Le Sun Chine

Shanghai’s got top-shelf business hotels, big-deal design boutiques and colonial-chic luxury hotels, but rare in this city is the sort of complete package you’ll find in Le Sun Chine. This one chooses a little bit from each column; a 1930s-era Edwardian-style mansion on a quiet walled estate, it’s got colonial character to spare, but its interiors are a contemporary interpretation of classic Shanghai rather than a museum-grade restoration.

And though it’s small, its 16 suites are anything but — not only are they quite surprisingly spacious, but in physical terms they’re the equal of any of the city’s five-star business hotels. They come in distinct color schemes, either blue, red, gold or cream, and the design, by the Singapore-based Julian Coombs, recalls the composed elegance of some of London’s posher boutique hotels.

What sets Le Sun Chine apart from some kind of extended-stay residential hotel is the full complement of luxury-boutique services. A fine restaurant serves modern Shanghainese cuisine and the lounge specializes in Champagne. There’s a spa featuring both Chinese and Western treatments as well as a pool, a fitness center, and what might just be the world’s only boutique-hotel ballet studio (we’d be happy to be corrected on this, incidentally).

• 16 Rooms
• Style: Contemporary Classic
• Atmosphere: Lively

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