Originally Posted by
sinoflyer
Taipei resembles Tokyo (not a coincidence) in that the city layout doesn't have a definitive "center." Far Eastern Plaza is in the southern part of Taipei's traditional city proper and IMO is not ideally located for tourists, except for going to the zoo, Maokong tea estates, and Wulai hot springs area. National Palace Museum is in the far north part of the city and will be quite expensive to reach by taxi from Far Eastern Plaza. IMO a hotel like Regent Taipei is more centrally located for a wider array of activities, even though there isn't much to see in its immediate vicinity.
I have stayed at the Regent and do not see it as being a superior tourist destination. Relative to the Shangri-La, it is only significantly closer to spots like Ximending and old Taipei and Shilin night market. The Far Eastern Plaza is not my recommendation either for reasons I gave above, but at least it is much better located for travel to Xinyi area and the Taipei 101 and all the other tourist areas on the eastern side of Taipei. You are also quite overstating the additional cost of taxi to the National Palace Museum, as it is only a few kilometers difference - probably around US$3. I am fairly certain most tourists are not going to care much about the difference between a $9 and $12 fare.
The Shangri-La also has better hard product (the Regent is not bad, but I found many small design annoyances), and I did not think the service at the Regent was good.