Shichahai Shadow Art Performance Hotel

Top Family Hotel

Pros: Loved this comfy small hotel in the hutong area! Would definitely recommend to anyone wanting to have a real Beijing feeling.

Pros: The Shadow Art! What a fantastic performance! Spellbinding! And that it's located in a real neighborhood. A traditional neighborhood with narrow streets and children playing and old folks and ...

Cons: The weather in Beijing was hot and humid and it sometimes got the best of the AC, but still 20 degrees cooler in the hotel than outside!

Pros: Beautifully designed both cozy, modern with traditional Chinese architectural elements. But the best aspect by far is the shadow puppet performance!

Cons: The bedroom lighting in rm 102 is weird. The lighting is concentrated over the flat screen TV. It should be over the headboard of the bed so guests can see when they are reading in bed.

Excellent value boutique hotel in a fantastic loca

Pros: Comfortable, Western-style beds, clean and functioning Western-style bathrooms (where the entire bathroom does NOT convert into a shower), and close proximity to central Beijing, subways, and general walkability were our priorities. This hotel hit them all, and also managed to be a great value compared to hotels. I'd say the amenities were on par with maybe the top 1/4 tier of Western chain hotels, but the price was that of a middle tier Chinese hotel. The friendly and helpful staff (many of whom speak English) and cultural aspect was a bonus as well.

Cons: The rooms are on the smaller side; they definitely fall under the "boutique" category, but the bed and bathrooms were all very large and comfortable, so we didn't mind the lack of "common" space. You're not able to control the air conditioning, but we found the temperature comfortable. Bear in mind that, as an energy saving measure, you need a hotel key card to turn the power on in the room, so you can't, for instance, leave something charging all day while you're out.