Anting Villa Hotel - Shanghai, China     

The Anting Villa is a very good hotel, set amid well kept gardens on a quiet road in a leafy suburb of Shanghai. My room was comfortable, modern, and very well equipped; a comfortable bed, easy chair and footstool, and a bathroom with full bath and plenty of space for toiletries. The room not only had a sizeable desk, but also came with unlimited high speed internet access included in the room price. My room even came with a computer which I assume worked with the large flat screen television (I used my own laptop, so I’m not sure exactly how the computer worked.) My impression is that this is a hotel primarily for business people rather than tourists. It is in the Xuhui Zone of Shangha, an area which as far as I could tell contains little that would be of interest to most leisure travelers. The hotel is a 20 minute taxi ride (costing 25 yuan, or about US$3) from the Bund area, and it is a short walk away from an underground train station. The hotel does not have a tour desk. It has three restaurants, serving Chinese and foreign food, and all three them are perfectly adequate though unspectacular. The staff at the hotel were extremely helpful and competent; not all spoke English, but those who didn’t were quick to find someone who could help this foreigner who speaks no Chinese. All in all, this is a very good, peaceful, and modern hotel, with a competent and attentive staff. I enjoyed my three day stay and I wouldn’t hesitate to come back. But if you are looking for a hotel with easy access to tourist attractions, in room massages, karaoke, or plentiful tourist information, this probably isn’t the place for you.