Marina

We are still working on our trip to China in June and can't decide which hotel to book in Shanghai, would like to be in the center of the city, upscale, with good breakfasts. Please help.

HENRY

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Query

Why would they want to support spammers and pay too much, Henry?

Louis

Ritz-Carlton, Okura Garden, Hilton and JC Mandarin (in order of preference). <BR><BR>All are located in the City Center.

Nigel Doran

Shangri La, Pudong. Very good. Surf around for a discounted rate. <BR>June, by the way, will be hot and sticky.

Andrea

I live in Shanghai &amp; am very involved with the American Chamber of Commerce - so I spend a lot of time in hotels here. (90% of the time in the conference rooms, but I have I've seen rooms in all hotels in preparation for out of town guests). Sorry, can't help with breakfasts, though. <BR><BR>There is a fabulous old mansion that has recently been turned into a hotel. It's in the center of town. My friend lives across the street &amp; I'll try to pop in tonight - I've been wanting to check it out. <BR><BR>I'll post later with more info on the Moller Villa Hotel. Other choices downtown are:<BR><BR>Ritz, JC Mandarin - Ritz is very upscale, JC just across the street, also nice but less expensive. <BR><BR>Hilton, Equatorial, Radisson, Regal - All in/near the former French Concession (tree lined lanes with old colonial houses). Radisson is my new first choice for this class of hotel - it's a standard skyscraper type hotel, but it's on the grounds of a historic colonial estate, and right in the heart of the French concession (the Regal is also in the center of the French Concession).<BR><BR>Okura Garden, Jin Jiang - both in the French concession, and in old historic buildings. The Okura is nicer, and is located in the former French Cercle Sportif, a fabulous art deco building.<BR><BR>I think the Moller hotel will be a great new addition - but need to research it more &amp; will post back.

Marina

Moller Villa hotel sounds very interesting but I can't find any ratings of it. What about it's location?

Mike

Back in June we stayed at the <BR>JC Mandarin. It was really a nice hotel, and I would recomend it.

win

Hi!<BR><BR>I think Andrea has given a good list of upscale/city center hotels so no need to add anymore here. My husband happened to be staying at the Moller Villa right now till this Sunday. Will post again later with regards to service etc. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt on our last trip...superb view/service and such. Moving around in a taxi is not a problem at all.<BR>

win

Marina:<BR><BR>My husband is back and this is what he has to say....the room is very very spacious and the bath is fitted with gold taps!<BR>The room is elegantly furnished..very classic European kind of feel but service is extemely bad. Breakfast is included but the spread is lousy. He says he would not stay there again and certainly will not recommend anyone to stay there. <BR><BR>

Marina

Thank you for your help, I think we'll try one of the hotels in the former French Concession area. Or should we splurge on Hyatt?

Andrea

The Hyatt is a fabulous hotel - the views can't be beat, and the rooms are fabulous (one of only 2 hotels in Shanghai I've stayed at, given that I live here). But it's on the wrong side of the river.<BR><BR>To me, part of what makes China so exciting to visit is its claim to fame that it has &quot;5000 years of history&quot;, and that it's so different from the U.S. One of the best parts is just wandering through the streets, seeing the daily life of the people. And one of the things that makes Shanghai so interesting is its colonial history, still evident in the former French concession. <BR><BR>You get much, much less of a flavor of all of this staying in Pudong (home of the Hyatt) - 5 - 10 years ago, Pudong was nothing but farmland. Today, it's home to dozens of skyscrapers, but very little of the vibrant street life you'll find in central Shanghai.<BR><BR>I don't have MANY pictures up yet, but there are a couple of typical Shanghai street scenes on my website:<BR><BR>http://pages.ivillage.com/libris/shanghai/<BR><BR>Granted, it CAN be only a 10 minute subway or cab ride to the other side of the river. But just last week, it took me literally 30 minutes to get from the Hyatt where I was attending a lunch event to the other side of the river. <BR><BR>It depends on the purpose of your trip and your traveling style, but personally, there's nothing I like better than walking right out of my hotel room and down a side street with scenes of daily life.

Max

Although the location isnt the best, you cannot beat the Grand Hyatt with the 50+ floor swimming pool. This is something to be seen.<BR><BR>

win

Hi:<BR><BR>I must agree with Max...Hyatt is superb. The view/service is great. Stay on the Regency floor if you want bigger room space. Really, I think it depends on what you look for in a hotel. For me, service comes first, then location since taxis are everywhere. I hate getting out of my room early in the morning to bump into sulking service staff, be it for breakfast or in the lift. <BR>Andrea has a point in that congestion may occur occasionally coming from Pudong to Puxi so if you need to go to work early in the morning then you may want to consider the city centre. <BR>Andrea, in case you are reading this...which one of the hotels in the French concession area that you mentioned earlier is near a tube station. I'll be coming this Saturday maybe Sunday and would like to consider staying in that area .Yr description sounds interesting so if I'm able to get an early reply then perhaps I can still make changes to the reservation.<BR><BR>

Andrea

Regarding hotels in the French concession and subway access, you'd have to look at a map (or maybe someone else can post with a response - Patty?), but off the top of my head, I know that Hilton is 2 blocks from a subway entrance, Portman-Ritz Carleton is about 5 blocks away, the Regal East Asia (not as nice as the previous 2 mentioned, but still 4 - 5 star) is pretty close to one, Okura Garden is 1 - 2 blocks away. I'm not sure about the Radisson - it's possible since it's just a few blocks from Huai Hai Lu, but I can't remember whether or not there's a stop nearby. I don't know anything about their service, but it's a brand new 4 or 5 star, and the location for wandering through the French Concession is great (the Radisson &amp; Regal would be my first two choices for prime walk-out-the-door French Concession wandering, but all of the hotels I've mentioned are within a few minutes' walk, with the Ritz being the farthest away from the French Concession but close to equally interesting small streets to the north of the hotel).

Marina

Thank you, everybody for your help, I think we'll try Okura Garden or similar. Can you recommend an interesting restaurant in Shanghai, we eat everything and like to try new dishes, smth. that is regional. Do you have an opinion about hotels in Lijiang? We are trying to choose between Grand Lijiang and Guan Fang Hotels.

Louis

There is a Cantonese restaurant located on the 55th floor of Jin Mao Building where the Shanghai Grand Hyatt is located. We had lunch the other day there. For that weekday lunch, I was able to get a window table by calling 3 hours ahead for a reservation. By the way, check-in for Grand Hyatt is on the 54th floor.

win

Hi everyone,<BR><BR>I'm due to leave for shanghai this saturday for a week and have hotel booking till the 13th only. I was told every hotel room is booked up from 14th onwards as a major convention is being held then. I cant believe this happening. Andrea, you have any idea

win

Hi everyone,<BR><BR>I'm due to leave for shanghai this saturday for a week and have hotel booking till the 13th only. I was told every hotel room is booked up from 14th onwards as a major convention is being held then. I cant believe this happening. Andrea, would you have any advice for me as to how I may be able to get a room...travel agents?? If so, would you have contact numbers of travel agents..S.O.S pleeeease!

Andrea

It must be the Tennis Masters Cup, which is from the 12th to the 17th.<BR><BR>I called the Hilton &amp; it is fully booked. But there must be hundreds of hotels in Shanghai. It's the world's 5th largest city! Some that come to mind as potentially not full include:<BR><BR>* Westin (on the Bund, not Tai Ping Yang), which is BRAND NEW<BR>* Radisson Xin Guo, which is also very new<BR>* 4 Seasons, less than 1 year old<BR>* Regal East Asia, which is a 5 star hotel but not a major international chain so perhaps not so well known<BR>* Holiday Inn (there are 2)<BR><BR>I guess my advice is just to keep calling. Look on the Internet for websites that list hotels and phone numbers and just call one after the other. (Or find a travel agent willing to do it). <BR><BR>I would be REALLY, REALLY surprized if all of the foreign hotels are sold out. My Shanghai guide lists 18 5-star hotels (not even including the couple of new ones I mentioned), 25 4 star hotels, and the numbers increase rapidly the fewer stars there are. <BR><BR>Beyond that, there are many, many, many serviced apartments in Shanghai that rent out fully furnished, full-service apartments (including room service and concierge service) on a short-term basis (for sometimes less than a hotel). You may want to just go to Google, type in Shanghai &quot;serviced apartment&quot;, and start calling the ones in the location you want, even if they don't mention on their website that they do offer short term rentals. <BR><BR>I'm very, very confident that you can find a nice place - don't worry! And the plus side is that you can enjoy some world class tennis while you're here!