Name: Huangshan Shilin Hotel
Address: Beihai Scenic Spot, Huangshan, Huangshan, Huangshan, 245800, China
Rating: 6

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Elevator/lift

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Smoke-free property

Heating

Newspapers

Express check-in/check-out

Garden

Reception desk

General

Non-smoking rooms

Room service

Slippers

Toiletries

Rooms

Ironing

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Concierge services

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Cafe

Restaurant

Restaurant (buffet style)

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Free Wi-Fi

Internet access

In-room internet

Internet

English

Chinese

Languages Spoken

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Karaoke

Hiking

Recreation

Fax and copy machine

Meeting and presentation facilities

Conference Hall

Business

Massage

Beauty and wellness

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Huangshan Tunxi International Airport

Huangshan Shilin Hotel

Huangshan

The Shilin is a decent choice for a hotel on Mt Huangshan - yes, it's expensive for what you get compared to anything at ground level, but that's what you pay for staying on the mountain! 

It's close to a number of popular sunrise viewing spots and is pretty well located in terms of being roughly equidistant to both the cable car routes. My room was small but the bed was extremely comfortable and the Wifi decent. 

Breakfast buffet was fine. I paid for the 160 RMB dinner buffet, which again is a little expensive for China but was good quality and tasty - although I suspect they cater for people who only stay one night, as it was the same on the second night as the first. Staff were friendly and helpful although we were communicating through translation apps, due to my lack of Chinese and their lack of English.

Decent Huangshan choice

The hotel is well located for sunrise - only 10-15 minutes walk from 'stone monkey watching the sea' viewing platform. There are many different places to watch the sunrise on the way up with not too many people (for being Huangshan).

The hotel itself is rather average. On the positive side it is not too big, on the negative side the room was a bit smelly.

The problem is that all hotels are average up on the mountain. I have previously stayed at Xihai Hotel which is a little better. But you don't go to Huangshan for the hotel.

Good for sunrise - average hotel

As expected for these hotels atop a top mountainous attraction, the rooms are small and quite basic for the price. We had two small single beds, a small shower and bathroom and they managed to squeeze in a small writing desk and coffee table. The beds were comfortable and cleanliness was good. We ate at the dining hall which offered a buffet of mostly decent local food. The main advantage of staying atop the mountain is being able to see the sunrise which can be done after a short climb up some stairs next to the hotel entrance.  There are a few viewpoints but all have very limited space so do go up early if you need space for things like tripods, etc. There are no sunset points around the hotel though.

Good stay and location for sunrise

We booked for 1 night. When we arrived at Shilin hotel and was told they could not find a reservation against our name at their place. After a few phone calls, we were then transferred to their sister hotel Baiyun, which was about 5 minutes walk away. I was a little annoyed as we had been hiking the whole day and just wanted to rest. They need to sort out their booking system.

Missing booking

We booked 2 nights on the mountain. To see the sunrise there is really no alternative. The cost was $420 USD with tax. Realizing this is the price for the location we could not be picky. Be aware, non-Chinese tourists need to pay 90 yuan for park entry, 80 yuan for the gondola (each way) and 19 yuan (each way) for the shuttle bus (bus takes about 20 mins from the transfer center). Upon arrival, which takes some time due to the shuttle bus, the gondola, and hike in, I inquired about the time for the first gondola in the morning. This was essential due to our taxi pick up on the last day and the train back to Shanghai for our flight home. I was told at 6 am. By the way, the staff I encountered were pleasant and nice, but I needed Google to translate fo communicate.  That time worked, but later would not. Upon entering the room, it was beat and grungy. The walls were paper thin and it stunk like cat pee and you could smell the cigarette smoke from the other rooms. The bathroom toilet and the shower are one stall, gross. The worst thing though is that the water was turned off in the hotel from 9 am to 5 pm (unknown before we arrived) We could have dealt with everything else, but that was unacceptable. We hiked the amazing trails that day and got up early the next morning to see the awesome sunrise and hike until we were exhausted. Getting back to the hotel at about 3 pm we got to the room and the key did not work! Weird. I went to the front desk and it was like the expected me and handed me a new key. No explanation, I have no idea why they changed it. Anyway, no shower, no toilet because there is no water. Not pleasant (travelers gut anyone?). The next adventure was discovering via an internet search (get a VPN in China or you will be very limited) that the first gondola did not go until 7:30 am the next day. This made it impossible to make our connection. I went to the front desk to confirm and indeed they had given me to wrong information. We immediately had to rush to leave forgoing our second night and catch the last gondola down the mountain, rearrange the taxi, pick up our stored luggage, and get another hotel in Tunxi (which was 50 USD and beautiful BTW, we loved the old part of Huangshan). A final word of advice if you are staying on the mountain, do no bring a suitcase! We stuffed a couple of days in our small backpacks. I can't imagine lugging a case on those trails and it is super crowded, so just be aware. That said the mountain is spectacular and every supply is hiked in by porters that seem to work non stop. Just incredible. What an experience we had, but I hope this helps and informs others about the hotel situation. I have filed a complaint with my CC as the Shilin would not refund my 2nd day after we had to check out early.  And, oh yeah, my wife saw a bed bug as well... so just yuck! I really need to vent on this place, it just needs to be called out.

Honest Review of Experience

There are no much choice in the mountain. Everything are expensive, 'cos things need to be haul manually to fill that "comfort need". 

I don't have big budget as well, so, i stayed at the 4 bunk beds dorm on the basement. All hotels on the mountain have dorm rooms on the basement. 
Shilin dorm room actually pretty OK, it gets sun and fresh air from the windows. It doesn't feel damp. The whole hotel was good, 20 year ago, i guess? Now it looks worn out and dirty-ish.

If you are un-lucky enough, you would experience the nightmare of sharing room and toilet/bathroom with local tourist. They are well known for not flushing toilet, really noisy, and having low clealiness standard. I had that experience :D

I just wish the hoste would increase the cleanliness standard. They called themself 4 stars hotel, actually! And the staffs to be more pleasant, friendly, and speak more English. After all, this is tourism bussines, where service are important.

When you have no much choice :)

I visited huangshan on november 1st 2018. I was strongly recommended to spend the night to see dawn, and i chose to do so at Shilin hotel.
First, the position: it is good, super close to Beihai (like 5 min) and one of the closest hotel to yungu cable car (eastern way). From Yungu it is about 1 hour to reach the hotel through the easternmost road, mostly going downhill but with some places going uphill (its all steps).

Then, the room. I was in an all female dorm room. It should host 8 people but it wasnt full, maybe 6 people. It is a very very basic dorm room. The beds have sheets, pillows etc and they did smell clean. The place is clean enough if you arent a clean freak. As most of the reviews stated, chinese people are very loud, it was so also in the dorm (i was the only foreigner) and ofc people get up at all times to see dawn (one girl got up at 3.30...) 
The bathroom was ok (there are absolutely no towels or toiletries, not even soap). It gets flooded as soon as people start showering tho. 
However you do get a pair of hotel provided slippers. In the dorm room there were no downcoats to use to see dawn.

I ate lunch at the restaurant (the one with the menu) and it was ok. Paid 45yuan for a bowl of “ramen” 

If you use Shilin only to crash for a night and be on your way at dawn its fine. It has, ofc, the great advantage of the price, which is practically 10% of a private room... 


Bed in female dorm

There are not many options on Huangshan mountain itself, but the Shilin Hotel was quite modern and clean with rooms away from the main roads and crowds. Like all hotels on the mountain, you must take a cable car up and walk many stairs to reach the hotel. However staying overnight is worth it to see incredible panoramic views at sunrise (a highlight of our Huangshan visit). The location is not that ideal for trail layouts (you must work your way back to the hotel from the train car at the base of the canyon and might need to retrace some steps depending on which cable car you use to ascend and descend), but was very convenient for watching the sunrise in the morning (a few steps to Stone Monkey Watching the Sea viewpoint).

This hotel was comparable in price to the others (midweek $140) and we settled on a "Panoramic Room" with a window looking out into some trees. The room served our needs and the shower had good water pressure. As others have noted, bring earplugs as the walls and doors are thin. Breakfast included with the room was substantial with nice array of Chinese options (rices, noodles, eggs, fruit, congees pastries, danishes etc) and there was coffee available. Staff were very helpful to point out spots on a map. A solid choice on Huangshan.

Huangshan Tips: We took the Yuying Cable Car up in the morning, walked around the Eastern steps, dropped our bags at Shilin (and were able to check in around 11am), had an early lunch, walked around the canyon in the afternoon to the rail car, walked to bright peak and then back to Shilin for dinner, followed by watching the sunset from stone monkey watching the sea (not the greatest view in July with Sun behind a mountain). The next morning we could quickly get back to Monkey Watching the Sea at sunrise (amazing view! - watch from the lower point to right when you walk up stairs), had breakfast in the hotel, and began walking (retracing steps) back to Bright Peak, past Baiyun Hotel and along Western steps to the Yuping Cable car (ascending around 2pm with no lines for cable car).

Solid base for overnight on Huangshan. Convenient location to watch sunrise.

Staff at reception speak English very well. Heater in our room had power, so we didn't have cold during the night. The hotel is well situated near the telpher.

Bathroom very small, shower and toilet are placed very near to each other, so if you take a shower, the whole Bathroom is wet (including toilet paper). TV didnt' work, not even for chinese chanel. Toiletpaper was half empty, as we arrived. Our room was a side of a backoffice of the hotel and some shared rooms. Furthermore we could hear our direct neigbhours talking. If we spoke Chinese we would have understood every single word. So it was most of the time very noisy. At 4.30, when the Chinese of the shared room started for sunsrise, it was so loud, we couldn't sleep anymore.


Overpriced, bad room, but well situated

To begin with - Mount Huangshan is amazing.  Truly one of the most spectacular things I have experienced in my travels - if you travel to China, you must make the effort - it is almost life-changing.

Secondly - I am not a “pampered traveler” in the sense of expecting 5 star service everywhere I go.  This past year I stayed in the mountains at a glorious Shadow Lake Lodge near Banff, Alberta - where we shared a bathroom/shower, where there was nothing in the room but a modest heater..  and we loved it.  

So - to the extent I have a complaint over the Shilin Hotel, it’s not regarding the quality of the hotel, per se.  It is clean, comfortable - if somewhat cold in the restaurant area (coats recommended) - it’s over the way it is not presented as advertised.  The resort suggests that it serves western foods, and in fact, it doesn’t.  Which is fine - I don’t mind steamed buns for breakfast with stir fry and rice - this is China, not Banff - but just let me know that in advance.

And - you should be aware, this is not a five star hotel,and not really a four star hotel - which is no problem - but just be a little more direct in allowing users to know what to expect.  Smallish rooms with single beds, a shower/toilet combo, no western food of any kind, no coffee with breakfast, no full bar service (we bought what I think was there last bottle of wine) - and then once you realize that you are really staying at a 3 star hotel, then - I would encourage everyone to stay here.

The bottom line is the hotel is more than adequate,particularly considering it’s at the top of a mountain - and once you’re here, the walks are simply stunning.  Beyond what I can describe or even pictures can express.  It’s that good.

Oh - and to assist you if you don’t speak Chinese - the town at the base is a good place to stay - they have bus service front the train station in Huangshan City to the small city of Tangkou.  We stayed at a modest little boutique - which was more than adequate, but zero English - so passport and have them write down price - was very reasonable.  Wandering around the village the night before was a joy - small little beer/coffee shop was lovely for a TsingTao - even in the rain.

From there, you walk up towards the mountain - until you get to the fork in the road (gas station area) and you go left, and walk up to the bus station - you buy tickets for a bus which will take you to the top of the road.  From there, you keep walking, past the concession areas on your right, to a set of steps - you go up there and buy TWO tickets - one for entry to the park, and one for the Gondola - keep in mind you need enough money to buy the ticket for the gondola and the bus ride back.. but, we discovered, you can buy a ticket for the bus ride down the hill and a bus ride back to Huangshan Railway station - which then we obtained tickets to take us back to Shanghai.  From Shanghai Train station, you exit, and once outside the building, go left to the subway - spend some time looking at hate subway map (or download copy) and you will follow the river and find what station you need - and then purchase tickets on ticket machine (they have English Language choice) - Metro is really easy and much, much cheaper and quicker than cabs.

Anyway - I would encourage staying at Shilin, but be modest in your expectations.

Oh.

And the Karaoke rooms were never opened.  Don’t expect night life up here - but you’ll be so exhausted, you won’t care - in a good way!

Huangshan Shilin Hotel

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