Mango53 Inn

Mango53 Inn is a good budget accommodation for first-time travelers in Taipei, Taiwan. It is very near Longsham Temple Station which is just 2 stations away from Taipei Main Station. Room is clean (booked for a family room with private toilet/bathroom), big enough for 4-5 persons. Bed sheets are clean. Our room has 1 double-deck bunk bed and a big mattress on the floor good for 2 pax. Each bed has own light switch/reading lamp-style. Bath towels can be rented for a small fee but there are small towels provided for free which will serve the same purpose if you are not choosy. Bathroom amenities are provided like toilet paper, shampoo and shower gel (on the dispenser) and hand soap on the sink. No toothbrush, no toothpaste so bring your own. We were quite early and check in is 3pm. The reception staff was not there when we arrived (doing errand in a nearby bank) but there is a note and a contact number was provided. We called that number and after about 20-30 minutes, staff returned. Our room is still occupied so we just left our bags/luggages in the small reception area. We were given our key/passcode for the main door and also for our room. When we returned, our bags is already inside our room. Shoes are not allowed upstairs. There's a shoe rack for your shoes and house slippers are provided in the reception area. The entrance of the inn is a very narrow stairs so go up one by one. Above the stairs serves as the reception area. There's a common bathroom/toilet for the guests beside the reception desk. Reception staff is a nice guy. You can ask him for directions. On checkout day, reception staff is again not present so we called the contact number and we were just told to leave our key on the mailbox which we did. If you are looking for 3-5 stars accommodation then this is not for you. First impression of the inn and the place, may disappoint you but for those who are budget-conscious or backpack travelers who just want a safe, clean place to stay with good location then Mango53 Inn is a good place to stay. PROS: Very good, fast free WIFI CONS: No breakfast but there is free instant coffee on the fourth floor. Dining inside the room is not allowed. DIRECTION FROM AIRPORT TO MANGO53 INN: Upon arrival at Taiwan airport, instead of booking for a private airport transfer, my group (consisting of 4 people) decided a D.I.Y. travel. So from Terminal 1, we took the AIRPORT EXPRESS train (not the commuter train) to TAIPEI MAIN STATION... then transfer to Bannan Line (BL) or blue line to LONGSHAM TEMPLE STATION. From exiting the train we took the stairs to our right and proceed to exit then we turned left and walked to hotel. We concentrated on the numbers of the building and when we reached No. "53" we reached MANGO53. CHECKOUT and AIRPORT TRANSFER: Our flight is scheduled on the wee hours of the next day so we just left our bags/luggages on the TAIPEI MAIN STATION locker area. Only coins are accepted as payment, you just need to insert coins and follow instruction. The fee is NT20 per hour. Make sure you keep the receipt with you. When it's time to go to airport, we went back to TAIPEI MAIN STATION, paid the amount (inserted the correct amount of coins) for locker rental. With our luggage we went to airport using AIRPORT EXPRESS and sleep/rest on airport couches while waiting for check-in counter to open and boarding time.