hello stare,
i went to hualien for a weekend in march, while i was in taiwan.
if you are arriving by train you will have no problem finding a hotel. as soon as we walked out of the train station and headed toward the hotels (we did not have a room booked yet), a woman approached us who runs a hotel one block from the train station.
it is called the CHIAN TAI. first she showed us the most expensive room, but when i said it was too expensive she showed us another smaller, yet still nice room. we booked two rooms. i got a room with one double bed for NT$1500 for 2 nights. not bad for US$24 per night.
it was clean and comfortable and very close to the train station, restaurants, bars and an area of town i found fun-lots of game rooms, bars, and activity-although so much quieter than taipei. hualien was a lot of fun. my nonadventurous friends crashed out as soon as we got there but i wanted to explore hualien, so i walked out the door of the hotel and went to the right, in the opposite direction of the train station. lots of fun, and friendly people.
the woman we met comes out to solicit customers whenever a train arrives, but in case she’s not there it’s easy to find. you can see it from the front door of the train station. just walk out the main door and from there you will see many hotels. the one i stayed at is on the right. just go down the sidewalk on the right up to the main road and its right across the street. there is a small coffee shop right underneath it to the left. there are many places to eat right next to it too.
either way, you should have no problem finding a hotel in hualien. the rates are probably similar, but i only know the CHIAN TAI. the rooms had air conditioners too, which i did not need in march, but they are available.
have fun,
jm