This year, Valentine’s Day falls during Chinese New Year, a time when millions of people are on the move, heading back to their hometowns. A lovely bonus for international visitors to China? Discounts and deals at various hotels. Of course, China’s most romantic getaways are lovely any time of year. Read on for our roundup of the best places to bring your sweetheart.
Amanfayun, Hangzhou
This collection of 47 stone houses, several of which are more than a century old, is set in a tiny village and surrounded by tea fields and bamboo forests. This is the kind of tranquil escape urbanites dream about, where the main activities are strolling through the bamboo forest, lazing about reading and sipping tea with cookies. The resort sits adjacent to Lingyin Temple and a lovely park where you can ogle enormous stone carvings of Buddha. To that end, you’ll also see robed monks strolling the hotel’s grounds.
Li-An Lodge, Guilin
You’ll see green from every angle at this intimate 16-room hotel, which sits atop the Longji terraced rice fields. Grab your significant other and commune with nature, hiking along the terraces that cover more than 16,000 verdant acres. Nearby the hotel are the enclaves of ethnic minority groups Zhuang and Yao, where the villagers live as they have for many hundreds of years.
Commune by the Great Wall, Beijing
Much like its ancient neighbor, this hotel has some serious architectural cred — it was exhibited at the 2002 Venice Biennale. Private access to the Great Wall is one of the biggest draws here, along with the tennis courts, outdoor pool (definitely not being used during Beijing’s sub-zero winter, however) and kids club for couples with families.
Shangri-La Hotel, Harbin
After tromping through Harbin’s ice festival, ogling the dazzling array of ice and snow sculptures, cozy up here and thaw out in the sauna and steam room. Service is what you’d expect from Shangri-La, even in this far-flung corner of China. This is arguably Harbin’s best hotel, and you’ll want somewhere toasty to come back to after braving the elements.
Le Sun Chine, Shanghai
Built in 1932, this 17-room villa is the former home of the Sun family, of Sun Yat–senfame. The hotel is on a quiet former French Concession street, a stone’s throw from lanes in which locals still hang their laundry out to dry and chickens cluck around. A nightcap at in-house cocktail lounge Salon de Salon is the perfect way to wrap up the evening.
Photos Courtesy of Le Sun Chine, Aman Resorts and Keren Su
