Stay near Taichung Train Station (airbnb)
Heading to Taichung? Some might prefer to stay near Fengjia, but we think it’s more convenient to stay near Taichung train station. In this way, we can walk to the train station with our luggage after we check out. And for Fengjia, we had a car to drive us there (after our one day tour), and we can simply take bus back to our accommodation.
There are quite a few accommodation near to Taichung train station (note that HSR Taichung train station is about 10 minutes drive away), and one of the nearest is CityInn Plus Taichung Station Branch. However, the stay at CityInn comes with a premium but it’s still not crazily expensive because Taichung’s accommodation is cheaper than that in Taipei. In the end, we found a relatively cheap airbnb that’s near to the train station!
Airbnb Studio with en-suite bathroom and kitchen: www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/14713867
Price: S$80, averaging S$40 per night
Duration: 2 weekday nights from Tues to Thurs (Apr 2017)
If you don’t have an airbnb account, sign up at www.airbnb.com.sg/c/christinas7795 to get S$50 off your first trip of S$100 or more.
This airbnb apartment is conveniently located near to Taichung Railway Station, a comfortable 7 to 8 minutes walk away. However, the apartment and the building on the whole are both aged and old. The entrance, lift, letterboxes reminded me of rugged Hongkong and the airbnb we stayed there. But for the price we paid, it’s acceptable.
As for communication, he is responsive. However, do message or call him to tell him you are arriving in 10-15 minutes time. Because even though we messaged to inform him we had left Cingjing, he was still not around to open the door for us. So we called him when we reached and he took about 10 minutes to come over. He’s a local taiwanese who stays across the street.
Anyway the room looked like the photo on airbnb website with no surprises. It was generally clean, comfortable and tidy. There were basic amenities such as toiletries, hair dryer and four mineral water bottles (2 for each night). Also, he provided extra pillows as requested for my bump. :)
The TV only has a basic selection of channels, and mainly the local shows. The aircon is old but working quite okay. The toilet is quite spacious and has an instant heater. However, I have problems with adjusting the heat of the heater – the water was either very hot or very cold. We found the sweet spot if we turned the heater knob to no.4. Moreover, the shower head is at an awkward height and could not be adjusted to above the head.
Just so you know, on our first night, there were cockroaches running rouge around the shoes, dustbin and the cabinet which had a tray of tea and coffee sachets above it!! Oh gosh, my hubby had to kill 4-5 of them. We were so disgusted by them that we only focused on killing them and forgot to take photos! >.<
So we texted the owner to tell him the situation and to bring pesticide over. He didn’t apologise and replied that he would bring it over tomorrow morning. He did bring over, but only after we have left the room for our one day tour to the outskirts of Taichung.
This could only be an one-off event because most of the reviews didn’t mention this. And I think the host has another airbnb room (with a renovated look) opposite of our room, because we saw mothballs lining across that room and few other rooms in the same floor the next day (after we told him the cockroach issue)
For the price and location, it’s worth it to stay for one night. Just pray you don’t meet the roaches! But for two nights, you might want to source for alternatives.