Villa 32 Beitou

Rooms and decor

Each villa runs roughly 70 to 100 square metres, and you pick the style. The Japanese rooms come with tatami mats and futon bedding done in true ryokan fashion, while the Western suites use a firm king bed with a sofa for sitting. Ceilings are high, the wood is real, the curtains are linen, and warm-white lighting keeps the mood soft at any hour. There are Japanese touches throughout, from a low coffee table to a window nook that looks out at Yangmingshan. Plenty of honeymooners single out the tatami layout, because sipping warm sake there in the evening feels just right.

Food and amenities

Villa 32 gives each villa its own private butler, who handles everything from booking your dinner table to laying on champagne and a honeymoon cake, and even running the onsen or setting up a couples spa treatment in the room. The spa uses products on the level of a luxury Kyoto hotel. The kaiseki course dinner can be served right in your villa if you like — the chef works local Taiwanese ingredients with genuine Japanese technique, so each plate is both pretty and fun to eat. Real guests scored the service category a high 9.4.

Location and getting there

The resort sits up on the Beitou hillside, about 8 minutes and 650 m from MRT Xinbeitou, with a hotel shuttle to fetch you. Beitou Hot Spring Park is a 7-minute walk, the Hot Spring Museum about 9 minutes, and Beitou Thermal Valley roughly 1.2 km up the road. Taipei Main Station is around 35 minutes by MRT, and Songshan Airport about 20 minutes by car. It is quiet and green, which is the whole point.

Things to know before booking

This is a splurge — rates start over $800 a night, so it really only makes sense for a honeymoon, an anniversary, or a surprise trip. Breakfast is light for the price level. And it is well out of central Taipei, so you will lean on the hotel shuttle or a taxi to come and go rather than walking to dinner.

Our take

Villa 32 Beitou is the resort honeymooners fly in for from Tokyo and Hong Kong — a ryokan-style retreat of just 5 villas, each one closer to a private home beside a hot spring than a room in a big hotel. For $800 and up you get a private onsen villa, a butler, a couples spa, and food at a level you would expect from a fine restaurant, all with no one to disturb you. The onsen water runs at 38 to 42 degrees with a faint sulphur scent and stays on around the clock, so a 2am soak under the stars is fair game. We recommend it with full confidence as the most romantic resort in Taiwan — if budget is not the issue and you want to give your partner a memory for life, this is the answer.