Inspring Rooms IV

Beautiful Chinese Hostels

My sister, Kristy and I travelled through China in November 2010. We stayed in some lovely places. We stayed in two hostels, one in Beijing and the other in XiAn. I'd thought I had crossed a line, having left my cheap hostel dorm room days way behind. The pics on the websites looked fantastic, but I was dubious. We were more than pleasantly surprised when we arrived.

Not only were both hostels very reasonably priced and situated, but their interiors had me swooning.

The Peking Youth Hostel in Beijing was situated in one of the city's historic Hutong Neighbourhoods, five minutes walk from the Forbidden City. Originally, it was a traditional courtyard house and they've managed to maintain its charm whilst providing modern conveniences and a cosy atmosphere.

Some of the design features that stand out in my mind are; the glass conservatory style extension of the common room, the heavy army style 'doona doors' hung over entrances to help keep out the cold, the blue and white patterned ceramic basins in the bathrooms, red and green tones and lots of timber. I could have stayed here for our full three weeks, calm and comfortably tucked away in our haven from the sharp Winter cold. Oh, and their lemon honey tea was to die for.

Similarly, Shuyuan Youth Hostel in XiAn was originally a traditional courtyard house, though on a larger scale with three interior courtyards. It is a stone's throw from the city's South Gate and walking distance from the Bell Tower and Muslim Quarter.

Features of the Shuyuan Hostel; the generous proportions and natural light, the luxury of the lounge setting in the foyer, simple and elegant traditional chinese furniture, grey tones on the walls. The foyer lounge setting was my inspiration for this post.

The common area of the Peking Youth Hostel.

The lounge setting in the foyer of the Shuyuan Youth Hostel.

One of the three interior courtyards at the Shuyuan Youth Hostel.