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Sheraton Grand Taipei: one line from Shandao Temple to Ximen

Travel
2026.01.01

Choosing where to stay in Taipei is decided less by the hotel’s star rating than by which station it sits on. Staying at the Sheraton Grand Taipei made that obvious: its position on Shandao Temple station, MRT Bannan line, is what shaped every day of the trip.

Hotel lobby atrium seen from an upper floor, with a large circular relief on the wall and restaurant seating divided by planters below
The lobby level from above — a circular relief on the wall, restaurant seating framed by greenery

Opened 1981, and it has had three names

Old names surface in search results, so clear this up first. The building opened in 1981 as the Lai Lai Shangri-La, became the Lai Lai Sheraton in 1983 when Sheraton took over management, and has been the Sheraton Grand Taipei Hotel since 2002. It was the first Sheraton in Taiwan, and was fully refurbished in 2005.

  • Size: 16 floors, 688 rooms
  • Address: No. 12, Section 1, Zhongxiao East Road, Zhongzheng District, Taipei
  • Nearest station: Shandao Temple, MRT Bannan (blue) line
  • Eight restaurants and bars, including The Dragon (Cantonese), Kitchen 12 (buffet), the Antoine Room (steak), Thai, Japanese, and a pizzeria certified by the Naples association

The photo looks down into the atrium from an upper floor. Like a lot of early-1980s grand hotels, the lobby level is cut vertically open, with restaurant seating spread out below. Newer builds rarely do this, and it means the walk back to your room gives you a view of the whole house.

Room and bathroom: a 1981 frame with a 2005 fit-out

Hotel guest room with timber-panelled walls, framed artwork, an armchair and a round side table beside the bed
Timber panelling and framed art; an armchair and round table beside the bed

The room is classic in construction — panelled walls, framed pictures, an armchair and a round side table set apart at the far end. There is a place to sit that is not the bed, which is the first thing modern compact city hotels delete, and the thing you notice most on a real stay.

Grey stone bathroom with a deep bathtub, a separate glass shower enclosure, and frosted glass with a branch motif
A deep tub, a separate shower enclosure, and frosted glass with a branch motif

The bathroom is grey stone with the tub and the shower separated. At this price point in Taipei, unit bathrooms and shower-only rooms are common, so this is a real difference if you want to soak. The etched branch motif in the frosted glass places it firmly in that 2005 refit.

One line all the way to Ximen — this is what the location buys you

“Shandao Temple” means nothing to most visitors. Its value is entirely that it is on the Bannan line.

  • Shandao Temple → (1 stop) → Taipei Main Station → (1 stop) → Ximen
  • No transfers. You can get home on one train however late it gets
  • Taipei Main Station is one stop away, so the Taoyuan Airport MRT and the high-speed rail are both a single hop

Most of what visitors come to Taipei for is strung along this line. Zero transfers between your hotel and Ximending pays off precisely on the two days it matters: the first, when you are carrying luggage, and the last, when you are tired.

About the Ximending rainbow crossing — ignore the “it’s gone” articles

The rainbow-painted crossing in Ximending, with pedestrians walking across the coloured road
The rainbow crossing outside Ximen station Exit 6, colours deepened by the rain

Outside Exit 6 of Ximen station is the rainbow crossing — a 13.2-metre permanent streetscape installed in September 2019, and now the defining photo spot of the district.

Search for it, though, and you need to be careful. On 8 July 2025 it was stripped out for repainting, the paint having weathered badly; the road had to be milled and then left a mandatory fourteen days before repainting, and heavy seasonal rain stretched the schedule further. It came back in mid-August 2025 — but the “the rainbow in Ximending has disappeared” stories from that summer still rank highly. It is there. Do not be put off by old articles.

The other Taipei — a teahouse in a Japanese-era wooden building

Interior of a teahouse in a Japanese colonial-era wooden building, with a woven bamboo ceiling and finely mullioned wooden windows
A woven bamboo ceiling and finely divided wooden windows; a large round slab table in the foreground

Later the same day: a teahouse occupying a wooden house from the Japanese colonial period. Woven bamboo ceiling, wooden windows divided into small panes, a hard earthen-style floor. Taipei has a number of these converted Japanese-era houses, and the building is as much the exhibit as the tea.

A tea set on a round wooden table with white round tea sweets arranged in a circle on a painted plate
A purple-clay pot, a serving pitcher and tall aroma cups; the sweets come arranged in a ring

Tea arrives as a set: a purple-clay (zisha) pot, a serving pitcher, and tall narrow aroma cups. The aroma cup is not for drinking — you decant from it into the drinking cup, then bring the empty cup to your nose for the scent left behind. The sweets came arranged in a ring on a painted plate.

Once you have ordered and sat down, an hour or two goes by as a matter of course, which makes late afternoon, after Ximending, the right slot for it. Walk yourself out shopping, then sit and keep topping up the pot. That contrast is what finishes a Taipei day properly.

In short

  • The Sheraton Grand Taipei opened in 1981 with 688 rooms, and has changed name three times — watch out for old articles
  • The location is really the Bannan line at Shandao Temple: two stops to Ximen, no transfer
  • Rooms have somewhere to sit besides the bed, and a tub separate from the shower
  • The Ximending rainbow crossing was repainted and restored in August 2025. The “it’s gone” pieces are out of date
  • A teahouse is a place to spend time — put it after the shopping, not before

Hotel write-ups tend to become lists of amenities. What actually governed this trip was a single station name. If you are booking Taipei, open the metro map first.

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