Yanbei Grand Hotel

This hotel is a cigarette smoker's paradise. There are people smoking everywhere - in the halls - waiting for elevators - in the lobby - with little to no regard of anyone except themselves. I saw a cigarette snuffed out on the floor directly in front the reception desk. Staff didn't seem to care. And yes - even the non-smoking rooms reek of smoke. The staff are nice - friendly - helpful - (but just for the record - no English is spoken - so have the translator app on your phone ready). The rooms themselves, while dated, are reasonable. And the location is good. But all this is clouded by the wafting cigarette smoke. Terrible - unless of course you're a smoker and you enjoy this kind of environment. I am not - and did not. Not Recommended for Non-Smokers!

We arrived at Datong with the train very early in the morning and we took a taxi to the hotel. As it was 4 a.m. the people of the reception were sleeping but make us let in. They were speaking English with some difficulty and so the dialogue was quite difficult and took a lot of time. At the end they understood we wanted just to left the luggage and then come back later in order to have the room. So they asked what we wanted to visit and how and they proposed us a car with chauffer for visiting the Hanging Monastery and the Yungang Grottoes. We accepted the price they proposed (we didn't bargain at all, probably because we were tired after the second night spend on the train). And we also had the room before starting the tour at 9,00 a.m. so we could leave everything in the room and choose better what to bring with us for the day. After two day on the train and a full day visiting we were exhausted and so we sleeped were well that night! The breakfast had a lot of choice and because we had another train quite early in the morning we were the first people having the breakfast. Even if 4 stars are probably too much the price we paid was really cheap and considering also the full breakfast included this was a bargain.

Excellent hotel. The rooms are comfortable and clean. The breakfast is good. Rooms at the front have a good view at the partly renovated city wall. Although reception staff speaks limited English, they are nice and do there best to help the travellers.