Xingwen Earth Forest

This beautiful little hotel is built around a small courtyard that gives the feeling of a traditional Chinese home, with beautiful old woodwork and lattice bannisters and windows. The rooms are spacious and the beds comfortable, and the bathroom is large, with a self-flushing toilet. While the building is not soundproof, it is quiet at night. The ‘extras’ in this hotel include a nice deck for guests to sit and enjoy the wonderful container-garden with flowers and succulents. There is also a washing machine and racks, so travellers can wash their clothes without extra cost. The host is extremely helpful and offers free pickup from train station or airport as well as drop-off. Breakfast vouchers are for a Chinese buffet a few meters down the road; (another hotel cafe across the street offers espresso coffees.) Note: the Expedia map is a bit ‘off’: this hotel is located within the Ancient City, which is car-free, so luggage must be walked or rolled across old cobble stones for quite a distance, but the host is very helpful with this.

We booked this stay for the last night of our anniversary trip! The accommodation is located within the old town, thus no cars are allowed to enter. However the hotel staff had already contacted me far in advance to arrange luggage pick up so arriving to the hotel was very easy! They also arranged a quieter room for us and surprised us with a cake too! We loved the stay, very different to your usual city hotels but regardless it had all the amenities we needed. Rooms were clean, staff were friendly and location is quiet yet a stones throw away from tourist spots.

Access to the hotel needs to be clarified at the lower entrance. And the hotel name - Cloudhaven Retreat (花开花落半山居) needs to be updated. The hotel is using another name right now.