InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland
Sheshan, Songjiang, Shanghai, China
A 336-room hotel built down the wall of an 88-metre-deep former quarry in Songjiang, with two floors below the waterline.
Why we recommend it
This is a hotel people visit for the building. Sixteen of its 18 floors descend the face of an abandoned quarry, with balconies looking across to the opposite cliff and its waterfalls, a glazed lift shaft running down to the lake, and suites on the lowest levels that look into an aquarium. The design, by British architect Martin Jochman, took more than a decade to realise.
It is not a base for seeing central Shanghai. It works as a one- or two-night detour for travellers interested in architecture and engineering, or for families.
Location
The hotel is in the Sheshan area of Songjiang district, about 35 kilometres south-west of central Shanghai and roughly 30 kilometres from Hongqiao airport, near the Chenshan Botanical Garden.
