Beijing, China

PuXuan Hotel & Spa

Rates per night from$295.76

Price information

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

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (CNY2,080.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

PuXuan Hotel & Spa Photos

Style

Ming-facing modernist

Setting

The imperial heart

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A stone’s throw from the walls of the Forbidden City, Puxuan Hotel & Spa in Beijing entwines avant-garde good looks with 800 years of Chinese history. The hotel is encased in a glass box above the Guardian Art Centre, a museum and auction house designed by architectural heavyweight Ole Scheeren. With imperial splendour on show through the windows and cutting-edge art sold in the vaults below, Puxuan has struck down the middle, borrowing from the best of both worlds. Modern and minimalistic, the rooms feel cocooned from the metropolis, but old-world materials and traditional designs ensure they’re still rooted in the city’s heritage. Chinese tradition can also be found in the ancient healing techniques used at the spa, the Cantonese cuisine at Fu Chun Ju and the fragrant brews in the Tea Room, where the nation’s favourite drink gets its full ceremonial due. 

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Canapés and a fruit platter on arrival

Facilities

Photos PuXuan Hotel & Spa facilities

Need to know

Rooms

116, including 24 suites.

Check–Out

Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Rates

Double rooms from $295.76 (CNY2,080), excluding tax at 16.6 per cent.

More details

Rates include breakfast, a welcome drink and free laundry.

Also

The hotel and art centre are the work of architectural heavyweight Ole Scheeren, known for his new-age skyscrapers and The Interlace, an award-winning ‘vertical village’ in Singapore.

At the hotel

Gym, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: HD TV with Bluetooth connectivity; free minibar; Nespresso coffee machine; free bottled water; La Bottega bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Even the entry level rooms have sweeping views across some of the oldest and most culturally-rich neighbourhoods in Beijing. That said, we’d opt for a Grand Deluxe or Grand Suite, as both have guaranteed views across the Forbidden City. If you book a suite, you’ll get access to the exclusive Puxuan Club on the eighth floor, which has a sumptuous lounge area, a library and round-the-clock butler service.

Spa

Ranged across the fifth and seventh floors, the spa is a calming cocoon against the outside world. Teaming ancient healing practices with modern science, the therapists offer everything from 30-minute express massages to indulgent full-body rituals, some of them lasting half a day or more. All of the products are organic, too, made bespoke by skin care specialists Comfort Zone. There are seven treatment rooms, several relaxation areas, an area for beauty treatments and a 24-hour gym and fitness studio.

Packing tips

If you plan on visiting the Great Wall, bring some gear that’s suitable for clambering around rocky slopes.

Also

All public areas are wheelchair accessible, and there are several adapted rooms.

Children

All ages are welcome, but the hotel isn’t particularly geared towards kids.

Food and Drink

Photos PuXuan Hotel & Spa food and drink

Top Table

If the air is looking clear, try for a table on the terrace at Rive Gauche.

Dress Code

At Fu Chun Ju, err on the smarter side; Rive Gauche calls for a more laissez-faire approach – but not at the expense of style.

Hotel restaurant

Inspired by the French capital’s most bohemian enclave, Rive Gauche channels a  Parisienne bistro with its at-counter dining and relaxed atmosphere. Executive chef Ivan Meguez has devised a menu of unfussy French classics, which can be enjoyed at the marble counter or one of the bottle-green leather banquettes. Fine-dining restaurant Fu Chun Ju is more formal, clothed with exotic timber, amber glass and fine stone, nodding to traditional Cantonese homes. The dishes are mostly from that same region, but the chefs aren’t die-hard purists, working flavours from Beijing into the mix too. 

Hotel bar

The Lobby Lounge is the hotel’s social heart, designed as a living room that’s as well suited to afternoon tea as it is to midnight cocktails. The dark-wood furniture, straight lines and statement fireplace keep things suave, and the room is flooded with light thanks to the wall of windows that look into the verdant courtyard. If you’re hoping to sip on something softer, head next door to the Tea Room, a space dedicated entirely to China’s most famous commodity. Alongside the main tea lounge, there are private tasting areas, a tea lab and a boutique stocked with all the blends and paraphernalia you could need. A rooftop bar is also in the works, slated to open in the summer of 2019.

Last orders

Rive Gauche serves breakfast from 6.30am to 10am; lunch from noon to 2.30pm; dinner from 6pm to 10pm. Fu Chun Ju is open for lunch from noon to 2.30pm and dinner from 6pm to 10.30pm.

Location

Photos PuXuan Hotel & Spa location
Address
PuXuan Hotel & Spa
1 WangFuJing Street, DongCheng District
Beijing
100006
China

You’ll find the hotel on top of the Guardian Art Center in central Beijing, overlooking the tiled roofs of the Forbidden City.

Planes

The best place to touch down is Beijing Capital International Airport, which can be reached directly from London Heathrow. It takes around 40 minutes to drive from the airport to the hotel; one-way transfers in an Audi A6 are CNY 700.

Trains

Beijing South Railway Station, the largest in the city, is a 25-minute drive away. High-speed services arrive here from Shanghai, stopping of Ji’nan and Nanjing on the way.

Automobiles

You won’t need (or want) a car in Beijing. The city has extensive public transport and any dreams of enjoying open roads will be swiftly curtailed by traffic.

Worth getting out of bed for

Perched on the edge of the Forbidden City, Puxuan taps into Beijing’s illustrious past, channeling a serene and stately mood that defies the frantic nature of the modern city. Part of the hotel’s ‘hostmanship’ concept is to offer a modern sort of luxury that’s flexible and tailored to you – so start by ordering breakfast to your room, where you’ll be able to watch the city come to life. After spending the morning exploring the Forbidden City, return for fragrant refreshments in the Tea Room, which gives China’s most famous export its full ceremonial due; book one of the private tasting areas for the most immersive experience. Afterwards, ride the zen flow straight to spa, where the treatments borrow from ancient healing and cutting-edge science.

The Forbidden City might be just outside, but you needn’t leave the building at all to get a culture kick. Puxuan is built on top of the Guardian Art Center, a museum, gallery space and auction house rolled into one. The centre’s focus is on homegrown artwork and antiques, and if you’re in the market, you’ll be pleased to hear that the safe in your room is big enough for a small painting or two… The National Art Museum is a short stroll away, but for a more off-the-beaten-track experience, try the 798 Art District in Dashanzi. This collection of galleries and studios has been fashioned out of former state-owned factories, including the eponymous Factory 798, which once produced electronics. Now grown into a microcosmic world with its own bars and restaurants, 798 has become synonymous with all that is cutting-edge in China’s contemporary art and design scene, attracting international attention from those in the know. If you’re looking to escape the city for a day, ask the concierge to arrange a day trip to one of the lesser-visited areas of the Great Wall, such as Jinshanling or Gubeikou, where the wall has never been reconstructed. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a section of the wall practically to yourself, and the crumbling, overgrown stone has a much more authentic look than the more touristy areas.

Local restaurants

Café Zarah is a coffee shop, restaurant and art gallery that unites old Beijing with the new, occupying the shell of a traditional courtyard house that’s been brought back to life with the help of concrete and blackened steel. Stop in for a craft coffee or one of their Continental breakfast dishes, which are best enjoyed in the peaceful courtyard. For lunch, try Dadong Roast Duck, a restaurant dedicated to...well, you guessed it. The argument about Beijing’s best duck place is forever raging, but you can count on Dadong’s name being thrown into the ring every time it erupts. The restaurant prides itself on sourcing birds that are leaner than average, giving the meat a firmer texture than some of its rivals. For dinner, try Susu, another courtyard house that’s been brought into the 21st century, this time converted into a Vietnamese-inspired eatery. The team of young chefs turn out delicately-spiced spring rolls, flavoursome pho and hearty clay pots with gusto, and the bar staff shake cocktails infused with homemade syrups and bitters. For authentic Yunnan folk cuisine, book a table at Lost Heaven, the Beijing branch of this famous Shanghai restaurant. The spices may have been adjusted for international diners, but the recipes are rooted in tradition, drawing on the cuisine of the region’s minority tribes. For fine-ding, try Jing Yaa Tang, an Alan Yau restaurant known for its excellent Beijing roast duck, or TRB Hutong, where refined mod-European dishes are served in a 600-year-old temple.

 

Reviews

Photos PuXuan Hotel & Spa 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 design hotel in Beijing and unpacked their pu-erh tea from the hotel’s boutique, a full account of their city break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Puxuan Hotel & Spa in Beijing. 

With a city as large as Beijing, it can be hard to know where to start. One clear choice is the Forbidden City, the sprawling royal palace built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Another is Wangfujing, a commercial artery ever since a well filled with sweet-tasting water was discovered there hundreds of years ago. Stay at Puxuan, and you’ll have both on the doorstep, along with some of the most leafy and historic neighbourhoods found anywhere in the city. At first sight, the hotel seems precisely the opposite, a bold monument to modern shapes and design by German architect Ole Scheeren. Once you’re inside, however, you realise it’s also a viewing platform, tied to the Ming and Qing-era majesty on its doorstep. This play between old and new runs throughout the hotel, with traditional designs reimagined for the current century, whether it’s the lantern-esque lamps, the elegant curve of a chair or a blackened-steel stand for a vase. Embracing Beijing’s ever-increasing connections, the food comes via Paris in one restaurant and culture-rich Canton in the other. In short, if you want to experience the best of the city as it is today, this is the place to go.

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