Hotel Review: Spring City Resort 北投春天酒店

We made the mistake of booking a hotel in Beitou on a Monday night.  When we checked in at 12:30pm, we were told that our room wasn’t ready yet, which we expected.  However, the hotel also advised us that everything in Beitou is closed on Mondays, with the exception of the public library.  I couldn’t believe that even Thermal Valley, a public viewing area was closed.  They don’t charge for admission, so I’m not sure why it wouldn’t just be open all the time.

Since we now had all this time on our hands, we decided to see if any hotels had hot springs or spas where we could spend a relaxing afternoon.  We came across Millennium Hot Springs which has an inexpensive outdoor springs area you could soak in, but it was crowded and a bit noisy and not exactly what we were hoping for.  We started going into hotels and asking if they had spas and surprisingly, most hotels didn’t.  I thought that with this being a resort town, all the hotels would have some sort of spa, but in reality, they just had hotel rooms you could rent out with huge bathtubs that filled with spring water. Our last hope was Spring City Resort and we decided to make the 20 minute uphill trek up to the resort.  Thankfully our efforts weren’t wasted as they did end up having a spa.  We purchased a package which included a 30 minutes soak and a 40 minute massage for $2400NTD per person.  Chinese massages are so different and they even used a bit of guasha (刮痧) on me.  Guasha is a Chinese technique that includes scrapping the skin to release unhealthy elements.  It can be quite painful and you’re usually left with a lot of bruises.  However, I actually really enjoyed it and didn’t find it too painful.

Overall, the spa experience was really nice.  Afterwards, you could catch the hotel’s shuttle back down to the train station and save yourself from the 20 minute walk.

Spring City Resort
Address: No. 18號, Youya Rd, Beitou District, Taipei City, Taiwan 112
Phone:+886 2 2897 5555