Find a hotel in China for you
C'est Jeune Hotel, Hualien, Taiwan
See other hotels in Hualien
Lobby
Strange shape room!
We never did figure out how to get the "radio" to work :)
Address: No.122 Jungfu Road, Hualien City
Lobby
Strange shape room!
We never did figure out how to get the "radio" to work :)
Address: No.122 Jungfu Road, Hualien City (22 votes)
Ranked #3 out of 21 in Hualien
Reviews
Cute hotel but don't expect too much. Pretty basic. On the other hand you must see Taroko Gorge if you come to Taiwan. Gorgeous. Friendly staff at the hotel. Rent a car for the day with a driver. It is worth it and not very expensive.
I stayed one night here as a stop-over for a trip to Taroko Gorge. I had picked up the youth travel card for Taiwan and this hotel was advertised at a large discount. I decided to take a break from hostelling and pay a bit extra for a good night's sleep. The man at the tourist info center at Hualien station called the hotel and reserved the room for me and then the hotel sent a taxi to pick me up at no charge. The woman at the front desk was extremely friendly. I was amazed at how much I was getting for my money. The hotel is very clean and they offer breakfast served in the room. I was getting up to catch a 6:40 bus, and they had my breakfast packed and ready to take at 6:10. The room was nice and had everything I needed, with a very comfortable bed, spacious bathroom, TV and mini fridge. The room was hot and I wasn't able to turn on the air conditioning, so I had the window open for awhile. I was on the 4th floor, but there was a fair amount of street noise. The location is very convenient to "downtown" Hualien, which as others have said, isn't much to look at. I didn't have a chance to take advantage of the free bicycle rentals, but saw several others do so. Highly recommended.
This is my overdue review of the place. Both my fiance and i adore this place, from the service we got at the reception by giving us some welcome pack with some form of coaster like thing, and then the map to guide us around the area, to informing us about the rental of the complimentary bicycles to explore the surrounding area of Hualien, right to asking us which breakfast set we would prefer and at what time so that they would bring it up to us direct to our rooms.
When we got to the room, it was lovely to open the window and notice every window had a small flower bed around it and the window view would overlook the hustle and bustle of this lovely town.
This is a hotel that remains edged in our memory as memorably lovely with a touch of class. now who says you can't get both class and value together?
We stayed a couple of nights in Hualien so we could check out Taroko Gorge. Hualien itself, after walking around every corner of it, is not much of a tourist destination persay. But as a jump off for taking in Taroko Gorge it is handy.
We grabbed a train from Taiwan and when we arrived got a taxi with no issue from Hualien train station.
The front desk people were very nice during our stay. Breakfast is always served to the room (as there is no dining room) and you choose your breakfast the day before from a small menu at front desk.
The front desk also booked our English speaking taxi driver for our day of seeing Taroko Gorge. We were very happy with this arrangement and we spent the day being driven around the stunning gorge and the taxi driver let us out wherever we wished and also on his recommendation and he would meet us at the end of our walking trail.
The hotel is itself situated away from the main shopping area. It is a good 15 minutes walk along small sidewalks and busy streets. There are a few markets to check out and a couple of resturants and a starbucks.
The room was a weird shape with the TV seemingly 5 miles away from our bed but it was fine and perfectly adequate. Free internet worked with a cable from the front desk. Bathroom clean and room in general clean.
We paid 1900TWD a night.
If you want a break from the hustle and bustle of crowd, markets and travelling in general this place offers a nice, simple and pleasant surprise.
Staff is very helpful. Room is very clean. Beds are comfortable. Breakfast served in room and are totally sufficient (they offer both Chinese and quasi-western version). They provide transporation to and from the local train station and provide bikes to guests.
This is a definitely a place I will return to should I ever visit Hualien again.
We stayed two nights at the C'est Jeune, sold on it by its #1 position on Trip Advisor. It is a simple hotel, probably the equivalent of 3 stars in the US, but it's clean, comfortable, and quiet. Rooms are plenty big with bottled water, tea, electric kettle, shampoo, toothbrush, slippers, and all other standard Asian amenities. The bed was your garden-variety, plywood-feeling, Chinese kind (the hardest bed we encountered on our four-hotel trip, though this was our second-nicest hotel).
Hotel is 10 or so minutes' drive from the train station. Don't know the cost of the ride, since we had a driver pick us up.
Breakfast was reasonable. Since they don't have a kitchen onsite, you submit your request the night before, and they deliver it at the requested time. Our second morning there, they even packaged it to-go and had it ready at 6AM (earliest time on the card is 7:30), to accommodate our very early train! That was an unexpected extra! Between the two of us on two mornings, we had fried dumplings (came with a fried egg and fruit), a "vegetarian" sandwich (loaded up with dried fish... ewww :) ), fried noodles (also came with a fried egg), and a club sandwich (complete with some kind of cutlet stacked into the mix :) ). As for "drinks," we only tried the corn chowder (yum!) and the milk coffee (super-sweet!).
We stopped at little storefronts a few blocks away for dinner each night (on the suggestion of the hotel staff) -- one time for wonton soup (delicious!) and one night for dumplings (so delicious we ordered a third basket!) We recommend you have a laminated "picture card," to help communicate what you want, as no English is spoken at these spots.
There is also a medium-sized supermarket/drugstore within a 10-minute walk of the hotel, near the two places we ate. This was a great find, and we wound up stocking up on lots of things there. Water was only TWD8 (US$0.25) per liter-and-a-half! (I also got a spiffy 2-liter nalgene-style water (tea) bottle and cheap ankle socks in a smaller size than you can find in the US).
Hotel staff was so helpful -- The man at the front desk our first night recommended the dumpling place. The woman at the front desk our first morning translated between our non-English speaking "tour guide" and us before we left at 8AM and then remembered us when we returned at 5PM and recalled the unopened question we had about what to do that night, translating again between the driver and us. She even made a call to a third person who had invited us to a show, offering our regrets.
The only complaint we had is that we booked through Orbitz, and the rate was supposed to be the equivalent of approx. US$50/night, yet we were billed for US$65/night,. The hotel staff's English was pretty limited, so we decided not to make an issue of it, and we ate the $30 (though I am still a little bothered by the unexplained overcharge).
Overall, a cute hotel with great staff. They even have bikes you can borrow for free (though we didn't) to get into the nearby city center.
We stayed at his hotel for three nights, mainly to visit Taroko gorge.
Positive:
+ a shuttle bus from the train station was available, from the hotel to the train station we had to take a taxi
+++ excellent value for money (paid around 68 USD, booked on internet)
++ nice staff - all of them speak English (more or less)
+ boutique style lobby
+ internet connection in the room
Average:
~ rooms (mostly cheap interior)
~ location: quite loud at night (dogs, traffic) but some seafood restaurants close to the hotel
Negative:
- breakfast has to be eaten in the room and is not really satisfying
Spent 3 nights in Hualian C'est Jeune Hotel between 7 - 9 May 09 and I must say I am definitely enjoy my stay. The hotel is really clean and comfortable, the staffs are really friendly and helpful and the location is great - comfortably sitting at a short distant away from the buzzing and busy street, rought 10mins walk away. Room also comes with free internet connection - laptop on your own. They don't have a restaurant but they deliver the breakfast to your room!!!
It will be a great shame for any travellers to miss this little gem. This hotel definitely contributes to my love for Hualian.
Pros:
1) Very nice and elegant.
2) Helpful staff. A young receptionist (a girl) actually helped us carry 2 pieces of our luggage up the stairs to our room. She must be really strong.
3) Breakfast in bed. Yummy sumptuous food, though not a lot to choose from.
4) Discount vouchers for shopping at Hualien City.
5) 24-hour unlimited supply of coffee at the hotel lobby.
Cons:
1) Quite a distance away from the buzz of Hualien City. We dared not cycle there cos the road was busy and the motorcyclists seemed to have come from hell. So we had to walk about 20 minutes to get to the shops and night markets there.
2) We stayed in a 2-double-bed bedroom. It was kind of small and narrow, but we were won over by its coziness :)
This hotel is easily the best on offer in the beatiful little city of Hualien. It is within walking distance of the main triangle shopping district as well as the Nan Bin Park facing the ocean. The rooms aren't massive but are well appointed and extremely clean. The staff are wonderful and even gave us a lift to the train station on the day we departed, as well as put up with our adapter crisis issues and helped out as much as they could. A complimentary Taiwan Tourism glossy travel magazine was also much appreciated.
This is an excellent hotel. It is reasonably priced at US$70 for 2pax. Very clean, reasonable-sized, neat, pleasing room with thermal-seat toilet system. The hotel staff is very friendly and will fetch you free to and from city railway station which is about 2km away. The hotel is just a short walk to the city shopping area and close (about 10 min walk) to the old bus main station where you can ride any local buses to various places of interest (at local cheap rates), including to T gorge at just Taiwan $100 per person per way up to Grand Formosa Hotel (if you intended to just sit in the bus and just take in the sight of the gorge without alighting the local bus). My advice is to take the taxi alternative, if you intend to drop off and re-alight the local bus while at the gorge (as it is difficult to recognize the local bus from the private tour bus and also fare to pay again). The taxi alternative (good, if there are 2 or more person): you can bargain and charter a taxi at the old bus main station for Taiwan $1800 (2 ways: to and fro) for 4 to 5 hours to the gorge. Remember to make it clear that it is per car NOT per person charge. The hotel staff is very helpful to explain more details
Overall a very nice and comfortable hotel which made our stay in Hualien very enjoyable.
Good points included:
1. Friendly and helpful reception. Tried a little to sell us a tour to Taroko (NT500 a person), but when we said we wanted to do it ourselves they spent quite a lot of time finding bus and train information.
2. Free bicycles for use.
3. Free coffee machine in lobby.
4. Clean, comfortable and modern bedroom.
5. Free Car transfer to railway station (driven by one of the helpful and multi-purpose reception staff!)
6. Walking distance to night market and city centre.
Things to be improved:
1. In email before arrival they said they offered free railway station pick up. We replied saying yes and giving train time details, but nobody there to pick us up.
2. Breakfast is very forgettable. You order the night before and it arrivals the next morning in your room from a take away restaurant. the trouble is that by the time it gets to you the temperature is dropping. We tried the congee, American and club sandwich. None was any good.
i loved this hotel. it was simply fantastic and charming in every way -- from the well-decorated, cute little lobby to the extremely helpful and friendly staff. the room was BIG and super-clean. the bed was incredibly comfy. they have free bikes to rent! and they helped me book a tour to taroko national park. i wanted to stay longer but my schedule wouldn't allow it...can't recommend it more.
my only suggestion to the hotel would be to have a website (or one more easily searchable from google...i had to reserve through a third-party site bc i couldn't find their info directly).
Stayed one night as part of a self drive trip around Taiwan. Good size room with comfortable bed and very modern bathroom. No restaurant and breakfast was served in the room - we had to make our breakfast choice when we checked in the night before which was a bit of a novelty. Located close to the town centre and night market with parking right outside of the hotel. Not bad value and I would happily recommend the hotel
I picked the hotel as I really liked how the lobby was done up. But the rooms are very different. Though it has been touched up somewhat, the rooms are still old styled unlike the modern lobby. And the one we had was really tiny. Air con and TV reception was poor. Internet connection though free kept breaking, so in the end we couldn't use it much. Location wise, you will have to walk a bit to the main shopping district.
However, the service was very good. Hence, the above average rating. The staff were very friendly and helpful in trying to solve our internet problems though I think the connection and tv reception was bad in general because of the heavy rain. They also sent us to the train station FOC.
We stayed at C'est Jeune for 2 nights in April 2008, booking direct with the hotel. I think the rate was around £40 per night ($2400NT) although for some reason we received a discount on that for one of the nights. A member of staff met us at the train station to drive us to the hotel and they also arranged a pre-paid taxi back to the station when we left. The room was very comfortable, modern and spacious for the price.
The hotel provided free bicycles which we took advantage of to explore the beach and coastline of Hualien. They even provided free bottles of water to take with us - a small touch but one which most hotels would not bother with. When we asked if they had any internet access they provided a laptop to our room free of charge with which we were able to access the internet (free internet is commonplace throughout Taiwan, but provision of a laptop was a pleasant bonus).
This hotel is an excellent base for a trip to Taroko Gorge, which after all is the main reason for most tourists to visit Hualien. On our second day the hotel staff booked a tour for us with a professional tour operator. It lasted around 6 hours with lunch included at the Grand Formosa Hotel. The cost was about £20 per person ($1200NT) and I can recommend this as an option if you have just one day to explore Taroko Gorge.
The only aspect of this hotel which some people may consider a negative is the lack of dining facilities. This is the last of my concerns when judging a hotel on this type of trip and is certainly not a problem here as there are numerous eating and drinking options a short walk from the hotel. Although dinner is not available a cooked breakfast was provided as room service, with a variety of Western and Asian options, and though not spectacular it was quite substantial and perfectly satisfactory.
I stayed in 8 hotels during my 2 week stay in Taiwan, from 2 to 5 star, and considering the price this was one of the best with amongst the most friendly and helpful staff I have ever encountered. I have no hesitation in recommending this hotel to anyone visiting Hualien.
My wife and I stayed there for 3 nights while in Hua lien and visiting the Taroko National park nearby. The hotel is clean, comfortable, and has friendly staff who speak decent English. We would recommend this place to anyone visiting Hualien.
When we arrived by train from Taipei, we thought of walking down to the hotel but soon realized that the city maps of Hua lien were not very well marked and only the major streets were named. The visitor center near the station called the hotel and there were cordial enough to pick us up using their van - a pleasant gesture of hospitality.
The rooms were clean and well maintained. You get to choose your complimentary breakfast from a list of options reminiscent of a bed and breakfast style of management. One of best features of the hotel was the availability of complimentary city bikes to roam around the Hualien city or to ride on the magnificent coastal bike route.
The rooms lacked storage space and the bathrooms were small, so if those considerations are important, this hotel may fall a bit short of your expectations. Otherwise this is in general a very nice place to stay in a nice little town on the east coast of Taiwan, and a gateway to Taroko National park.
This hotel was excellent in every way. The staff were professional and very nice. The lobby area was inviting and comfortable. They offered fresh coffee when I arrived. The fresh fruit placed in my room while out and about was a special treat. The breakfast is different every day. I found many people in Taiwan to be distant but the staff were cordial and helpful, including taking me to the train station and ensuring that I got on the correct train. The room was immaculate. They even delivered an English language newspaper to my room on 2 days. Wow. They arranged for my trip to the National Park nearby. They were the highlight of my adventure in Taiwan.
The C'est Jeune was exceptional in every possible way! Tastefully decorated, extremely clean, a warm and very helpful staff and a great location. We spent a few days in Hualien during the Moon Festival Holiday, primarily there to tour Taroko Gorge. The staff at C'est Jeune helped us arrange a car (which was delivered to the hotel), provided us with free bikes for the day to ride around the city, and even invited us to join the staff for Moon Festival BBQ they were having that evening! What an amazing opportunity to enjoy Taiwanese food and culture. The sincere warmth of the C'est Jeune staff and the quality of their facility made our trip there truly unforgettable! Well done C'est Jeune! Thank you so much for making our time in Hualien very special!
Perky staff, great rooms, good value, excellent location in central Hualien. Highly recommend it. We got good rates by booking directly with the hotel over the phone.
We booked this hotel on the internet and upon our arrival were pleased to find that it was brand new. The fittings and room were all nice and fresh and the staff enthusiastic and helpful with some english spoken. There are real flowers in window boxes and nice decor in the foyer. They have a free shuttle bus to and from the station, etc. When we asked about internet they provided, (for free) a laptop which we kept in the room and connected it there. Breakfast is free also with a choice of sandwiches and juice or a chinese breakfast brought to the room. There is a 7/11 nearby. The only slight drawback is the location which is about 10 minutes walk through the shops to the centre of town where there are Starbucks and Mcdonalds, various chain clothing stores and a night market. A very nice hotel in a quiet residential area