Grand Millennium Beijing (5 stars)
7 Dongsanhuan Middle Road Beijing, 118305
Location.
Grand millennium Beijing is located in the fortune plaza complex in Beijing, china, three kilometers from Hongqiao market and Tiananmen square and four kilometers from the forbidden city.
Hotel Features.
Grand millennium Beijing, a luxury hotel, features a lobby in black, brown and tan with high ceilings and white stone walls, floors and columns. The hotel includes two restaurants, a deli, a cigar bar and a lobby lounge. Yao chi serves Cantonese and seasonal herbal cuisine. Cbd offers Asian and western cuisine served from an open kitchen 24 hours a day.
Havana bar offers live jazz and contemporary music, cigars, wines and tapas. The lobby lounge offers drinks and modern Chinese jazz. The hotel also includes a spa, a fitness center, a spa tub, a steam room and an indoor pool. The hotel provides a business center and conference facilities. High-speed wired and wireless internet access are complimentary in public areas. Pets are not permitted in the hotel.
Guestrooms.
The 27-story hotel’s 521 guestrooms provide complimentary bottled water, minibars and coffee and tea makers. Rooms also include direct-dial phones, cable and satellite televisions, desks and safes. Rooms also include irons and ironing boards and makeup mirrors.
Expert Tip.
Pan jin yuan antique market offers a variety of Chinese a rt, crafts and antiques, and is considered china’s premier antique market. A sampling of the items available at the market include ceramics, paintings, books, jewelry, basketry, baihua carpets, silk flowers, lacquer ware, cloiso nn and jade.
The Peninsula Beijing (5 stars)
8 Goldfish Ln Wangfujing Beijing, 100006
Location.
Traditional Chinese pagoda gates mark the entrance to the peninsula beijing, located in Beijing, china. This luxury hotel stands within the Forbidden City cultural district and is positioned adjacent to the wangfujing shopping district.
Hotel Features.
The hotel’s marble-clad lobby is bathed in subtle natural light that illuminates a central fountain. Hotel dining options include jing which is connected to the lobby by a glass-enclosed circular staircase. Three open kitchens serve European and Asian fare. A glass cellar holds 1,400 bottles of fine wines. Huang ting displays 200-year-old stone posts recovered from a former Suzhou nobleman’s courtyard.
This dining venue features Cantonese fare and dim sum specialties. The lobby bar hosts afternoon teas, presents live music, and serves a selection of cocktails. A 427-square-meter fitness center contains treadmills, a stair machine and elliptical bicycles, all outfitted with lcd televisions.
Three personal trainers offer workout guidance, while pilates and yoga instructors are on call. Aromatherapy, sports massage, reflexology and Chinese acupressure are offered in two massage rooms. A naturally lit indoor pool is surrounded by glass windows. The Clarins Beauty Institut is located on the lower lobby level and offers a range of beauty treatments. A dvd library houses a collection of more than 200 movies for use with in-room dvd players.
Guestrooms.
This 14-story property offers 525 guestrooms equipped with high-tech enhancements such as silent fax machines, peninsula-developed electronic bedside lighting panels, and complimentary wired and wireless internet access. Plasma televisions offer dvd players and cable channels. Beds are topped with premium linens and foam, straw, bean and holistic-designed pillows. Marble bathrooms contain weight scales, bathrobes and second phone lines.
Expert Tip.
The peninsula hotel houses a three-story shopping arcade that showcases 50 designer boutiques such as Chanel, Versace, Christian Dior and Gucci. The arcade also offers a bank and a medical clinic.
Grand Hyatt Beijing (5 stars)
1 East Chang An Avenue Beijing, 100738
Location.
The grand Hyatt Beijing in the people’s republic of china is less than one kilometer from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The hotel is part of oriental plaza, the largest commercial complex in china. The Beijing capital international airport is 35 kilometers from the hotel.
Hotel Features.
The grand Hyatt Beijing has a multilingual, 24-hour front desk staff and concierge. The hotel offers guests seven on-site dining options ranging from authentic Chinese cuisine to classic Italian. Musicians performing on traditional Chinese instruments appear regularly at the hotel’s restaurant, redmoon. The hotel’s indoor pool features stone columns and a poolside bar. A spa tub and sauna are available. A fitness center and full-service spa are on site. In-room massages are available.
Guestrooms.
The hotel’s 825 guestrooms feature cable television with premium channels. High-speed wired and wireless internet access is offered for a fee. Coffeemakers and refrigerators are included. Smoking and non-smoking guestrooms are available. Guest baths include bathrobes and makeup mirrors. In-room safes accommodate laptops.
Expert Tip.
Within one-half kilometer of the hotel is china’s most famed tourist attraction, the Forbidden City. Construction began in 1406 on the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Forbidden City sits in the exact center of the ancient city of Beijing encompassing 720,000 square meters with 800 buildings and over 8,000 rooms.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a 10 meter high wall. The city was occupied as a residence for royalty until 1924. It is listed as the largest collection of preserved wooden structures in the wood by the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO).
Holiday Inn Central Plaza (3 stars)
1 Caiyuanji Xuanwuqu Beijing, 118305
Location.
The holiday inn central plaza Beijing is located in Beijing, china, four kilometers from the xidan commercial area, five kilometers from financial street and 10 kilometers from the Beijing exhibition centre.
Hotel Features.
The holiday inn central plaza Beijing offers a health and fitness center, a business center, meeting facilities and a variety of dining options. The fitness center has an indoor swimming pool with a sunroof, sauna, steam room, aerobics room, locker rooms, massage services and a beauty salon.
The business center is outfitted with copying, and courier services, computers with internet access, a printer and private limousine service. A 640-square-meter ballroom provides a large-scale banquet facility, and seven smaller rooms can be used for meetings. The holiday inn central plaza Beijing has two restaurants and two bars. Offerings include an international buffet, a Cantonese restaurant with eight private rooms, a and a beauty salon. The business center is outfitted with copying, and courier services, computers with internet access, a printer and private limousine service.
A 640-square-meter ballroom provides a large-scale banquet facility, and seven smaller rooms can be used for meetings. The holiday inn central plaza Beijing has two restaurants and two bars. Offerings include an international buffet, a Cantonese restaurant with eight private rooms, a candle-lit lounge with street and fountain views and a self- service coffee bar.
Guestrooms.
The hotel has 322 guestrooms and 27 suites on 16 floors. Room amenities include a television with cable and satellite channels, minibar, turndown service and complimentary morning newspaper.
Expert Tip.
The Peking opera features singing, dancing, martial arts, musical arts and literary events.
The Ritz-Carlton, Beijing (5 stars)
83 A Jianguo Road Beijing, 118305
Location.
The Ritz Carlton Beijing downtown is located in Beijing, china, adjacent to the chang an avenue commercial district and a shopping plaza.
Hotel Features.
The Ritz Carlton Beijing downtown includes three office towers, a shopping plaza and an apartment complex. Restaurants include an all-day dining lounge with an open-kitchen concept that serves various types of cuisine. An Italian restaurant features wine-tasting rooms and semi-open kitchens where diners can view food preparation. The Ritz Carlton bar offers nightly live entertainment. Meeting and event space includes more than 1,000 square meters and a 700-square-meter ballroom.
Guestrooms.
The guestrooms at the Ritz Carlton Beijing downtown feature Ritz Carlton bedding and turndown services. High-speed internet access is provided. Rooms contain in-room safes. City views are provided in select rooms. Bathrooms offer terry-cloth bathrobes.
Expert Tip.
The 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing will host 32 competition venues. The games will sell more than seven million tickets.
WEATHER
Beijing has cold and dry winters. Its summers are hot and humid. January is the coldest month while July reaches the year’s highest temperature range. Expect to see lots of rain from June to August. The best time of year to travel is during the autumn months, since the temperatures aren’t harsh and there is a lower flow of tourists around. Spring isn’t that great due to wind and dust, even though there aren’t many tourists as well.