Purple courtyard

Perfect place to be in Beijing. 5min walk to Houhai (great nightlife, restaurants), 2 minute walk to another street lined with specialty shops, restaraunts, bars within the hutong. There are many other "local" shops/ restaraunts just a few minutes away. Short bus/taxi ride to the Forbidden City, Heavenly Palace. Had them take me to Mutianyu part of […] Great Wall, which they ended up taking me on a short hike around the main gate into a unrenovated area of the wall which was very COOL! We eventually ended up the main area. I would suggest having them pick u up because it is a fairly tough place to find and it will save you time. I used Houhai park as a place of reference when I got lost and had to ask locals for directions. Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

This hotel is a three-minute walk away from the chic Nanluogu Hutong which is bustling with bars, restaurants and shops. It is in the middle of the hutong riddled center of Beijing which is ramshackle but teeming with life. The hotel is a family business: some members speak more English than others, but the younger generation speaks it well, and the […] older generation is willing to cheerfully play charades. The family is very friendly, and invited me to a dumpling dinner (from looking at other reviews I think this is a fairly frequent event) which I ate with a few of the other Western guests. It was delicious! My dinner companions recommended a microbrewery around the corner from the hotel (Great Leap Brewery) that we visited the following evening, and was fantastic. The room was clean and comfortable. It was also nicely decorated. Beijing was hot when I visited, but the air conditioning in my room worked perfectly. My bathroom had a handheld showerhead with no stall (I believe this is fairly common in China) so beware that the entire bathroom floor and toliet will get wet during a shower (the water did drain quickly at least). I asked for a small towel to wipe my feet, and got by just fine. I think some of the other bathrooms in the place at least had a shower curtain (but probably no separate shower floor). Also, the TV had no English language channels. Be aware that it will be difficult to get a taxi driver to drive you straight to the hotel unless you speak Mandarin. The hutongs are narrow, and while cars can fit, it's slow going with all the foot and bicycle traffic. Have the driver drop you off at the intersection of the northern main street Gulou Dongdajie and the Nanluogu Alley. Walk south down Nanluogu alley (5-10 minutes) and turn left and travel west down Shajing Hutong. Walk another 3 minutes and you'll get to a T intersection with a big purple banner, the entrance to the hotel courtyard will be the door on your left. You can also initially approach the Read more

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

This is a very quaint family run hotel and its in the heart of the Hu Tong area of Beijing... All the staff are very friendly and helpful...They will arrange any trip you may wish to go on... Although the rooms are small they had everything in them you needed... The area dates back to the days of the Forbidden City which just happens to be very close […] to this hotel... All the streets in the area are narrow and you get the feel of real life around you We liked this hotel so much we went back to stay on our last two nights before leaving China... Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review

The hotel staff made us dumplings for free to celebrate the new year.

Genuine Hotels.com guest review

This is a small, family run hotel. The location is great - just North of the forbidden city. It is located in the older part of Beijing, just off a lively Ally full of tourist shops, food stall, and bars. Although taxi's won't drive directly to the hotel (the road is too small) it is only a short walk. The hotel itself has loads of character. It is […] a small courtyard building with only about 8 rooms in total. Our room was small, but very clean (indeed it got cleaned every day!), and the character of the place by far made up for the size. One thing to bear in mind is that our 'triple room' turned out to be 2 beds pushed together, with 3 lots of bedding, which was fine for us 3 girls, but could be an issue for some groups. We also arranged a tour to the great wall via the hotel - which turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip, and at a cheaper rate than the nearby hostel!. The family were excellent hosts, and despite some members not speaking a lot of English they were very helpful - writing down instructions for us to give to taxi drivers, and booking our trains for us! Overall if it is a budget hotel you are after then this is it! I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. Read more

Genuine Expedia guest review