Mira Moon

In a city of futuristic high-rises and ultra-modern boutique hotels, the whimsical Mira Moon stands out for its sense of cultural history — and its sense of humor. Located in Wan Chai, also known as Hong Kong’s red-light district, the 91-room hotel is the recently completed project of famed design outfit Wanders & yoo — the first of whom is indeed the same Marcel Wanders who’s responsible for many of the past decade’s most inspired boutique-hotel designs.

As the name hints, Mira Moon’s look was inspired by an old Chinese fairytale about the Moon Goddess and her Jade Rabbit. The contemporary interpretation is stunning. Interiors are sumptuous and dramatic, yet cheerfully childlike — sort of like Alice in Wonderland meets the Far East — filled with Dutch modernist elements and Chinese storybook imagery, larger-than-life wooden lanterns, fanciful tulip-shaped chairs, walls covered with striking white lacquer or intricate mosaic, motifs of bright peonies and bunnies, a quiet secret garden, staff members outfitted in elegant Chinoiserie. Guest rooms feature polished wooden ceilings, lavish marble bathrooms with stand-alone tubs, and tech-friendly amenities from iPad minis to Nespresso machines.

Like its well-established older sister The Mira Hong Kong, the Mira Moon makes an aesthetic statement that appeals to a particular set of style-conscious business travelers and jet-setters — but here, the scale is smaller, and the aim more specific. The Mira Moon doesn’t have a swimming pool or a spa, nor a grand lobby. The high-design connoisseurs who book a stay here, after all — need it be pointed out? — didn’t come to Hong Kong to swim.