Ku Kuan Hotel

The staff were very helpful, but the facilities and breakfast didn’t match the room rates. It’s up in the mountains, with a long drive in, and the tap water in the room smelled chemical. Bring bottled water if you stay there.

The hot springs facilities were great. We also loved the beautiful Japanese-style room, it was bright and had everything we needed for a comfortable stay. The small drinking-water tap was handy, and the bed and gentle climate control made it easy to fall asleep. The staff were friendly and helpful. Not everyone spoke English, but Google Translate worked fine for us. When we asked the next day, they arranged a transfer to the start of the trail without any trouble. One small wish: it’d be great if the coffee place made lattes and cappuccinos as well as espresso and Americano.

The rooms were large, well kept, and spotlessly clean, and breakfast was filling. There’s a big parking lot too, though the rate was a little high during the CNY holiday. The relaxing hot mineral bath and fish massage area were nice, and the surroundings felt refreshing, with a gently flowing brook and a mountain hiking trail nearby.

The Wi-Fi was very weak and kept dropping, almost unusable. The hotel is old, and sound carries through the balcony windows, so we could hear conversations in the corridor and neighbours upstairs and downstairs. Our room was also very cold at 11 degrees Celsius at 10:30pm. Front desk said there was no heating and told me to switch off the air conditioning. It felt like the hotel didn’t care that we were cold. I booked a double bed and was first given room #725, which had a great river view, but the toilet floor was wet because the bowl was leaking. The front desk ladies told me facilities would fix it right away. One came to the room and called them, then said it was a known issue and couldn’t be fixed immediately. I changed to #722, but the view was of a noisy walkway. Stay elsewhere!