Sigma Castle

“Girls, you will adore this castle!”

I stumbled upon this place while researching my Yilan trip and decided to stay here for 1 night. I have absolutely no regrets about this stay. The castle is a beautiful magical special place! We took a cab from Luodong Railway station to Sigma castle, the journey took about 20mins (around NT300). … more

I stumbled upon this place while researching my Yilan trip and decided to stay here for 1 night. I have absolutely no regrets about this stay. The castle is a beautiful magical special place! We took a cab from Luodong Railway station to Sigma castle, the journey took about 20mins (around NT300). Upon arrival, we were asked by the owner to call so that the gates can be opened for us. I stepped out of the cab and looked around me thinking "what have I stepped into???" It was like we were in the middle of nowhere, plantations and fields all around us, and suddenly there are 2 castle buildings in front of me! Amazing. The owner was very welcoming, she gave us slippers to change into and went through with us the facilities of the castle. There are DVDs available for viewing (a large number of hollywood blockbusters, romcoms, etc), a game room with foosball table and kids slide, a pool table, and a sofa living area. Wow! We watched "The Hulk" dvd in our room that night, good quality show. We also played a few rounds of pool. The decor is amazing. So victorian girly and pretty. And the place is kept very clean. I'm so amazed by the level of detail in the design of this place. We were shown to our room (take note rooms are on level 2 and there is no lift, be prepared to lug your luggage up the stairs). The room is so pretty and so pink. I totally love it. I do wonder how the husband feels though haha. There is an alcove in our room with stairs leading to it, there was a kids sized sofa, single mattress and soft toy. Very pretty area for children to play with. They will surely love it. Apparently this stairs alcove room is present in all the rooms in my block. There is a second block on the other side of the property where breakfast is served. My gosh, the breakfast place is so pretty as well. Girls will surely go gaga at the decor. The breakfast served was gorgeous as well, the items were simple (eggs, sausage, chicken) but somehow the owner managed to make it look so amazing. The quiche was enjoyed tremendously. And they even bake their own bread. My oh my. We happened to be the only guests that night as the taiwanese public holiday had just passed. If you want the feeling of booking an entire castle to yourself, book your room on a weekday and not on a taiwanese public holiday. I highly recommend this place to couples, families and anyone with kids. Its just a lovely place to chill out, watch a movie, play some pool. And of course, take photos!!!! The only downside to this place has nothing to do with the castle itself but more of Yilan's weather and landscape. The 2 days prior to our visit, the sky was cloudless and the weather scorching hot. We were thankful that the weather improved greatly on the day that we checked out of the room, as we planned to go sightseeing around the area. The owner lent us bicycles (which was a godsend as some sights were too far to walk to), it was a lovely experience cycling in Yilan as its so peaceful and very few cars (so thankful for the lack of cars as I'm not an experienced cyclist). The other downside is the... Flies and bugs. Haha. Around 4pm I ventured outside of the castle, and upon exiting the building, I saw a large swarm in front of me. Yikes! I'm totally not a bug person, so I ran back inside the house. The owner explained to me that the bugs come during certain seasons, which is why the entire house windows are protected with netting since they are drawn to the light. Most of Yilan can get quite buggy towards the late afternoon and evening, so I highly recommend you do your sightseeing before 4pm or hire a car to drive you around. The owner was very helpful and provided us with excellent service, she was so chatty and nice. We will most certainly come back here, but we would bring more friends to enjoy the place with us.

less

“Beautiful minsu”

Exquisitely furnished rooms are very clean. The surroundings are green fields and rolling hills. Location is remote, self arranged transport is necessary. We had a good dinner too at nearby 八甲休闲鱼場。Minsu is at 宜兰员山乡， but before going to minsu, we dropped by 三星乡for the famous 三星葱油饼， and 冬山乡梅花湖etc.