Chinshan Hotel

It's easy to walk from the hotel to the Alishan trails, including Sister Pond, Three Generation Trees, and the temple trails. The location is inside Alishan park, about five minutes from the train station and five to ten from the visitor center. Check-in and checkout were smooth, and they let us leave our bags if we arrived early or left late. The room was well kept and had a view, with basic short-stay supplies like shower gel, shampoo, slippers, and water. Staff were kind and marked on a map where breakfast was served at a nearby local restaurant and where to buy sunrise train tickets. Breakfast was okay, but the local dishes weren't to my taste, though others may like them. Nearby are other hotels, a food area with some restaurants, and a 7/11. I highly recommend it.

The room was functional but pretty small, and the toilet felt old and cold. The heater comes on after 7 pm and when it drops below 10 degrees Celsius. There's no lift, and breakfast is served outside the hotel in the eatery area. It was a traditional Taiwanese spread: porridge and small sides, with hardly any meat, plus vermicelli, plain buns, and toast. The hotel has an old-school feel, decorated with lots of Alishan paintings. It's below the food places and 7-11, so you need to take the stairs or make a big detour along the main road. Coming by bus with luggage means dragging it from the terminal, uphill and then downhill. If you're with family or have lots of bags, Alishan Gou may be a better fit because they shuttle guests to and from the bus terminal.

The rooms are huge and clean, and the service was great, super friendly and helpful. The decor feels like the 1980s. We're a family of three from the United States and booked a room with two double beds, which suited our preference for a larger room. The location is very convenient, especially since a flight of stairs gets you to the food, shops, and convenience stores.

The hotel's self-organized tours made our Alishan trip memorable, and I especially want to acknowledge the staff, particularly the male driver and guide. We didn't drive, and they promptly picked us up from and returned us to the bus station, which was great. The hotel is clearly dated, the rooms are small, and there's no elevator, but it was serviceable and we slept well. It was one of the cheaper choices in a decent spot near the train station and park trails. We joined the sunset, night stargazing, and next-morning sunrise tours. The male staff member who drove us led the sunset and stargazing outings in Mandarin at a lookout about five minutes away. We saw a beautiful sunset and sea of clouds, and got an amazing Milky Way photo in mid-October. The guide used our phones to help capture the shots. The tours were about 200 and 250 respectively, good value in my view, and they offered a refund if the weather was poor, which was a nice gesture. The guide was entertaining and shared lots of information in Mandarin, including how to identify constellations and planets. A different guide took us about 15 minutes away for sunrise. Compared with the usual Zhushan train option, we could leave an hour later, skip queuing for the train, and avoid walking to the observatory. Afterwards, the guide drove us to see Taiwan's oldest tree. The tour cost 300 NTD, the same as a round-trip Zhushan ticket. I'd recommend staying here and joining the tours if you understand Mandarin, aren't too fussy about hotel quality, and don't have a car or your own guide. We got lucky with the weather, and I hope you do too. Thanks to the staff for a memorable time in Alishan.