We love a hotel with a fully defined sense of place, where – even if you close your eyes – all other senses can recognise otherness, subconscious signatures of the treasured destination we choose to visit. The bright, grassy scent of green tea in the library, the delicate sounds of clinking forks and low chatter drifting from the in-house boulangerie, the milk-like taste of nostalgic, 1940s White Rabbit candy. It’s all there, at Capella Shanghai, Jian Ye Li.
Quickly emerging as one of our favourite boutique brands for their ability to infuse hyper-local surroundings into architecturally fascinating properties, Capella has done especially well with their Shanghai outpost. Tucked into the Xuhui District of the French Concession, famed for its tree-lined streets and mash-up of architectural styles, the hotel inhabits a cluster of restored shikumen buildings dating back to the 1930s. The shikumen – traditional Shanghai townhouses with stone-framed gates and two to three storeys – form part of the city’s collective memory, and here, Capella has transformed them into an elegant enclave that feels both historically rooted and quietly luxurious.
It’s an unusual layout for a hotel, feeling more like a discreet mini-commune than a conventional urban property. A central courtyard veers into neat rows of brick shikumen, fanning out into straight backstreets. Each block houses a handful of keys, while the spa, library, and dining venues are peppered in other ivy-clad buildings. The hotel also includes private residences, newly built (but in the shikumen style).
Check-in is effortless in the intimate library lobby, all oversized florals and dim lighting. We were presented with tea sweetened with honey, then whisked – always whisked! –to a shikumen of our own. Even the entry-level rooms are full shikumen, so we were essentially handed the keys to a private townhouse. There’s something deliciously special about opening the door to your own little sanctuary in the heart of the Chinese megacity, history and craftsmanship making you feel, briefly, like a local.
Our shikumen proved to be a design dream. A ground-floor Indochinese-inspired living room of panelled walls, glowing lamps, and herringbone espresso-hued floors led to a staircase up to the media room, well stocked with a complimentary minibar, a Capella signature. Another short flight brought us to the thickly carpeted, whisper-quiet bedroom, dressed in a watery blue palette, followed by a serene white-stone bathroom. The final ascent led to a quaint rooftop terrace, a private (if minimally decorated) perch above the city.
| Perfect for | Fly into | Right on time |
| The Sophisticate | SHA / PVG | GMT +8 |
| While you’re Out There |
| The hotel sits in the heart of Shanghai’s French Concession, a pretty, leafy neighbourhood that’s surprisingly large (purported to be around 8km wide). To get a literal and metaphorical taste, we highly recommend a small-group evening food tour with Lost Plate for old Shanghai signatures like table-slapping-good xiaolongbao (usually called soup dumplings in English) and scallion oil noodles at small family-run hideouts. The 3.5-hour tour starts at Jiashan Road Subway Station, around a 20-minute walk from the hotel. |
It’s the details that hit: full-sized Magnolia-scented toiletries by French perfumer Frédéric Malle (one of our favourites), a soaking tub complete with bath salts and bath sponge, and a candy dish of White Rabbit sweets. Thoughtful extras such as a yoga mat, nail kit, a steam eye mask at turndown, and complimentary pressing underscore the brand’s meticulous knack for anticipating guest needs.
We couldn’t resist booking a spa session at Auriga Spa, a divine sanctuary with a small indoor pool, well-equipped gym, Himalayan salt room, and flotation pods. The Moon Phase massage, our chosen treatment, began with the most exquisite osmanthus and red-date tea and concluded with a warming wolfberry soup said to aid digestion. And while we wish we could tell you more about the treatment itself, in all honesty, it was so deeply relaxing – and we were so jet-lagged – that we may have drifted off (shhh).
On the food and beverage front, Capella Shanghai delivers confidently. Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire, another aesthetic dream of patterned-tile floors, black-and-white vintage photography, floral bone porcelain, and a soundtrack from French band Air, serves refined French cuisine by one of the world’s top chefs, while a bijou boulangerie has established itself as a Shanghai favourite with the impossibly stylish locals (it was heaving each time we passed by). Breakfast was a highlight at Le Comptoir: steamed crab dumplings, jujube tea from Shanghai-founded T9 Tea, and what might just be the best French toast on this side of the Seine – an unlikely combination that somehow worked beautifully.
Capella Shanghai’s cultural rituals further distinguish the property. A dedicated Culturalist team curates daily moments of joy, from quiet morning reading sessions exploring what happened on this day in history via old issues of the historic newspaper Shun Pao, to complimentary cake and cocktail hours (try the Hit It Off, made with oolong tea, vodka, and tropical juices). The Capella brand is beyond generous with the extras.
If we were to offer any suggestions, it would be to see more local dishes woven into the menus, as the culinary focus currently leans heavily towards classic French. Additionally, while the shikumen layout is undeniably magical, the alleys between blocks are not covered, which can be inconvenient in inclement weather. We had one especially memorable freezing dash, wrapped only in fluffy Frette bathrobes, from our shikumen to the spa. A minor quibble in what is otherwise an immersive experience.
Ultimately, Capella Shanghai delivers with intuitive luxury and a grounding in place – not just to Shanghai, but to the French Concession in particular. In fact, take a sense of place and raise it by a sense of time: staying here feels like being welcomed into another era, a meticulously curated, sepia-tinted vision of 1930s Shanghai, back when it was still thought of as the Paris of the East.
Photography courtesy of Capella Hotels & Resorts
