Hotel Papa Whale is in the Ximending District, which is one of the best areas to visit Taipei, especially for first-time visitors who want to see the best of Taipei.

If you would like to add your own Papa Whale Hotel review to this blog post please drop a comment below. You can find the best rates and reviews on Agoda.com as I did.