Chongqing is a mountain city of 30 million people stacked on two rivers with an old town culture of its own, and its hotel market is as layered as its streets. Prices swing wildly by district: a room in Jiefangbei can cost three times what the same chain charges out by the airport. Cheap does not have to mean bad here, though. Somerset and Bloom Boutique below both hold a 9 out of 10 on Booking.com at prices that would buy a hostel bunk in Shanghai. This list of ten covers apartments with kitchens, chain inns next to the airport and the North Railway Station, and two or three places right by the main sights, with scores, distances and the catches to know before you book.
One warning applies to all budget chains in China, not only Chongqing. Some 7Days, Home Inn and Jinjiang Inn branches do not hold the license to register foreign guests, and Booking.com marks them as “for mainland Chinese citizens” in small print. Read the property page to the end before paying, and if a hotel is flagged that way, treat it as an option for travelers with a Chinese ID only. Most of the entries below accept foreigners; the exceptions are noted.
Choose from this list with extra care, because our China hotel rating study found the gap between cheap and upscale rooms here to be the widest in the country.
Yue Ke Apartment – Changbin Road Branch
Yue Ke Apartment – Changbin Road Branch is a four-star apart-hotel in Yuzhong, the peninsula district that holds most of what visitors come to see. Guests score it 8 out of 10 across 125 reviews. From the door it is 800 meters to Jiefangbei, the Monument to the People’s Liberation, and 900 meters to Luohan Temple. Hongya Cave, the cliffside stilt-house complex lit up every evening, is a 15-minute walk downhill. Nothing on this list sits closer to the center at this price.
Apartments are modern and self-contained: a flat-screen TV, a separate living area, and a kitchen corner with an electric kettle and microwave. Cooking a breakfast of noodles from the supermarket downstairs saves a meaningful amount over a week. Bathrooms have a shower and free toiletries. Upper floors look out over the Jialing River, which is the point of paying for Changbin Road rather than a side street. Wi-Fi is free throughout, though as everywhere in China a VPN is needed for Google and Instagram.
David’s Deer Hotel
David’s Deer Hotel is a four-star property in the middle of the city that scores 7 out of 10 from 19 guests. Its extras go beyond a bed: a shared lounge, a restaurant and a bar on site. Distances are honest rather than glamorous. Hongyan Revolution Memorial Hall is about 4 km away, and the Three Gorges Museum, the Great Hall of the People and Jiefangbei are 7 to 8 km, which in Chongqing traffic means 25 to 40 minutes by taxi or a metro ride with one change.
Rooms come with a wardrobe, a kettle, a safe, air conditioning and a private bathroom with free toiletries. Some units have a kitchenette with a minibar, which is uncommon at this price in Chongqing. Services include a 24-hour front desk, airport transfers on request, a shared kitchen and free Wi-Fi. Reviews mention that the staff are used to foreign passports, which matters more than it sounds in this city.
7Days Inn Chongqing Shiqiaopu Keyuansan Street
7Days Inn Chongqing Shiqiaopu Keyuansan Street is a two-star chain hotel in Jiulongpo district, west of the center. Booking.com had no guest score for it at the time of writing, but 7Days is one of the biggest budget brands in China, and its rooms are the same in every city: small, clean, and cheap. Important catch: this branch is listed for mainland Chinese citizens only, so foreign travelers should skip to the next entry. Hongyan Village is 2.8 km away and Yangjiaping Pedestrian Street 3.3 km.
Rooms have air conditioning, a TV and a private bathroom with a shower, and not much else. Transport is the reason to stay here. Chongqing Railway Station, the old station at Caiyuanba, is about 30 minutes by car, and Jiangbei International Airport is 53 minutes. Shiqiaopu metro station on Line 1 is nearby, which puts Jiefangbei about 20 minutes away on the train. For a one-night stop between trains it does the job.
Jinjiang Inn Style Chongqing Jiangbei Liyuchi Chang’an Coach Station
Jinjiang Inn Style Chongqing Jiangbei Liyuchi Chang’an Coach Station scores 7 out of 10 from 11 reviews. Jinjiang is the biggest hotel group in China, and its “Style” sub-brand sits one step above the bare-bones 7Days format. Location is the selling point: 5.3 km to Hongya Cave and 5.5 km to Chongqing North Railway Station, the main high-speed rail hub for trains from Chengdu, Xi’an and Guiyang. Chang’an coach station next door serves buses to towns across the municipality.
Rooms are what the price implies: air conditioning, a private bathroom, clean sheets. Front desk works 24 hours and Wi-Fi is free. Arhat Temple is 5.6 km away and Huguang Guild Hall 5.7 km, both reachable by metro Line 3 to Line 1 in around half an hour. Budget chains in Jiangbei run noticeably cheaper than the same brands across the river in Yuzhong, so this is a reasonable base for anyone spending more on trains than on sightseeing.
Home Inn Chongqing Jiangbei Airport Shuangfeng Road
Home Inn Chongqing Jiangbei Airport Shuangfeng Road is the place for an early flight. This two-star hotel holds a 7 out of 10 from 6 reviews, and Booking.com lists it at 0 km from Jiangbei International Airport, meaning it stands on the airport grounds. Chongqing’s terminal 3 is enormous and check-in for domestic flights closes 45 minutes before departure, so being able to walk over at 6 am has real value.
Rooms include a desk, a kettle, air conditioning and a TV with cable channels. Bathrooms have a shower, hairdryer, slippers and free toiletries. Bed linen is provided, which sounds obvious but is worth stating because some very cheap Chinese hotels charge for it. Front desk runs 24 hours and Wi-Fi is free. Expect airport-hotel pricing, higher than a 7Days in a residential street but still under what any hotel inside the terminal charges.
Chongqing Yubei·Zijing Commercial Square· Locals Apartment 00161980
Chongqing Yubei·Zijing Commercial Square· Locals Apartment 00161980 is a different format: a privately let four-star apartment in Jiangbei district. Its 7 out of 10 comes from a single review, so treat the score as a placeholder rather than a verdict. What the listing offers is a swimming pool, a shared kitchen and a balcony, three things that almost never appear together in Chongqing at a budget price.
Each air-conditioned apartment has one bedroom, a dining area and a full kitchen with a fridge and an oven, plus a TV. For a family or a group staying a week, cooking half the meals in changes the budget considerably. Zijing Commercial Square is a residential and shopping area, so expect neighbors, a supermarket downstairs and no reception desk. Check-in with a private host in China usually happens over WeChat, so install the app before arrival.
IU Hotel Chongqing Longtou Temple North Railway Station
IU Hotel Chongqing Longtou Temple North Railway Station is a three-star hotel with a 6 out of 10 from 6 reviews. Its only argument is distance: 1.1 km to Chongqing North Railway Station. Trains from Chengdu arrive here every 15 to 20 minutes through the day, and the station connects to metro Lines 3, 4 and 10 as well as the airport line. For a late arrival or a dawn departure, that kilometer beats any amount of charm.
Rooms have a desk, a kettle, air conditioning and cable TV. Bathrooms come with a shower, hairdryer, slippers and free toiletries, and Wi-Fi is free everywhere. Reception staff speak both English and Chinese, which is rare at this level and saves a lot of translation-app fumbling at midnight. Longtou Temple itself is a metro stop rather than a sight, so plan to go into Yuzhong for everything else.
7Days Inn Chongqing Jiangbei Airport Industrial Park
7Days Inn Chongqing Jiangbei Airport Industrial Park is a second entry from the same chain, this one in Yubei district with a 6 out of 10 from 4 reviews. It sits 4 km from Jiangbei International Airport, a 10-minute taxi ride, and serves the industrial park around it, so weekday guests are mostly people on business. Weekend rates tend to drop as a result.
Rooms are basic: air conditioning and a flat-screen TV with cable. Private parking is available for a fee, and Wi-Fi is free. Front desk is open 24 hours, with staff who can help in English or Chinese. There is little to walk to in the industrial park after dark, so eat at the airport or bring food back. Function over form, at a price to match.
Somerset Yangtze River Chongqing
Somerset Yangtze River Chongqing is the standout of this list. A four-star apart-hotel run by Ascott, it holds a 9 out of 10 from more than 1,030 reviews, the largest sample of any entry here by a wide margin. Location matches the score: 500 meters to Huguang Guild Hall and 700 meters to Luohan Temple, on the south edge of the Yuzhong peninsula facing the Yangtze. Jiefangbei and Hongya Cave are both walkable, which makes it a sensible base for a weekend without a single taxi.
Most apartments have air conditioning, a living room with a flat-screen TV, and a kitchen with a microwave and fridge. Building facilities include barbecue equipment, a terrace and a restaurant. Prices run above the chain inns on this list, roughly double a 7Days, but still well under what a full-service four-star charges in the same district. For two people sharing a studio, or a family in a two-bedroom unit, it is the best value in central Chongqing.
Bloom Boutique Hotel
Bloom Boutique Hotel is a four-star hotel with a 9 out of 10 from 291 reviews, and it proves a budget room can have a design idea. It stands a 3-minute walk from Shiyoulu station on metro Line 1, four stops from Jiefangbei and a direct ride to Ciqikou old town in the other direction. For anyone planning to use the metro rather than taxis, that puts most of the city within 30 minutes.
Every room has air conditioning, a minibar, a seating area, a fridge and an electric kettle. Bathrooms include a shower, hairdryer and bathrobes. Windows face the city, and there is a sofa and a desk. Downstairs are a 24-hour front desk, a bar, a snack bar, a shared lounge, a tour desk and luggage storage. Breakfast is a daily buffet with Chinese dishes, and room service runs around the clock. Rates are a step above the chain inns, but for the combination of score, metro access and breakfast, nothing else on the list comes close.
Picking between these comes down to one question: how many nights, and how much of them in the center? For two or three nights of sightseeing, Somerset or Yue Ke in Yuzhong save an hour of transit a day and are worth the extra yuan. For a train connection, IU Hotel or Jinjiang Inn Style near the North Railway Station. For a flight before 8 am, Home Inn at the airport. Chain inns like 7Days and Home Inn usually run 150 to 250 yuan a night, about 20 to 35 dollars, and the apart-hotels 400 to 700 yuan. Whichever you choose, check the foreign-guest note on the Booking.com page first, and pay attention to review counts: a 9 from a thousand guests means more than a 7 from one.
