The Best Bund Hotel
 

While I have read a lot of great advice here on the subject of Shanghai Hotels, I cant decide on the right hotel for a 4 day visit to Shanghai next year.

We would like to be in the Bund or area of French influence.

Our preference is for an older style hotel with good views and king size beds if possible.

It appears that the Peace Hotel is the logical choice in so many ways, but recent reports suggests that the rooms are not particularly good.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Choosing a hotel in a mega city is never easy, sorry I do not have info on king size beds. Are you looking for good views of downtown, river, park, gardens ... please elaborate. And remember most hotels have 4 sides, it depends on where your hotel room windows face. My advice is not worry too much about the view unless you are going to spend 1/2 of the day looking out of the windows, seriously.

Older style hotels close to the Bund -- Peace, Astor, Broadway Mansions, Park.

French concession -- Ruijin, Moller, Okura old wing, Donghu original buildings.

Most older style hotel rooms are not particularly good compared to the Grand Hyatt or Shangri-la, among the above mentioned, probably the Ruijin is the most comfy.

Hi Shanghainese and All

Of the older refurbished hotels, which is the best in terms of standard of refurbishment, good rooms, large comfortable beds, no smoke etc.

We still prefer a view across river to Pudong or in whichever direction you recommend - it is all part of the memory for an infrequent visitor.

I guess I am asking the question because many people say that the Peace Hotel is a bit run down and the rooms are not great. Obviously we will visit the Peace Hotel to see the jazz band etc.

We will not be visiting Shanghai until next June for 4 days at the start of an around the globe seven week trip, so I can send a detailed message to the hotel well in advance requesting best room, large bed etc. Maybe we will get one of our Chinese friends to phone. I like to plan ahgead.

Thanks again.

Dear all,
I am Morgen from China. I have some clients who stayed there. Here is one feedback:
The Bund in Shanghai was the exception - they provided an English newspaper, English guides in the room, and some staff spoke some English. The Bund upgraded our room to a suite and so our last 2 nights in China were most comfortable!

According our experience, it is a nice hotel with service and location.
Good luck!

Hi Morgen

Thank you for your email. I will contact you regarding tours closer to the time we travel.

We stayed at Astor House in February and loved it. It had a lot of character and was quite charming.

It isnt technically on the Bund, it is about half a block away. Although it is a good location (being so close to the Bund) it isnt actually really close to any of the sites we wanted to see (e.g. French Concession). We were still able to walk to the sites, but they were usually about a 20 minute walk. The nearest metro is also a 10-15 minute walk. This may not be a problem however if you are going to catch taxis a bit (we mixed it up - taxis, walking, metro).

Our room was spacious and the bathroom was very nice too. No carpets - wooden floor boards.

We had a twin room and had king singles. The breakfast is not very nice at the hotel (it was not included but one day we ate there). The staff are helpful. Maid service every day. Our room did not have a great view.

If you click my name you can see my china trip report and there is a pretty detailed section on Shanghai.

morgen -- Pleasee note Fodor's is a travelers' forum, advertising in whatever form is strictly prohibited. If you are not a travel agent, my apologies.

Good_Will -- As I said, the Ruijin is the most comfy one among the older refurbished hotels, no river views since it's in the french concession a few miles from the Bund.

The Bund Hotel is nice but it is neither an older-style building nor in an area of french influence, and it does not have a good river vew across to Pudong.

Something has to give in your wishes, either older style hotels or river view, unless a Fodorite can offer another opinion combining all your wishes.

In addition to the Peace, for older style hotels with river views, the other one is Broadway Mansions, the reviews are mixed on the rooms and the service is not good.

Thanks again for your help Shanghainese. I guess I am beginning to become attracted to a modern hotel and to visit the older establishments for tea/coffee/liquor/food/jazz band etc.

My pleasure. The top floors of the Westin Bund Centre in Puxi and the top floors of the Grand Hyatt in Pudong have the best river views. You are also going to pay top dollars (sorry if you are not from the US).

No, from Australia and our currency will be worth more than the US$ soon :)

I dont know about 'more' than the US dollar Good_Will but AMEN to the AUSSIE DOLLAR!

Goodwill: Take Shanghainese's advice. she goes back to Shanghai quite often.

The Peace Hotel is filled with memories but probably isn't the greatest place to stay any more. The Bund is more for tourist visiting rather than for tourist staying.