HEAL THY SOUL
Boasting easy access to nature’s bounty and the patronage of a wellness-loving local clientele, hot spring resorts in Taiwan provide the ultimate experience in restorative breaks. Mavis Teo visits two of the best.
Apoetic panorama of cypress forested hills unfurls before me like a scroll of a Chinese landscape painting. From the-floor-to-ceiling window of my suite 800m above sea level, the verdant vista before me is a balm to my frazzled senses. The three-hour car journey from Taipei to Hoshinoya Guguan in central Taiwan now seems worthwhile. To many who live beyond her emerald fringes and crystalline coasts, the archipelago of Taiwan is the home of melodramatic Hokkien soaps and bustling night markets with moreish street food – probably the kind of things that appeal to mass travellers, rather than the well-heeled. However, unknown to many, there is a a high-end travel industry in the country. Fortunately, this segment that includes luxury hot spring resorts, has the support of a large domestic market. Even on what is considered a warm day for hot spring bathing – it is 24C in March, Hoshinoya Guguan (hoshinoya.com) which opened in June 2019, is running at full occupancy with mostly local guests. And it is a week day.
FROM JAPAN TO ASIA
For its second overseas resort outside of Japan (the first is in Bali), the onsen-centric Hoshino Resorts couldn’t have chosen a better destination. The Japanese had introduced hot spring bathing to Taiwan during its 50-year occupation of the country after winning the First Sino-japanese War in 1895. Because of Taiwan’s geographical position on two major tectonic collision plates, it has over 400 geothermal sources, many of which were discovered by the Japanese, who were suitably impressed by the quality of the mineral-rich waters. Thus, a hot spring culture in Taiwan was born.
Since then, around 100 hot spring resorts have sprung up in four major hot spots. Hot spring wellness in Taiwan has also evolved to have its own identity. For spas, you’ll find a comprehensive menu that goes beyond the traditional shiatsu massage that their Japanese cousins offer. There are treatments that soothe the mind through sound meditation, or target backaches with precision through Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostic methods.
In many of these places, the F&B menu is based on Jīe Qi (an ancient Chinese practice of planting and harvesting crops according to the Farmer’s Almanac, which splits the year into 24 seasonal periods) with local produce from Taiwan’s fertile arable lands. Not only are ingredients used according to what is available and in season, they are chosen and cooked to address what the body needs then. The offerings, whether of a culinary or holistic nature, are always refined, as they should be for the discerning traveller. The fact that the only two Relais & Chateaux members in Taiwan (Villa 32 in Beitou, and Volando Urai Spring Spa & Resort in Wulai) are both hot spring resorts goes to show the level of sophistication of Taiwan’s luxury hot spring industry.
AN UNDISCOVERED GEM
The CEO of Hoshino Resorts, Yoshiharu Hoshino, was initially sceptical about Guguan in Taichung as the site of the Taiwan hotel. He visited and was humbled to find the quality of the sodium bicarbonate-rich waters as good as the ones in Japan.