The 18 Best Hotels in Shanghai

The villas here were once shikumen townhouses, the narrow-lane brick dwellings that somehow survived Shanghai's tower-block era, and Capella has turned a preserved clutch of them into a boutique luxury hotel in Xuhui. Three-story interiors mix French and Chinese influences, and Pierre Gagnaire's only mainland China restaurant sits on the grounds. The spa runs to flotation tanks and traditional Chinese medicine treatments, which is a combination that feels very Shanghai.

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Floors 30 through 59 of the Jing An Kerry Centre, which means the lobby's wall-of-water feature is technically closer to the clouds than to the street. This is a luxury hotel in the Shangri-La mold, so more is always more: marble bathrooms with heated floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, suites with silver mosaic walls and Bulgari products. The lap pool sits under a sky dome, and the 55th-floor lounge turns Shanghai's skyline into wallpaper.

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The top-floor Char Bar has views of the Pudong skyline that make the room feel like a screensaver, except you're holding a drink. This design-forward boutique hotel on the Bund pairs high-end rooms with interiors that swing hard between ancient Chinese motifs and bold contemporary color, which could easily go wrong and mostly doesn't. Many rooms look out over the Huangpu River, and the riverside café downstairs gives you the same view at breakfast.

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Terra cotta bricks by Swiss-Italian architect Mario Botta give this business hotel in the old French Concession a geometric facade that feels deliberate rather than decorative. Inside, an elliptical courtyard offers an unlikely patch of green, and rooms go Art Deco with a Chinese inflection, big windows, and bathrooms that lean generous. Restaurants cover both international and Cantonese ground, and the spa has a solid reputation around town.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

The name sets expectations that the address quietly overturns: this InterContinental is not a tower above the skyline but a century-old estate, gardens and all, that once served as the State Guest House. European-style buildings sit amid parkland that most Shanghai hotels would trade their infinity pools for. The rooms and spa are as polished as any in the chain; guests just happen to fall asleep somewhere that feels nothing like a hotel.

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Kempinski The One Suites skips hotel rooms entirely, offering only suites, some with kitchenettes, others with full kitchens for something closer to a residential stay. The Deco-influenced décor and generous bathrooms lean polished without tipping into cold, and the building sits above Jing'an within easy range of decent retail and nightlife. A Noevir spa, pool, gym, and a terrace cocktail bar fill out the hours between checkout and the inevitable rescheduling of checkout.

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The lobby's floating crystal centerpiece is built around Shanghai's official flower, the magnolia, and that single decision tells you everything about how this luxury hotel thinks. Rooms face either the historic Bund embankment or the Pudong skyline, and the dining options run from a glass-bloomed Chinese restaurant to an all-day room styled, apparently without irony, after The Wizard of Oz.

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Full-length windows in every room frame the Pudong skyline from inside the Lujiazui business district, which is either the view or the commute, depending on why you're here. This is a luxury hotel pitched squarely at business travelers, with Art Deco rooms that manage to feel considered rather than corporate. The spa sits on the top floor, the indoor pool shares that same skyline, and the restaurant options run from Italian to teppanyaki to an extravagant Cantonese spread across five private dining rooms.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A giant thumb sculpture anchors the lobby lounge, which is either a provocation or a perfect metaphor for Pudong, depending on your mood. This full-service hotel sits in one of Shanghai's most architecturally restless neighborhoods, and the building commits: bold common spaces give way to cloud-white guest rooms that feel like a deliberate exhale. Four restaurants, a pool, tennis, and meeting facilities round out a property that runs on energy rather than hush.

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The public spaces lean into chiaroscuro drama, all shadow and contrast, while the rooms pull back toward something calmer and more textured, with metal and stone and fabric sharing the same walls. A rooftop infinity pool floats above Pudong in case you need reminding you're not in Paris, though Le Chloé downstairs does its level best to keep that particular illusion going. A Michelin Selected Hotel, and one of the more theatrically designed boutique options in Shanghai.

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Rooms here are laid out more like apartments than hotel suites, with kitchenettes, separate living and sleeping zones, and floor-to-ceiling windows over the Shanghai skyline. Tucked into the MixC complex near Ziteng Road Metro, it sits close to the airport, rail, and convention center, which explains the clientele. The 24-hour gym sits next to the laundry room, a pairing that tells you everything about who stays here and for how long.

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A neon-lit cube perched atop the Himalayas Center, this Pudong hotel looks like a Blade Runner set that got a little too into itself. The Burj Al Arab people built it, so the public spaces lean hard into spectacle, but the rooms pull back into calm, contemporary Chinese classicism. A 14-story interior atrium handles the drama from inside. Shopping, an art museum, and a maglev link are all on the doorstep.

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Seven rooms, a garden yoga class, and a lobby that feels borrowed from someone's very tasteful apartment: this boutique hotel in Minhang runs more like a neighborhood guesthouse than a Shanghai address. Pale wood, white walls, and potted greenery keep things calm, while the restaurant handles both Chinese and British dishes without committing to either identity. Free shuttle to Hongqiao Airport, which the couples who fill this place seem to find very convenient.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Check-in happens at Bar Moxy, which sets the tone: this is a hotel that skips the marble lobby in favor of a drink and a barstool. Rooms are compact and unapologetically functional, with floor-to-ceiling windows, walk-in rain showers, and enough USB ports to charge a small film crew. It sits close to the convention center, Hongqiao rail, and the airport, which explains the guests. The front desk doubles as a local guide, so ask.

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