Review: The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Pudong, an iconic destination hotel

This is our review of The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Shanghai’s Pudong district.

Note that this is one of two Ritz-Carlton hotels in Shanghai; the other is the Portman Ritz-Carlton which is located on the other side of the river in Jing’an.

Although I haven’t visited the Portman, I believe the Ritz-Carlton in Pudong is more of a ‘destination’ hotel thanks to its fantastic views of the Oriental Pearl Tower and Bund.

The hotel website is here. Marriott Bonvoy kindly arranged my stay for review purposes.

Where is The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong?

As the name suggests, The Ritz-Carlton is in Pudong. This is the district east of the Huangpu River and extends all the way to the coast, well beyond Pudong Airport.

The Ritz-Carlton is not that far out, obviously. It is in a large meander of the river in Lujiazui which is also home to the financial district. The Oriental Pearl Tower, Shanghai Tower, World Financial Centre and Jin Mao tower are all within a block or two of the hotel, which sits as part of the IFC Mall development.

The benefits of this location include being part of the iconic Shanghai skyline, with one half of the hotel overlooking the Oriental Pearl Tower. You are also on the right side of the city for Pudong Airport which is about 40 minutes away by car.

If you’re in the market for some luxury shopping then the IFC Mall has plenty of choice. It also has the integrated Lujiazui MTR station with access to Lines 2 and 14, the former of which will take you to the Maglev connection with the airport.

Inside The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai Pudong

The Ritz-Carlton shares the South Tower of the IFC development with HSBC. The top 18 floors (39-55) are dedicated to the hotel and the hotel’s rooftop bar.

From the ground floor, a bank of lifts whisk you up to the 52nd floor which is where the hotel reception is located. Guest rooms are on floors 51 and below.

In addition to the hotel reception, the 52nd floor is also home to Scena di Angelo, an Italian restaurant, and Aura bar, which often has a live jazz bar in the evenings.

If you have booked a Club Room, or have Club Lounge access, then your check-in is processed on the 49th floor rather than in the main hotel reception. Arriving quite late, at 11pm, we were checked in quickly and transferred to our room on the 48th floor.

Rooms and suites at The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai

We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite. I also managed to take a look at the a standard room – keep reading to see how they compare.

Rooms feature more traditional luxury styling. This isn’t normally my personal style but it is impressive here, with a big ‘wow’ factor when we first checked in.

First up is a small square hallway connecting to the bathroom and living space:

On the left is the mini bar which features a Nespresso coffee machine on top and mini fridge underneath.

To the right is a small toilet cubicle with access to both the hallway and the bathroom on the other side via two pocket doors. This features an automatic toilet:

Head straight ahead and you are in the open-plan living space. This features a sofa and coffee table on the left plus a recliner chair in the window to admire the view:

and

In between the living room and the bedroom is a floor-to-ceiling console table with TVs on both sides. To the left of this monument is a desk that doubles up as a dining table:

The king bed takes centre stage, and there’s also another recliner chair in the window.

Each side of the bed features a pull-out panel to control the lights and curtains, which are electric.

You also get a universal mains socket and two USB-A sockets. There is also a Bang & Olufsen bluetooth speaker.

To the right of the bedroom is the impressive bathroom. The orange marble looked even more golden in the evening light:

There are two wash basins, one on each side of the room, whilst the large bathtub faces out towards the bedroom and, by extension, the view.

A shower is on the left with large pump bottles of Diptyque’s Philoskyos toiletries.

Next to the bathroom, with access from the bedroom, you’ll also find a mini walk-in wardrobe / luggage room.

Last but not least is the view. We were given a Bund view room, but no matter which side of the building you are on you will have spectacular views across the city. We could, just about, see the Oriental Pearl Tower if we got right up to the window but the Bund was well in view. This is what it looks like from bed:

Standard rooms

If you’re worried that standard rooms will be significantly smaller, don’t be. They’re clearly not as palatial as the suites but they are still big rooms, with a table and chaise longue in the window:

and

The bathroom is smaller, but not by much. You still get the large tub and two wash basins:

Overall you’ll be comfortable no matter which rooms you’re in.

Pool and gym

One of the selling points of The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai is the large pool facility on the 53rd floor. The pool is big enough to swim laps in, whilst there’s also a large hot tub adjacent:

There are a number of cabanas around as well as loungers. The gym is on the same floor.

The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge

Anyone who books a room with Club Access gets access to The Ritz-Carlton Club on the 49th floor. This is NOT a benefit of Marriott Bonvoy elite status – lounges at Ritz-Carlton hotels are excluded from the benefit which allows automatic access to Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador members.

The lounge comes with a busy programme of events throughout the day, far more than your usual Club Lounge. This includes:

• Breakfast (6:30am – 11am)
• Light lunch (11:30am – 2pm)
• Afternoon tea (2:30pm – 5pm)
• Hors d’ouevres (5:30pm – 8pm)
• Cordials & desserts (8:30pm – 11:30pm)

For an additional charge, you can bring in additional guests should you want to – the cost is between 175 yuan – 325 yuan (approx. £20-£35) depending on which ‘slot’ you want.

There is food and drink available throughout the day. We managed to check it out before dinner one evening. It is a long space along the windows facing the Bund with a range of arm chairs, dining tables and sofas:

It just so happened that on the Friday evening we were there they were serving caviar and champagne. Apparently this is a weekly occurrence – I imagine there are different themes on other nights, too.

A range of beers and wines plus a relatively extensive food section is also available. There was a live laksa station as well as a range of hot and cold items including fish, beef and more. Sushi was also on offer. Nobody is going to starve here.

Restaurants and bars

Should you be hungrier then you have a few more options to choose from at The Ritz-Carlton, including Scena de Angelo and Jin Xuan, which has a Michelin star.

Scena di Angelo

Scena di Angelo is an Italian restaurant run by Italian chef Chef Angelo Aglianó. At breakfast, it operates as the hotel’s buffet, view views across the city.

Breakfast here is lovely, with the buffet spread over numerous tables throughout the restaurant. There are obviously all the usual things you expect to find at a hotel buffet, including pastries:

Western-style breakfast was mainly represented by bacon, baked beans, sausages and potatoes:

There is a noodle bar, eggs made to order and a range of fruit juices, yoghurts, cereals and cold cuts.

What surprised me, however, was a handful of German items including proper mini pretzels:

…. as well as paprika lyoner, a type of german sausage meat which I have never ever seen outside of Germany! It’s always nice to be surprised with a small taste of home.

For dinner it transforms into an a la carte Italian restaurant. Both the service and food were excellent, including the salmon carpaccio starter:

Lobster linguine:

…. and a delicious beef main course:

During our meal we entertained ourselves by watching an official convoy head to the Oriental Pearl Tower for a (presumably) private visit as part of the massive International Import Expo in town that weekend.

By the end of it we had to roll ourselves out. I wasn’t expecting to eat such fantastic Italian cuisine in Shanghai, but it was a lovely counterpoint to the rest of our trip.

Flair rooftop bar

After dinner, it is worth popping up to Flair, the cocktail bar on the 58th floor. This is a moody, atmospheric bar with an outdoor terrace overlooking the Oriental Pearl Tower. The view is jaw-dropping:

As it gets a little chilly in Shanghai this time of the year the majority of seating is indoors, but I believe the space is opened up in the summer thanks to the folding doors. I imagine this is one of the premier rooftop bars in Shanghai – I can’t imagine how you could find anything better.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a destination hotel in the heart of Shanghai then you are unlikely to do better than The Ritz-Carlton. Perched on the top 18 floors of the tower you have some of the best views in the city.

The only downside from the location is that the surrounding neighbourhood is largely commercial. It’s a bit like staying in Canary Wharf: everything around is very clean and manufactured, there’s no real neighbourhood feel at street level.

Other than that The Ritz-Carlton is an excellent hotel. Service was uniformly excellent and I was impressed by the food. Overall, I’d definitely rank it amongst the top hotels I’ve stayed at anywhere.

Room rates at The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai start at around £220 per night. Marriott Bonvoy redemptions start from 60,000 points per night.

If you book via our luxury hotel booking partner Emyr Thomas at Bon Vivant, you will get the following extra benefits:

• complimentary breakfast for two
• $100 of in-hotel credit
• welcome amenity
• upgrade, early check-in and late check-out if available

You can contact Emyr via the form here. You pay the same as the Best Flexible Rate at marriott.com and pay on departure as usual.

You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.

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(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)