Shanghai, China

Capella Shanghai

Price per night from$656.36

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (CNY4,645.34), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Capella Shanghai Photos

Style

Shikumen chic

Setting

Former French quarter

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Capella Shanghai channels the old-world glamour of the 1930s, when French fashion and design were intermingled with traditional culture. In the historic Xuhui District, the hotel occupies an old Shikumen estate, characterised by its redbrick façade and rosewood-framed windows. Star French chef Pierre Gagnaire helms the restaurant, and an award-winning spa will have you feeling as buffed as a prized piece of jade. Best of all, though, is Capella’s ‘culturists’, who’ll arrange immersive experiences to help you delve into Shanghai’s manifold layers. 

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Afternoon tea for two

Facilities

Photos Capella Shanghai facilities

Need to know

Rooms

55, including 10 suites.

Check–Out

Noon and check-in is from 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include an à la carte breakfast with Chinese and Western options, and laundry service for five items per stay.

Also

Unfortunately, the hotel isn’t suitable for guests with limited mobility.

At the hotel

Free WiFi throughout, 24-hour gym, access to Capella’s ‘culturist’ experience managers. In rooms: TV, Bose Bluetooth sound system, minibar with free beer, soft drinks and snacks, free bottled water, tea- and coffee-making kit and Frédéric Malle bath products.

Our favourite rooms

All of Capella Shanghai’s rooms are in restored Shikumen buildings, with interiors that blend classic Chinese design and 19th-century French styles. If it’s just the two of you, opt for one of the Shikumen Garden Villas, which open out into a walled garden with a manicured lawn. Families should swing for a Two-Bedroom Deluxe Villa or the sprawling Three-Bedroom Grand Villas for their separate living areas, TV rooms, dining rooms and roof terraces.

Poolside

There’s a small pool in the spa, surrounded on three sides by arched windows set into redbrick walls — a classic feature of Shanghai’s Shikumen buildings. A vast skylight lets the sunlight in by day and warm-toned lamps add to the cosseting atmosphere after dark.

Spa

Capella Shanghai’s award-winning Auriga Spa is inspired by Chinese holistic healing methods, with many of the signature treatments based on the phases of the moon. Choose to match your treatment to the current lunar phase or go your own way, selecting from an extensive spa menu that includes massages, gua sha, detoxifying wraps, electrotherapy sessions and beauty treatments using Carita skincare products from Paris. There’s also a floatation tank, salt-wall lounge, sauna, steam room, hot tub, relaxation lounge and a wellness studio for fitness classes. You can access the gym around the clock, kitted out with a full range of weights and Technogym machines; and personal trainers are on hand for private sessions, too.

Packing tips

Dig out your best camera for snapping the city’s iconic 20th-century architecture.

Also

Guests get round-the-clock access to the Living Room, an inviting lounge space and library stocked with a selection of snacks, teas and coffee.

Children

The hotel has more of a grown-up feel to it, but there are family-sized villas if you’re travelling with tots.

Food and Drink

Photos Capella Shanghai food and drink

Top Table

If it’s just the two of you, try to snag a table by the French windows. Families and small groups can book the private dining room.

Dress Code

Le Comptoir calls for ‘smart casual’, but we’d go a step further, leaning into the old-Shanghai glamour with printed silks, embroidery and classic tailoring.

Hotel restaurant

Capella Shanghai have reached for the stars at their signature restaurant, tapping celebrated French chef Pierre Gagnaire, a man who has more Michelin stars than you can count on two hands. Le Comptoir is styled like one of Shanghai’s Thirties salons with its Burmese teak furniture, geometric floor tiles and vast French windows that open onto a verdant terrace. The six-course Menu Espirit Pierre Gagnaire is the chef at his most expressive, but you can also go à la carte, with dishes like royal-style green asparagus perfumed with tarragon and orange juice, Shandong turbot with vegetable aioli, and wagyu beef fillet from Mayura Station in Australia. There’s also the more casual La Boulangerie, styled like a French bakery and serving artisanal sourdough and delicate pastries. 

Hotel bar

Rising from the floor like an ocean liner in dock, the hotel’s Art Deco Le Bar is all smooth curves and dramatic lighting. The menu is full of cocktails that have sustained the city for generations, mixed with premium spirits, seasonal ingredients and a dash of French flair. There’s also an extensive wine list, including choice vintages from some of the finest estates in France.

Last orders

Breakfast is served at Le Comptoir from 7am to 10am (10.30am on Sundays); lunch from noon to 2pm, and dinner from 6pm to 9.30pm. La Boulangerie is open from 7.30am to 8pm daily. Le Bar serves from 11.30am to 9.30pm.

Room service

In-room dining is available around the clock, with a reduced menu during the early hours.

Location

Photos Capella Shanghai location
Address
Capella Shanghai
480 West Jianguo Road
Shanghai
200031
China

Capella Shanghai is in the central Xuhui District, known for its rich history, intriguing Shikumen architecture and lively shopping scene.

Planes

Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport is a 30-minute drive from the hotel. The hotel can arrange one-way transfers from RMB500.

Trains

The closest railway hub is Shanghai Hongqiao Train Station, a 30-minute drive from the hotel. It’s served by high-speed bullet trains from Beijing, Hangzhou and Nanjing.

Automobiles

You’re unlikely to need a car in Shanghai; taxis are cheap and abundant, and the subway system covers virtually every area you’d want to visit. If you do choose to hire a car, the hotel has private parking for RMB30 an hour. If you leave the car parked for a 24-hour period, the daily charge is capped at RMB240.

Worth getting out of bed for

Among Capella’s fistful of trump cards are its in-house ‘culturists’, who’ve made it their mission to uncover all there is to know about their destination. They’re your best friends when it comes to excursions, recommendations and hot tips on how to get beneath the surface of the city.  

They can arrange a photography tour in the former French Concession, during which you’ll learn about some the district’s historic buildings and receive expert tuition on how to capture them at their best. For classical music aficionados, they’ll arrange private tours of the city’s prestigious music venues and provide backstage access to musicians. Other favourites include calligraphy workshops and the perennially popular ‘bike and bite’ experience, transforming the city into a moveable feast as you pedal along its boulevards and alleys, stopping off to try choice local dishes.  

Local restaurants

Occupying a renovated villa from the Twenties, Bistro 321 Le Bec serves time-honoured Gallic classics like pâté en croute and côte de boeuf, alongside dishes that splice traditional Chinese ingredients with French cooking. For excellent Shanghainese fare, try longtime favourite Ren He Guan. The restaurant goes all in on the Thirties nostalgia, with dim lighting, waiters in period costume and a resident singer crooning out Shanghai golden oldies. If that all sounds a tad gimmicky, it’ll reassure you to know the farm-fresh food is anything but, with diners coming across the city for its award-winning fare. Minimalist and Zen-inspired Fu He Hui is a set-menu-only kind of place, turning out avant-garde dishes that are both vegan and strictly seasonal. Instead of a wine pairing, there’s a hand-picked selection of fine teas to complement every dish.  

Local bars

In the former French Concession area, Healer slings craft cocktails inspired by traditional medicine and Chinese fusions. Root Down is modelled on Japan’s hallowed ‘listening bars’, with DJ’s spinning jazz and old-school funk on a bespoke Hi-Fi sound system. The cocktails are made with as much artistry as the records that line the walls; try their take on an Old Fashioned, made with a premium butter-infused rum, a spritz of absinthe and finned with Royce raw chocolate. 

Reviews

Photos Capella Shanghai reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this culturally immersive hotel in Shanghai and unpacked their silks and ceramics, a full account of their city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Capella Shanghai… 

In the 1930s, Shanghai was booming. And at the heart of the melting pot was the French Concession, where a river of Gallic art and architecture flowed through the streets. It’s here, in the ‘Paris of the East’, that Capella Shanghai lays its story-filled head. 

For this base, the esteemed group renovated a 20th-century Shikumen estate into an all-villa escape. The interiors borrow from East and West alike, and private redbrick courtyards have you feeling like you’re the custodian of your own Shanghai townhouse. But it’s not only the architecture that enfolds you in the history of the city. Capella’s ‘culturists’ host all sorts of enriching events, and come evening, days are closed with tipples from the 1930s, and French fare that showcases this region’s incredible access to produce.  

The glory days of old Shanghai may be in the past, but spend a few nights here and we’ll guarantee you wouldn’t know it.

Book now

Price per night from $600.07

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