A Fine Family Vacation Hotel in Taitung County

Text: Rick Charette, Photos: Ray Chang

In an online poll conducted this year by the Taiwan travel company EzTravel, this lovely Mediterranean-look resort, located just south of Chishang, was declared “Taiwan’s most beautiful hotel.” Need one say more?

The Papago hotel early in the morning

Here’s more. Netizens lauded the quiet surroundings, low-rise architecture that enables sweeping views up and down the lush valley, and the luxurious outdoor-pool complex in the inner courtyard of the three-sided main building, umbrellas and swaying palm trees providing ample shade.

The rooms inside the main building are very spacious; some look over the inner-courtyard pools, some face outward toward the mountains, and all have comfy balconies. Beyond the main building and pool complex is a “village” of luxury villas, in Victorian, Balinese, and Mediterranean style.

There are two high-quality restaurants, one serving Chinese cuisine, the other Chinese/international buffets. An upscale spa complex is located in front of the main building, alfresco in the middle with roofs covering the spa pools along the sides (different temperatures, and such options as a “roselle” mineral-water soak, “milk” soak, etc.). Two of the many other amenities/services of special note are the hotel’s well-stocked bike-rental operation and its daily 1-hour tractor-train tours, during which your guide introduces (in Chinese) the area’s irrigation works, the Taiwan Sugar Chishang Pastoral Farm Resort, and other local spots of interest.

The palm trees outside Papago give the resort hotel a southern-island feel

The lobby of the hotel. Notice the cute flower-shaped lamps on the ceiling.

Young members of the family love the Papago “greeting committee”

Entrance to one of the hotel’s numerous villas

Master bedroom in one of the villas

Japanese-style room

Private pool

Airstream caravan at Papago

Inside the small and cozy caravan

The hotel’s Sunflower Court buffet restaurant

Fresh-cut meat

Chinese-style dishes

The inner court of the hotel at night

View from the fifth floor in the evening

About the author

Rick Charette

[email protected]

A Canadian, Rick has been resident in Taiwan almost continually since 1988. His book, article, and other writings, on Asian and North American destinations and subjects—encompassing travel, culture, history, business/economics—have been published widely overseas and in Taiwan. He has worked with National Geographic, Michelin, APA Insight Guides, and other Western groups internationally, and with many local publishers and central/city/county government bodies in Taiwan. Rick also handles a wide range of editorial and translation (from Mandarin Chinese) projects. 

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