Nap Cafe: Literally a Cafe for Sleeping In

Wake up, Taipei, there’s a new ridiculous cafe in town. Or is there? Nap Cafe may sound like just another stupid themed cafe, but it’s actually a pretty genius concept: you can go there to wake up with a coffee or some food and/or rest up in a private booth that comes with your very own massage chair. You may be wondering why on earth anyone would pay to take a nap, and that’s a good question — keep reading for our honest thoughts on the experience, and make your mind up for yourself on whether it’s worth parting with your hard-earned cash for.

At Nap Cafe, you can choose whether you want to drink, eat, sleep, or do all of the above. They have a variety of hot and cold drinks, pasta, waffles, and soup, and you can choose to “sleep” in their booths for 15 minutes ($199), 30 minutes ($299), or 60 minutes ($399). They also have a combination deal which includes one plate of waffles, two drinks, and either 30 or 60 minutes of sleeping time, priced at $699 and $899 respectively. Since we had an hour and a half to kill and were interested in trying everything they had on offer, we went for the 60-minute combo deal, meaning we paid just under $450 each.

They only have a six drinks to choose from if you select the combination deal, and the first one we went for was the rose coffee latte with pink (Himalayan) salt. This was surprisingly good — it tasted only a tiny bit of rose, and the salt was sprinkled quite sparingly on top, which made for a really great coffee. It was only slightly sweet, which was perfect for us, and the rose and salt added a little something without distracting too much from the latte itself. We’d order this again for sure.

The second drink we ordered purely for the novelty factor, but it also turned out great — the iced cucumber latte. Seriously, we chose this only because it sounded hilarious. Who on earth puts cucumber in a latte? We fully expected it to be gimmicky and gross, but ended up being surprised by how refreshing it was. The cucumber flavour somehow worked really well with the milky latte, though we wouldn’t fancy it hot. This was a light, summery drink that we’d actually get again in a heartbeat, though we’re very interested to hear your thoughts on it too.

We had high hopes for the waffles after being impressed by both drinks, but sadly this is what let Nap Cafe down. There were only four options — berries, caramel apple, chocolate banana, and tuna. We went for the caramel apple and were disappointed in our choice. The waffles themselves were pretty lacklustre and were accompanied by a drizzle of caramel, some whipped cream, cooked apple slices, and some fresh apple slices. They weren’t the worst, but they weren’t exactly good either. The fresh apple slices were refreshing but felt kind of random: we would have enjoyed it much more if they had stuck to only the baked apples. Maybe we’re just picky, but we wouldn’t recommend you order these unless you feel like wasting calories and money. Perhaps the other flavours are better.

Once we were done with our drinks and waffles, it was time to transition to the “sleeping” segment of our visit. We chose to hit the cafe first, but we could have done it the other way around too. We selected an available booth — they have around six booths, with either one, two, or three massage chairs each — took off our shoes, put on some disposable slippers, let the waitress sanitize our hands, and clambered into the impressive looking massage chairs. Our waitress explained that there were four modes to choose from: full body, neck and shoulder, lower back, or full-body stretch. You can also get a weighted blanket and an eye massager for free, too. To be honest, we were expecting (and would have been perfectly content with) regular massage chairs and were completely unprepared for how good these fancy ones were. Any ideas that we had about sitting in our chairs and chatting went out the window as soon as we got tucked in — these massage chairs were as legit as they come, and the weighted blanket was ridiculously relaxing. We had mixed feelings on the eye massager, which could be uncomfortable at times, but the massage chairs more than made up for it. We went for the full body and full-body stretch modes, which we’d highly recommend. Expect to be rocked, stretched, pummeled, and given a surprisingly thorough foot massage that will leave you dazed and floating by the end. We actually did fall asleep, as did a guy in the booth next to us, who was snoring within minutes.

All things considered, we left Nap Cafe feeling extremely impressed and satisfied. It may sound like a ridiculous concept, but it was actually freaking amazing due to the hushed, relaxing atmosphere and the high-tech massage chairs. The drinks were great too, though the waffles didn’t impress us at all. In the end, we felt like the $450 we each paid was reasonable for what we got — two awesome, unique coffees and an hour of quality downtime on the massage chairs. We highly recommend a visit to Nap Cafe if you’re looking for a place to chill, recharge, or have an excuse to ignore the person you’re with. If you’re hungry, eat somewhere else first — it could be that their soups and pasta dishes are good, but they lost our trust after the subpar waffles. If you’re in the mood to catch up with friends, we recommend skipping it altogether, as talking is only permitted in hushed tones.

Check out their food and drink menu down below:

What’s the vibe?

A quiet, relaxing cafe that plays soft, tinkling music for falling asleep to. It’s clean and cutesy, and the staff were friendly and polite. It was totally dead on the Tuesday afternoon that we visited on, although it got busier as people started getting off from work. We would imagine it gets busy on the weekends, so be sure to reserve your spot via Facebook if you plan on visiting then.

Worth it?

Believe it or not, yes. Those massage chairs are the real deal!

Would you go back?

We actually would. It was the perfect place to recharge before a big night, and it’s cheaper than getting a real massage.

Last updated November 2019.

Nap Cafe

Chinese Name: 小憩睡眠咖啡館

Hours: Mon 11:30am – 6pm Tues-Sat 11:30am – 9pm Sun 1pm – 6pm

Phone: 02 2515 3220

English Address: 2F, No. 182-2, Changchun Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei

Chinese Address: 台北市中山區長春路182-2號二樓