Does anyone have recommendations for places to stay in Hualien? Iām putting on my romance pants so hostels/ b and bās are not really what Iād be into. I donāt think weāll take in Taroko and Iād like to be close to the stone market as well. Any restaurants or sights around the town that could score me some points with my ladyfriend would be greatly appreciated also.
P.S. Has anyone been down the #14/ 8 in the last week?
Thanks in advance
Bian Cheng is v good for food. This is supposed to be their homepage but itās not very informative.
http://www.wretch.cc/album/album.php?id=hualien55828
Restaurant is sort of below Linsen Bridge, south bank of the river, on the far side of the car-park.
How much money you wanna spend? The Farglory on the top of the hill just south of town and overlooking the town is the nicest place I can recall in or immediately around Hualien, but itāll set you back maybe 4500-5000NT a night. Great great views, classy rooms, and a real good buffet breakfast. Cheesy interior design in the lobby and public areas but clean anyway. Hereās the English website:
http://www.farglory-hotel.com.tw/en/html/room_1.htm
There are a couple of weird boutique kind of places you could stay at, Iāll see if I can find some.
Kimamaya, cool Japanese BBQ place with sunken tables and handcrafted beer. 144 Bo Ai Rd. Maybe better for a later night snack and drink than the primary meal. Sounds like you want a hotel restaurant.
Qixingtan is a nice romantic place in the evening. Stroll along the beach. Get a coffee.
Liyu Lake also for the afternoon. Row of cool stylish B&B and cafes on south end. A place called Balanjoyo CafƩ is cool. Owner imports coffee from Guatemala and does his own roasting outside. Place is all wood with Guatemalan furnishings. Nice place to stay as well especially mid-week.
[quote=āMucha Manā]Qixingtan is a nice romantic place in the evening. Stroll along the beach. Get a coffee.
[/quote]
Didnāt Qixingtan have a little whitewashed hotel near the place the rent bikes back near the beach in the little town? Might not be the classiest of places but itād have a great view and you could pick up bikes and ride em into town if the weather isnāt nasty. Then again, if the fighters are out doing training you might be woken up by roaring jets over your head.
Thanks for the help gentlemen. Iād like to just go and play it by ear but apparently thatās not the way things are done. This info will at least make it look like I was pro-active. As for renting bikes, exercise seems to be a four character word. That is good to know though.
[quote=āTwoTonguesā][quote=āMuzha Manā]Qixingtan is a nice romantic place in the evening. Stroll along the beach. Get a coffee.
[/quote]
Didnāt Qixingtan have a little whitewashed hotel near the place the rent bikes back near the beach in the little town? Might not be the classiest of places but itād have a great view and you could pick up bikes and ride em into town if the weather isnāt nasty. Then again, if the fighters are out doing training you might be woken up by roaring jets over your head.[/quote]
Hotel Bayview is what I think you are talking about. We are staying there in early January during our vacation. From the photos and everything we have been reading, it sounds like a nice place and itās only a few steps from the beach. The runway is up the beach a bit so hopefully it wonāt be too noisy there. Although I hope to see some fighters when Iām out with my camera.
Reviving this thread after returning from a short mid-week excursion to Hualien City. This is not a town Iām especially familiar with, and I my impressions are like newbieās even though I am quite familiar with other parts of Hualien County.
The renovated train station looks quite nice, though it is frigginā far from the city center. Everything seems to be set up for cars and motorcycles. Vast amounts of space are dedicated for cars in front of the station. Pedestrians seem to be treated like a nuisance.
I found some very decent eats scattered around downtown, including Salt Lick and a wonton joint I enjoyed on Zhongshan Road near the main post office building. I stumbled across surprisingly good french baking at 181ēēå± also on Zhongshan Road.
The city layout (such as it is) feels quite scattered, undisciplined, unplanned. Transit does not seem to exist. Youbike has not arrived (it has in Taitung, by the way, so clearly Hualien has not made it a priority). The driving appeared visibly more terrible than just about any place Iāve stayed in Taiwan. I was almost hit twice in a couple of days.
Those are my impressions, as a relative newbie, visiting Hualien City mid-week. Iād love to hear from other forumosans with more nuanced and informed takes on the city.
Guy
Yes, be careful if walking, biking, driving or even thinking about moving about in Hualien city. I do believe the city is the worst for driving I have been in.
Give the big night market a try. I usually donāt like night market crowds but this one has enough space for the crowdsā¦then can walk over to the beach area where there are long sidewalks.
Thank you for your (much better informed) take on things.
Based on my very small sample size, I would agree.
Guy
Yes I found that spot! I followed the walkway along the ocean for several kilometers until I came to the brilliant Kengo Kuma designed shipping container Starbucks storeāit turned out to be a great place to chill mid-week.
Guy
Iām okay with the driving there. It seems more sloppy, as in éØä¾æ, and there are lots of slow drivers, but there is far less aggressiveness than in Taipei. For example, at a red light, switching lanes so that youāre at the front is a given in Taipei, but rare in Hualien.
Together with ample parking, I feel very relaxed driving there. I havenāt walked around the city much, though, and maybe thatās what youāre referring to.
Yes, I agree. Iām not much of a night market fan, but I enjoy the one in Hualien.
The first time I was almost hit I was on the back of a friendās motorcycle, driving smoothly not quickly, and a car turning left was quite blithely ready to hit us. It was a near miss.
The second time I was almost hit I was walking was on a stretch of road near the main post office with no sidewalkāand a post office truck clipped by me so close I was left terrified. This was in the middle of the day. Iād never experienced anything like that in twenty years in Taiwan.
Rather than having a sidewalk on that stretch of road, the city designers instead prioritized space for motorcycle parking. 
Guy
You can walk on that same path northward toward Qixingtan beach area. However, for one stretch the path just turns into a road which goes through the industrial district (including alot of the marble factories).
From the Starbucks you mentioned is also another bike route heading east but I have not been on that path.
Good tips. Thank you!
For forumosans unfamiliar with this conceptually experimental structure, it looks like this:
It was clean and set up wonderfully. I enjoyed my time there immensely. 
Guy
There is a newer Starbucks only 3-4 minute drive south from that Starbucks. The location is okay but will be even nicer in future after trees grow up around the pond. Also some other stores being built nearby. I suspect this will be a very popular locationā¦already lots of people know this new Starbucks. Starbucks Hualien Promiseland Shop. Near Promiseland Resort.
Alas as a nondriver I did not make it that far afield. Probably for the best that I didnāt try to walk as itās listed as ātemporarily closedā on google maps. I wonder when itāll be reopened?
Guy
Is Hualien City/County back to mostly normal after earthquake (excluding Taroko Gorge and surrounding area)?
In terms of daily life, yes.
But in terms of reliance on visitors who primarily have come to this corner of Taiwan to visit Taroko, no.
Has the city done anything to make itself more walkable, more attractive, some place to hang out even whenāsadlyāTaroko is closed? That part is unclear to me, as I am a newbie. But many of the frank and acidic points made in the past by the great @Mucha_Man about Taitung City (a place Iāve come to quite like) could I think be also made about Hualien City in the mid-2020s. It looks to me like a badly laid out town that does not give much of a thought to visitorsāor anyone, reallyānot using scooters and cars.
Guy
