Shanghai splits its centre between two banks of the Huangpu. West of the river sit the Bund, People’s Square and the Nanjing Road shopping street. East of it rise the towers of Lujiazui in Pudong. Metro Line 2 links both banks with Hongqiao and Pudong airports, so a hotel within a short walk of a Line 2 station saves an hour or more of transit on most days.
This list covers ten well-rated hotels in and around the centre, from an apart-hotel near People’s Square to two skyline properties in Lujiazui and a business tower in Hongqiao. Scores and review counts are Booking.com guest ratings at the time of writing. Each entry notes the nearest metro station and walking times to the main sights, because in Shanghai those two details decide how much of the day goes to transport.
Rates swing with the calendar. Golden Week from 1 to 7 October and the large trade fairs at the National Exhibition and Convention Center push prices up across the whole city, so for those dates book two or three months ahead.
For context on where the city’s hotels stand nationally, see our guest score comparison of Chinese destinations.
Green Court Residence City Center, Shanghai
Green Court Residence City Center, Shanghai is an apart-hotel a few streets from People’s Square. It scores 9/10 from more than 1,670 reviews. Anyone staying a week or longer, or travelling with children, gets more use out of a kitchen and a separate living room here than out of a standard hotel room of the same price.
Location is the strong point. Nanjing Road, the large Apple Store and two metro stations (East Nanjing Road and People’s Square) are about a 10-minute walk. The Natural History Museum is the same distance in the other direction. The Bund and the Museum of Contemporary Art take about 20 minutes on foot, so most of a first-visit itinerary can be done without the metro at all.
Apartments come fully equipped. Kitchens have an oven, a fridge, a microwave and a dishwasher. Living rooms have satellite TV and a DVD player. Housekeeping comes once a week, which is standard for serviced apartments in the city; daily cleaning costs extra.
Shared facilities include a fitness centre and laundry service. A tour desk on site helps with train tickets and day trips, useful if you do not read Chinese and want to book a Suzhou or Hangzhou excursion without going through an app.
Pudong Shangri-La Shanghai
Pudong Shangri-La Shanghai stands on the Lujiazui riverfront, so rooms on the west side look straight across the Huangpu to the Bund. It scores 9/10 from more than 1,485 reviews and is the classic choice for a first stay on the Pudong side.
Two towers make up the hotel. The older River Wing has classic interiors with touches of Chinese design; the newer Grand Tower has a sharper, contemporary look and slightly larger rooms. Both offer free Wi-Fi, large bathrooms and either river or city views depending on the floor. Ask for a river view on a high floor when booking, as the difference between the two sides is the whole point of staying here.
Lujiazui metro station on Line 2 is a five-minute walk. Two large malls, Super Brand Mall and Shanghai IFC, sit next door, handy for a quick dinner or a supermarket run when a hotel restaurant feels like too much.
Facilities run to the CHI spa, an indoor pool, a sauna and steam room and a well-equipped gym. Eight restaurants cover Huaiyang cuisine at Gui Hua Lou, modern Japanese at YISEA and French at Jade on 36 at the top of the Grand Tower, whose windows face the Bund. Even if you stay elsewhere, a drink at Jade on 36 at dusk is a reasonable way to see the skyline light up.
The Yangtze Boutique Shanghai
The Yangtze Boutique Shanghai occupies a 1930s building 30 metres from People’s Square metro station, where Lines 1, 2 and 8 meet. For getting around by metro, no other hotel on this list is better placed. It holds a 9/10 from more than 1,059 reviews.
Art Deco is the theme: ornate staircases, period artwork in the corridors, a restored ballroom and quiet music in the public areas. Rooms carry the same style in a lighter form, with a 42-inch flat-screen TV, a DVD player and an iPod dock. Many have a balcony facing the street, which on this block means a view over the traffic of People’s Square rather than a park.
Outside the door are the Nanjing Road pedestrian street, Huaihai Road, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Grand Theatre and People’s Park. The Bund is about a 10-minute walk east along Nanjing Road.
There is a gym, and the tour desk arranges car hire and guided day trips. Rooms differ in size and outlook, as in any converted 1930s building, so it pays to state a preference for a quiet side or a balcony when booking.
The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong
The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong sits inside the Shanghai IFC complex in Lujiazui. Rooms face the Huangpu and the Bund through floor-to-ceiling windows. It scores 9/10 from more than 855 reviews and competes directly with the Shangri-La next door for the top-end Pudong stay.
Interiors follow an Art Deco line. Every room has a B&O sound system, a flat-screen TV and air conditioning. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Jin Mao Tower and the Shanghai World Financial Center are all within 500 metres on foot, and Lujiazui metro (Line 2) is 650 metres away.
The spa has a 24-hour gym, a dry sauna, a full massage menu and an indoor pool. For dining there are Scena (Italian), Jin Xuan (Cantonese) and Flair, the rooftop bar and restaurant near the top of the tower, one of the highest open-air terraces in China. Aura Lounge on the ground floor serves afternoon tea.
Flair takes reservations, and the terrace tables are the first to go on clear evenings, so guests who want the view with dinner rather than a drink should reserve ahead.
Holiday Inn Shanghai Jing’an
Holiday Inn Shanghai Jing’an is the budget pick on this list. On Booking.com it appears under a much longer name that mentions the railway station hub, free laundry and a panoramic gym, but it is the same hotel. It scores 9/10 from more than 574 reviews.
Location is practical rather than scenic. Shanghai Railway Station, the long-distance bus terminal and the tourist centre are a five-minute walk; the metro station on Lines 3 and 4 is eight minutes. Nanjing Road pedestrian street and People’s Square are about 10 minutes by taxi. Anyone arriving by train at Shanghai Railway Station rather than Hongqiao will find this the easiest hotel to reach with luggage.
Rooms have air conditioning, free internet and a flat-screen TV. Free self-service laundry is unusual at this price level in Shanghai and matters on a trip of more than four or five days.
A tour desk, a business centre and currency exchange are on site. Breakfast is a buffet in the cafe, and the lounge serves light snacks and drinks through the day. Do not expect a view from the rooms: the area around the station is functional, and the panoramic gym in the name refers to the fitness room on an upper floor.
Shanghai Moller Villa Hotel
Shanghai Moller Villa Hotel is a 1930s mansion built for the shipping magnate Eric Moller, with pointed towers and steep roofs that make it look like a Scandinavian castle dropped into the French Concession. It scores 9/10 from 324 reviews.
The garden covers 2,000 square metres, which in central Shanghai is a rarity in itself. West Nanjing Road and South Shaanxi Road metro stations are about a 10-minute walk, the iAPM mall 12 minutes. Jing’an Temple, People’s Square and Xintiandi are each a five-minute taxi ride.
Rooms mix period furniture and dark wood with modern fittings. Because the building is historic, room sizes and layouts vary a lot, so ask which part of the villa a given room is in before confirming.
The hotel rents bicycles, offers massages and car hire, and keeps a 24-hour front desk. Three places to eat: Lily’s Restaurant, a Japanese restaurant and a coffee shop for a casual drink. The garden is open to guests all day and is the main reason to choose this hotel over a tower with the same score.
Renaissance Shanghai Putuo Hotel
Renaissance Shanghai Putuo Hotel, part of Marriott, is a modern five-star on Tongchuan Road with a direct link into Langao Road metro station (Line 7). It scores 9/10 from more than 309 reviews.
Putuo lies outside the main tourist zone, and the hotel makes sense mainly because of that metro link: Jing’an Temple is a few stops away, Shanghai Railway Station a 15-minute drive and the Bund about 25 minutes. Rooms in Putuo generally cost less than the same category in Jing’an or Lujiazui, which is the trade-off for the extra travel time.
Rooms have a modern design with bold colour accents, a firm mattress, a minibar, an LCD TV and a large desk. Bathrooms have both a tub and a separate shower, which is not a given even in five-star hotels in the city.
There is an indoor pool, a fitness centre and a spa. Four restaurants: Café BLD with an international buffet, YUZU Japanese Grill, New Dynasty for Cantonese and Shanghainese dishes, and a lounge for coffee or cocktails.
InterContinental Shanghai Jing’ An by IHG
InterContinental Shanghai Jing’ An by IHG is a five-star hotel close to Shanghai Railway Station and quieter than that location suggests. It scores 9/10 from more than 209 reviews and is known above all for its restaurants.
West Nanjing Road shopping district is a 10-minute drive, People’s Square 15 and the Bund about 20. Rooms are large, with a 47-inch LCD TV, a Nespresso machine and bathrooms that have a separate rain shower, a tub and a TV set into the mirror. Wi-Fi is free throughout the building.
Wellness facilities include a spa with private treatment rooms, a steam bath and a sauna, plus a large indoor pool and a well-equipped gym.
Seven restaurants cover Cantonese, Japanese and Sichuan cooking, an international buffet and several bars. Together with the Pudong Shangri-La, this is the hotel on the list with the widest choice of food under one roof, which counts on rainy days when nobody wants to go back out.
Golden Tulip Shanghai Hongqiao- A Louvre Hotel
Golden Tulip Shanghai Hongqiao- A Louvre Hotel is a four-star tower with 602 rooms in the Hongqiao business district. It scores 9/10 from 60 reviews, a small sample compared with the other hotels here, so read that number with some caution.
It stands beside the International Trade Centre and Shanghai Mart, a 13-minute walk from Yili Road metro (Line 10). Hongqiao Airport, the National Exhibition and Convention Center and the Huaihai Road shopping district are each about 20 minutes by car.
For a trade fair at the NECC this is the most sensible base on the list. For sightseeing, count on 30 to 40 minutes by metro to the Bund: Line 10 runs directly to East Nanjing Road station without a change.
Rooms are large with wide windows over the city, a TV, wired internet and a minibar. The hotel has an executive lounge, a gym and wellness centre, meeting rooms and a terrace on the 31st floor, where The Top and Slider bars are. Japanese-speaking staff, Japanese newspapers and Japanese radio in the rooms reflect how many Japanese business travellers stay in Hongqiao.
Radisson Collection Hyland Shanghai
Radisson Collection Hyland Shanghai stands directly on Nanjing Road, in the middle of the pedestrian shopping street. It scores 8/10 from more than 4,369 reviews, by far the largest sample on this list. A lower score on a huge volume of reviews usually means a busy, dependable hotel rather than a special one, and that is a fair description here.
The Bund and the Shanghai Museum are both under a kilometre away, and East Nanjing Road metro (Lines 2 and 10) is a short walk. Rooms have classic wooden furniture, air conditioning, a pillow menu, cable TV and an electronic safe. Upper floors look out over the Shanghai skyline; lower floors face the shopping street, which stays busy well into the evening.
On site there are a spa with massage, a fitness centre and a business centre. Mao serves Chinese food, the Mosaic coffee shop does breakfast and other meals, and the club lounge covers lighter fare. The 24-hour front desk arranges car hire and airport transfers.
Which Hotel Fits Which Trip
| Hotel | Area | Nearest metro | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Court Residence | People’s Square | East Nanjing Rd / People’s Square, 10 min | 9/10, 1,670+ |
| Pudong Shangri-La | Lujiazui | Lujiazui (L2), 5 min | 9/10, 1,485+ |
| Yangtze Boutique | People’s Square | People’s Square (L1, 2, 8), 30 m | 9/10, 1,059+ |
| Ritz-Carlton Pudong | Lujiazui | Lujiazui (L2), 650 m | 9/10, 855+ |
| Holiday Inn Jing’an | Railway Station | Shanghai Railway Station (L3, 4), 8 min | 9/10, 574+ |
| Moller Villa | French Concession | West Nanjing Rd / South Shaanxi Rd, 10 min | 9/10, 324 |
| Renaissance Putuo | Putuo | Langao Rd (L7), direct link | 9/10, 309+ |
| InterContinental Jing’an | Railway Station | Shanghai Railway Station | 9/10, 209+ |
| Golden Tulip Hongqiao | Hongqiao | Yili Rd (L10), 13 min | 9/10, 60 |
| Radisson Collection Hyland | Nanjing Road | East Nanjing Rd (L2, 10) | 8/10, 4,369+ |
For a first visit with sightseeing as the priority, stay west of the river near People’s Square: the Yangtze Boutique or Green Court put the Bund, Nanjing Road and the museums within walking distance. For skyline views and top-end service, choose Lujiazui, where the Shangri-La and the Ritz-Carlton stand a few hundred metres apart.
Arriving or leaving by train through Shanghai Railway Station, the Holiday Inn is the cheap option and the InterContinental the comfortable one. Trade fair visitors at the NECC should look at Hongqiao first; everyone else loses too much time there. The Moller Villa is the one to pick when the building itself is part of the reason for the trip.
Airport access is similar for all ten. From Pudong International, Metro Line 2 reaches Lujiazui and People’s Square in about an hour, or the Maglev to Longyang Road cuts the first leg to eight minutes before a change to Line 2. From Hongqiao, Line 2 runs straight to the same stations in 30 to 40 minutes, and the Golden Tulip is a short taxi ride from the terminal. A taxi from Pudong to the centre takes 45 to 60 minutes outside rush hour.
Whichever you choose, check the cancellation terms before paying. Non-refundable rates are cheaper but useless if a visa or a flight changes, and for Golden Week or a fair week the cheapest rooms are the ones that sell out first.
