Shanghai Travel Guide: Best Hotels & Art Deco Architecture
Seven hotels for Shanghai’s beautiful contradictions, from The PuLi’s amber calm in Jing’an to the Fairmont Peace Hotel on the Bund, plus the new Andaz at ITC.
2026-08-09
A Splendid Guide to
China rewards the traveller who slows down. Shanghai holds a century of architecture in a single skyline, art deco on the Bund facing glass towers across the water, and its hotels are among the most quietly assured in Asia. Our China coverage begins there, written from first-hand stays.
Seven hotels for Shanghai’s beautiful contradictions, from The PuLi’s amber calm in Jing’an to the Fairmont Peace Hotel on the Bund, plus the new Andaz at ITC.
2026-08-09
The PuLi in Jing'an, Alila Shanghai, The Shanghai Edition, The Peninsula on the Bund, the Fairmont Peace Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton Pudong and the new Andaz Shanghai ITC rank among the city's finest. Amanyangyun and Capella Jian Ye Li are the other names most often set beside them.
The Bund offers heritage grandeur and the Pudong skyline across the water. Jing'an is quieter and more residential, close to the park and the temple. Pudong puts you in the towers themselves, with the highest rooms in the city.
Spring, from March to May, and autumn, from September to November, bring the most comfortable weather and the clearest light over the river. Summer is hot and humid; winter is cold but quiet, with the lowest hotel rates of the year.