Fenyang Garden

Gorgeous boutique hotel in the French concession quarter of Shanghai. Great location to explore city on bikes or foot ; stunning old building with lush garden. Rooms are basic but absolutely up to standards and very clean. Staff very kind and it’s not too complicated to communicate in English with them. Breakfast mostly Chinese. The incredible charm gives this place 5 stars.

The location is great as it’s located quietly from the road. It’s a hotel that hosts weddings during the weekends so it can be a bit more noisy then. Good sized rooms, when it’s cold they are a bit cold too. The staff don’t speak English very well, except one of them. The best thing with the hotel is its location, close to all the restaurants and shopping.

As a former resident of the neighborhood who travels back quite a bit, I’ve stayed at many of the historic (or sequels) hotels in the area - Donghu, Garden, Jinjiang, Manxin Huaihai, Intercontinental Ruijin, Henghshan Madie Villa, the not foreigner accepting Julu Garden Villa, etc. We’d never made it to Fenyang before this as had heard somewhat mixed things, and the price never seemed that competitive (not a huge gap, but not cheap either). After a weekend stay this time - I can say while glad we finally visited, we won’t feel the need to come back. The garden was nice (and had free parking plus electric vehicle charging, convenient), the lobby of the hotel certainly had a good atmospheric (though heavily renovated) feel to it….the room ultimately wasn’t that heavily renovated. From an overhead shower metal valve that fell off when I tried to use it, to not having power outlets next to the bed (or even an effort to provide them via an extension cord), to a somewhat lumpy mattress….I just don’t think the base rooms here can justify the price, relative to the competition. The rooms just felt old and somewhat dated (despite a claim on Ctrip of a 2019 renovation? Maybe only touched higher-end rooms). The room did have a nice balcony….and breakfast was ok (decent wonton and noodle options, plus a buffet)….but still. For better rooms but without actually being in a historic building (it’s a rebuild in a convenient site), I’d recommend the Manxin - but spend a little bit more than the base rooms to get a bit more space (probably still cheaper than Fenyang?) - Yaduo might be an option too. For truer history with nicer room renovations at a similar price, try Donghu - I just find the historic feel,and the update of the rooms, much stronger there (but avoid the cheaper guesthouse building). Intercontinental or Radisson have even nicer gardens and branded experiences, but room quality can vary…