The Aman Summer Palace Hotel is situated about 20km away from the centre of Beijing, if you assume that the Forbidden City is the actual centre of this enormous city.
The actual hotel is set in the grounds of what used to be the imperial kitchens of the Summer Palace and is laid out in the shape of a series of small courts yards that are separated by pavillions and buildings. It’s actually a very calm and relaxing environment, to the extent that when you’re inside the hotel you nearly forget you’re actually in an enormous city.
The rooms of the hotel are luxuriously appointed, but without decent artificial lighting, photography is a bit difficult inside the rooms.
I very much enjoyed my stay at the Summer Palace. It probably is one of the nicer hotels to stay at in Beijing. However, if you’re looking for a hotel with a central location to explore the sights of China’s capital, this is probably not the place.
As you may have guess, for me a good measure of a hotel’s quality is usually the afternoon tea they offer. The Aman Summer Palace does a really nice afternoon tea with lovely, fluffy scones.
knightofmalta 