We flew into Taipei the night before, grabbed a few hours of sleep at an airport hotel, and hopped on the HSR from Taoyuan to Taichung in the morning with two 9-year-old twins, two stuffed suitcases, and one question nobody online could answer clearly: would Le Méridien Taichung be a good hotel for our family of 4 with no connecting rooms? (Watch the room tour here.)
This Le Méridien Taichung review answers the questions we had before booking and could not find clearly anywhere online: Are there connecting rooms? How do you get there from the HSR? And how do you make it work for a family when the standard room occupancy caps at two people?
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We stayed March 24-25, 2025 as Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite members with 9-year-old twins. Here is everything we found out.
In This Review
- What We Booked and What We Paid
- The Rooms at Le Méridien Taichung
- Breakfast at Le Méridien Taichung
- The Rooftop Pool
- Location: Central Taichung
- How to Get There from the HSR
- How to Book Le Méridien Taichung for a Family
- What We Did Nearby
- What Le Méridien Taichung Could Do Better
- Should You Book Le Méridien Taichung?
What We Booked and What We Paid
| Dates | March 24-25, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Rooms | 2 King Guest Rooms (adjacent, rooms 1515 and 1516) |
| Booking | Direct via Marriott.com (Titanium Elite member) |
| Breakfast | Included (Titanium Elite benefit) |
| Late checkout 4 PM | Included (Titanium Elite benefit) |
| Total for both rooms | 10,866 TWD (~$350 USD) |
| Per room, per night | ~$175 USD |
Comparable luxury hotels in the US or Europe charge $600+ per room per night for this level of space and quality. Getting two huge rooms at Le Méridien Taichung for a combined $350 was one of the better value calculations of our entire Taiwan trip.
Because the standard King Guest Room occupancy is capped at two people, families of three or more will need a strategy. We booked two rooms, one parent and one twin in each room. More on how to make that work for different family sizes further down.
The Rooms at Le Méridien Taichung
You open the door and step into a deep entry corridor. Dark wood cabinets line one side, and a large glass-enclosed bathroom runs along the other. It feels more like a suite entrance than a standard hotel room, and that impression holds once you arrive in the main space.
The goal of this trip was to deepen our twins’ Mandarin after four years of immersion school. We needed a base that felt like a reward at the end of a long travel day. These rooms delivered that. At 450+ square feet each, they are genuinely large by any standard, and particularly so in a dense Asian city where hotel rooms can be as small as a closet.
What Is in the Room
- King bed (actually king-sized, not a renamed double)
- Large desk with ergonomic chair and multiple outlets
- Sitting area with couch and coffee table
- Floor-to-ceiling windows with city views
- Nespresso machine with pods
- Mini fridge
- Laptop-sized in-room safe
- Blackout curtains
The Bathroom
The glass-enclosed bathroom visible from the entry corridor opens into a spacious room with a separate soaking tub, walk-in shower, single large vanity, and a bidet toilet in its own room. The kind of bathroom that makes you want to actually use the soaking tub instead of just looking at it. We did, and so did the kids.
- Separate soaking tub
- Walk-in shower
- Single large vanity
- Bidet toilet in a separate room
- Bathrobes and quality towels
- Hairdryer
The rooms are dark, modern, and quiet. Yellow accents break up the dark wood throughout. Between the two rooms, our family had over 900 square feet of space. Nobody needed to be on top of anyone else.
Breakfast at Le Méridien Taichung
As Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite members, breakfast was an optional welcome gift. My husband did not come down with us that morning, so I can’t confirm with certainty whether the benefit covers both rooms or just one. The twins and I had no issues and ate extremely well.
Quick Facts
Taiwan breakfast context:
Taiwan hotels take breakfast seriously. Most upscale properties run expansive multi-station buffets with noodles, high-quality ingredients, and far more variety than anything you would find at a hotel breakfast in the US or Europe. Le Méridien Taichung absolutely meets that standard.
The buffet ran multiple stations in a bright restaurant with huge windows overlooking the city:
- Japanese: Proper miso soup, rice, grilled fish, pickles, natto, tamagoyaki
- Chinese: Congee with toppings (preserved egg, pork floss, pickled vegetables), steamed buns, dim sum, stir-fries
- Western: Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns, baked beans, grilled tomatoes
- Noodle bar: Fresh-made noodles cooked to order. Choose your noodle type and toppings.
- Carving station: Roasted meats, changes daily
- Cold and salad: Fruits, vegetables, cold cuts, cheeses, yogurt, and Yakult
- Pastry and bread: Croissants, Danish, pain au chocolat, rolls, toast, jam, butter
- Cereal and juice: Multiple cereal options, milk, fresh juices
What We Ate
My kids are adventurous eaters and worked through a little of everything: dim sum, stir-fries, eggs, sausage, and a generous pile of pastries. I got noodle soup from the noodle bar. No idea what it was called, but it was excellent. The twins found the Yakult station, drank several bottles, and quietly pocketed a few for later. We’re classy like that.
We arrived about 30 minutes after breakfast opened, around 7 AM. Jet lag had us up early. It was relatively busy but not crowded, and there were plenty of tables throughout.
Honest assessment: Le Méridien Taichung’s breakfast ranked among the best we had across two weeks in Taiwan. If you love a good hotel breakfast, get it here.
The Rooftop Pool at Le Méridien Taichung
Yes, go to the pool. Even if you do not swim.
The pool sits on the rooftop as a long rectangular structure elevated off the deck. You climb five steps up to the pool’s edge, then five steps down into the water. The side facing the city sits against a glass barrier with open views over Taichung. The opposite side, facing the rooftop courtyard, is entirely glass. Standing at courtyard level you can see straight through the pool for its full length, watching people swim past. At the right angle the body parts above the water look completely detached. My kids made me take a coffee table book’s worth of photos with them posed in various states of discombobulation.
- Size: Long rectangular pool, roughly 15 meters
- Temperature: Cold, according to two very vocal 9-year-olds who stayed in for 30+ minutes anyway
- Crowds: Nobody else there when we went mid-afternoon
- Views: Open city views from the top of a 22-story building
- Kid-friendly: Standard depth, manageable for older kids. No lifeguard on duty.
Take the elevator up even if you skip the swim. The glass construction makes it unlike any other hotel pool we have used, and the views from the top are worth the trip on their own.
Location: Central Taichung, Near the TRA Station
Le Méridien Taichung is centrally located in the heart of the city, about a 7-minute walk from the TRA (Taiwan Railways) station. This puts you within easy reach of Taichung’s restaurants, night markets, and attractions, and more importantly gives you direct rail access to the rest of Taiwan without needing a taxi.
Walking distance from Le Méridien Taichung:
- Taichung TRA Train Station: 7 min walk
- Miyahara ice cream: 5 min walk
- Chun Shui Tang (original bubble tea): 10 min walk
- Sun Cake Museum: 10 min walk
- ASEAN Square: 10 min walk
- Convenience stores: everywhere
Short ride away:
- Yizhong Street Night Market: 30 min walk or 6 min taxi
- Fengjia Night Market: 20 min taxi
- Rainbow Village: 30 min taxi
- Natural Science Museum: 20 min MRT
- Sun Moon Lake: 1.5 hr direct bus from Taichung Station
- Alishan: TRA train to Chiayi, then bus
How to Get to Le Méridien Taichung from the HSR
This is where first-time visitors to Taiwan get tripped up. Unlike Taipei, where the HSR station sits inside the city, every other major city in Taiwan places its HSR station on the outskirts. Taichung is no different. The HSR station is in a suburb called Wurih, well outside the city center. The TRA station is downtown, and Le Méridien is a 7-minute walk from it.
If you are arriving by HSR from Taipei, Kaohsiung, or another city:
- Exit the HSR at HSR Taichung Station (Wurih)
- Follow signs to TRA Xinwuri Station. It is connected by a covered walkway, easy with luggage and kids.
- Take any local TRA train to Taichung Station. About 12 minutes, NT$22 per person. Trains run frequently.
- Exit Taichung Station and walk 7 minutes to Le Méridien Taichung.
The total transfer from HSR arrival to hotel runs about 25 minutes. Having the TRA station that close also made our departure easy. We used Taichung as a jumping-off point for Alishan: walked to the station the next morning, boarded a TRA train to Chiayi, and caught the mountain bus from there.
How to Book Le Méridien Taichung for a Family
The standard Guest Room caps at two people, which creates a booking puzzle for families. The limit exists primarily to prevent too many adults in one room. With the right approach, most family configurations are workable. Here is the strategy by family size, based on what has worked for us at Marriott properties over the years.
👨👩👧👦 Families with Young Kids (Under 10)
Call Marriott reservations or the hotel directly. Request a room with two double or queen beds even if the listed occupancy is two or three people. In our experience this has consistently been granted for families with kids under 10, but it requires the Marriott team to contact the hotel directly to verify it is possible and not a fire code violation. It cannot be done through standard online booking.
👨👩👦 Families of 3 with an Older Kid
Try the same strategy. Call and ask. The worst they can say is no, at which point you book two rooms. If they grant it, you save the cost of a second room entirely.
👨👩👧👦 Families of 4 with Older Kids (8+)
Book two rooms with one parent and one child in each. At 450+ sqft per room this is genuinely comfortable. Request adjacent rooms so you are next to each other in the hallway. This is what we did.
👨👩👧👦👦 Families of 5 or More
You will need at least two rooms. Call to request one room with three occupants (place the youngest child with two others, either adults or older children), then book a second room for the remainder. Occupancy limits for young children are often more flexible than the website suggests when you ask directly.
How to request adjacent rooms:
- Option 1: Call when you book. The agent can note “connecting rooms” (if available) or “adjacent rooms” directly on the reservation.
- Option 2: Book online, then call the Marriott reservation line to make the request. Have your booking reference number ready.
Quick Facts
No connecting rooms when we stayed (March 2025).
I called before booking and was told there were none at the hotel. The website as of 2026 mentions some premium rooms and suites may have them, but they were not available when we booked. Adjacent rooms worked fine for our family with 9-year-old twins. For families with younger kids who need a door between rooms, call ahead and ask directly rather than assuming.
What We Did Near Le Méridien Taichung
We had one afternoon and evening between arriving from Taipei and leaving for Alishan the next morning. We made the most of it.
Chun Shui Tang Siwei Main Shop 春水堂 創始店
About a 10-minute walk from the hotel. This is the original bubble tea shop, where the drink was invented in the 1980s. We ordered the original milk bubble tea. The kids were unimpressed (too much tea, not sweet enough), but the shop is charming and worth a stop for the history alone.
Sun Cake Museum
Right next to Chun Shui Tang. We walked through and spent a few minutes reading the displays. They were not running classes or tours when we visited, but the exhibits give you a sense of the history behind one of Taichung’s most well-known exports.
Miyahara 宮原眼科
A 5-minute walk from the hotel. Famous for ice cream in a beautifully restored historic building that used to be an ophthalmology clinic.
Get the sundae. It comes in a waffle bowl with an extra tiny surprise scoop of a second flavor plus a variety of cookies tucked in around the sides. 100% worth the money.
Remember, the goal of this trip was to deepen the twins’ Mandarin. Two days in, not one word had come out of either of them. Then they stepped up to the counter at Miyahara and ordered… in Mandarin. Full conversations with the staff, answering questions, helping each other decide on flavors. We just stood there. Turns out four years of immersion school actually worked.
Yizhong Street Night Market 一中街夜市
About a 30-minute walk or 6 minutes by taxi. One of Taichung’s larger night markets with food stalls, games, and the kind of organized chaos that makes Taiwan night markets worth seeking out. The twins ate their weight in fried things, which is the correct approach.
What Le Méridien Taichung Could Do Better
No connecting rooms and no rooms with 4-person occupancy at the hotel. I called before booking and was told none were available. Adjacent rooms worked fine for our family with 9-year-old twins, but connecting rooms or a proper 4-person configuration would have been better.
For families with younger kids who need direct access between rooms, this is a real limitation. Most Taiwan luxury hotels offer some version of a family suite. Le Méridien does not appear to, at least not that I was able to find. It is the one thing that would bring us back without hesitation if it changed.
Should You Book Le Méridien Taichung?
✅ Book It If You…
- Want luxury at Taiwan prices, not US or European prices
- Value space: 450+ sqft per room is genuinely large
- Are a Marriott Bonvoy member (elite benefits stack well)
- Need a central location near the TRA Station for intra-country travel
- Have older kids (8+) who can sleep in an adjacent room
- Want a rooftop glass pool with open city views
⛔ Skip It If You…
- Have young kids who need a connecting room (call first to ask)
- Specifically want to be near Fengjia Night Market
- Have a family of 3 or 5 where the room split gets awkward
- Do not care much about room size
- Need multiple bedrooms within one room
We were looking at returning to Le Méridien Taichung for summer 2026 before we took Taiwan off our trip list for other reasons. The rooms are genuinely huge. The location puts you at Taichung’s transportation center. The breakfast is excellent. And at $175 per room per night, the value is hard to match anywhere in the US or Europe.
Quick Facts
Yes. Book it.
$175 per room per night. 450+ sqft. Central Taichung. Included elite breakfast. Rooftop glass pool.
More Family Travel:
- Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel Review
- Flying with Twins: 7 Items That Saved Us After Getting Separated on a Flight
- 2 Days in London with Kids: The Complete Itinerary
Planning a Trip to Taiwan?
Get our free Flight Cost Saving Guide + honest hotel breakdowns, real receipt costs, and family travel strategies sent straight to your inbox.
We paid 10,866 TWD (~$350 USD) for our two-room, one-night stay booked directly through Marriott.com. Breakfast and late checkout were included as Titanium Elite benefits. All opinions are our own.