If bijou Bund-side boutique is your bag, then the Swatch Art Peace Hotel is the Botkier of Shanghai stays.
This hotel slash creative hotbed is housed in a heritage building on the banks of the river Huangpu, and home to 18 artists in residence as well as seven immaculate, high-design suites for art buff travellers.
Individually-designed chambers take inspiration from various events and landmarks in the city’s history – take the Peace Suite, which aims to contrast Shanghai’s colonial past with its ultra-modern future in a minimalist space with warm Chinese touches. The 250 sq m, calligraphy-esque Happiness Suite explores Chinese arts and crafts with many traditional elements, while the Prosperity Suite is a colourful ode to the hotel itself with yellow walls and dark woods, and the remaining rooms and suites are recreated as higher-end iterations of the artists’ lofts below.
The fifth-floor restaurant Shook! is an extravagant East-meets-West dining experience, while the Time Bar offers luxurious libations like the signature ‘Caviar Royal’ with champagne and “pearls” of crème de cassis. Whatever you do, however, don’t miss the magnificent roof terrace, with sweeping cityscapes that might even inspire you to create a work of art yourself!
Swatch Art Peace Hotel, 23 Nanjing Dong Lu, +86 21 2329 8500, swatch-art-peace-hotel.com
