Mandarin Oriental Shanghai

Somehow it took fifty years for Mandarin Oriental to arrive in Shanghai. Given that they started out in Hong Kong, and that in the interim they managed to expand across several continents, run at least one contender for Best Hotel on Earth (that would be the Bangkok outpost), and win themselves a savvy clientele whose loyalty is the envy of the hospitality world, you’d think they might have made it here a little sooner. But no matter, for the Mandarin Oriental Shanghai already feels like a classic — the lobby perfectly dazzling, the rooms impeccably tasteful, the service fully on point from the moment they opened the doors. If even one of the 4,000 works of contemporary art was hung a hair off-kilter, we certainly haven’t found it.

Maybe they were waiting for the right piece of real estate. The hotel is located in the Harbour City development, a skyscraper-dotted expanse of green in the heart of Pudong’s growing financial district. That, of course, is a good thing if you’ve got business in Pudong. From the outside looking in, it’s less photogenic than the scene just across the river on the Bund, but then again, life in a place like this is almost always better on the inside looking out. With floor-to-ceiling windows in every room, the views of Shanghai’s futuristic cityscapes range from the stimulating to the iconic, creating a contrast between the serenity of the neutral-toned, warmly lit interiors and the bright lights on the other side of the glass. (Needless to say, you can shut those bright lights out come bedtime.)

Though it’s full of tranquil little nooks, the spa feels like it goes on forever. There’s an entire, separate lounge dedicated to foot massages, quite apart from the manicure and pedicure stations, and even the experienced spa-goer may have something to email home about after a sit in a “tepidarium chair” or a sweat in the crystal steam room.

Of the hotel’s six restaurants and bars, the best is Fifty 8˚, which mixes new-fangled orthography with some serious old-school cred. It’s run by chef Richard Ekkebus, whose restaurant at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong is considered one of the best in China. And to top it all off, Hong Kong’s iconic Cake Shop has also made the trip to Shanghai. A sparkling Venetian glass jewel-box full of hand-rolled truffles and cakes that are almost too pretty to eat, it’s a sweet-tooth’s fantasy come to life.