Where to stay in Taipei: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Xinyi is the Taipei of the skyline shots. Taipei 101, for a few years the tallest building in the world, stands over a district of wide pavements, department stores linked by skywalks, cinemas and clubs. Elephant Mountain, a short, steep climb from the end of the metro line, gives the classic view back over it all at sunset.

This is where the big international hotels are. One, the first of its kind in Taiwan, has 850 rooms and its own walkway to Taipei 101; others bring outdoor pools, full-service spas and a party-friendly pool bar. A smaller, art-filled hotel sits five minutes' walk from the tower and City Hall station, and another overlooks a leafy creative park.

Zhongshan North Road is Taipei's most handsome street, a boulevard shaded by camphor trees and lined with bridal shops, galleries and hotels. The lanes behind it, around Zhongshan and Shuanglian stations, are a warren of independent boutiques, hair salons, cocktail bars and third-wave coffee shops in old Japanese-era houses. Ningxia Night Market, small and local, is a short walk west.

It is a civilised, central place to stay. The neighbourhood's grandest hotel is five minutes from Zhongshan station, with a shopping arcade beneath it; others bring Japanese polish, including one with a rooftop pool. Smart four-stars three to five minutes from the metro offer much the same location for less.

Taipei Main Station is the centre of the web. The airport MRT, Taiwan's high-speed rail, regular trains to Jiufen and the east coast and the city's two busiest metro lines all meet here, above and below a maze of underground shopping streets. The 2-28 Peace Park, the National Taiwan Museum and the old North Gate are within a stroll.

For a short first visit or a trip with day excursions, it is hard to beat. One hotel sits directly across from the station; another, styled like a European palace library, rises above the bus terminal and mall next door. A big, classic five-star is a stop east, and a good-value chain puts you steps from both the station and Ningxia Night Market.

Ximending is Taipei's answer to Harajuku: a pedestrian zone of streetwear shops, bubble tea, cinemas, tattoo parlours and buskers, lit like an arcade game. It is busiest at night and at weekends. Walk ten minutes south and you are in Wanhua, the oldest part of the city, where Longshan Temple fills with incense and chanting and the night market snakes off down the lanes.

Hotels here are good value and close to the Presidential Office and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. One sits between Longshan Temple and Ximending and takes its theme from both; another is three minutes' walk from the Presidential Office Building; a 750-room tower is built into Wanhua railway station.

Da'an is where well-heeled Taipei lives, eats and shops. Yongkang Street is the famous food lane, home to soup dumplings, mango shaved ice and scallion pancakes. The East District, along Zhongxiao East Road, packs department stores on the main road and fashion boutiques, bars and brunch spots into the alleys behind. Da'an Forest Park is the neighbourhood's back garden.

Hotels suit travellers who like to feel part of a neighbourhood. Choose a playful design hotel with a social hour, a calm retreat on a tree-lined boulevard, or a long-established five-star with easy access to three metro lines. One towering hotel on the district's southern edge has two outdoor pools and suits families.

North of the East District, Dunhua North Road is a broad avenue with a ribbon of trees down the middle, running up to Songshan, the small city airport. Taipei Arena, the main venue for concerts and sport, is at its heart, and Raohe Street Night Market, entered through a temple gate, is a short ride east.

It is a quieter, more residential setting for some of the city's most luxurious hotels. One has a prime spot on Dunhua North Road beside its own shopping arcade; a newer arrival is three minutes' walk from the arena, with a spa and an outdoor pool. More affordable hotels face the arena itself, and Taipei 101 is five minutes away by car.

North of the Keelung River the city loosens its collar. Shilin has Taipei's largest and most famous night market, and the National Palace Museum, with its jade cabbage and imperial treasures, is a bus ride beyond. Next door, Dazhi is a newer riverside district with a giant Ferris wheel on top of a mall and views to the mountains.

The hotels have room to spread out. The landmark is a vast vermilion palace on a hillside, all dragons and red columns, visible from half the city. Around it are modern five-stars with outdoor pools, some heated, plus one in Shilin a short walk from the night market, with the Palace Museum close by.

Beitou is a hot-spring town inside the city limits, developed by the Japanese over a century ago and reached in about half an hour on the metro. A stream of warm, sulphurous water runs through a wooded park, past the old bathhouse, now the Hot Springs Museum, up to the Thermal Valley, where the source bubbles and steams.

Stay here for a slower sort of city break. Hotels pipe the spring water into rooms and bathhouses: there is a Japanese-run ryokan-style hotel moments from the museum and park, a pair of pure-white buildings of 48 rooms, and resort hotels with easy access to Yangmingshan National Park. Come back from sightseeing, soak, sleep.

New Taipei wraps right around the capital, from the coast to the mountains. Banqiao, its centre, is a modern business district on the high-speed rail and metro lines. Tamsui, at the end of the red line, is an old port town famous for sunsets at Fisherman's Wharf. Wulai, in the hills to the south, is an indigenous Atayal village with riverside hot springs.

Banqiao's hotels sit opposite or within three minutes of the station and cost less than their Taipei equivalents. In Wulai, a 23-room spa resort by a clear river is less than an hour's drive from the city. For the lantern-hung hillside lanes of Jiufen and the port city of Keelung, look north-east.