Floors That See the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower, and Why It Differs by Hotel
After reading this, you'll know whether you need to care about the floor at the hotel you chose.
The question "What floor do I need to see the Oriental Pearl Tower?" can't be answered with one number.
Each hotel has a different building height, a different distance from the river, and windows facing a different way.
So if you sort hotels into four types, you can see how much you need to care about the floor.
Hotels where rooms are high from the start
At hotels inside the Lujiazui skyscrapers in Pudong, the rooms start on high floors to begin with.
At these hotels, whatever floor you get, it's high.
Whether the room faces the river or the city matters more than the floor.
Grand Hyatt Shanghai is inside Jin Mao Tower.
You check in on the 54th floor, and rooms are on the 58th to 79th floors.
Breakfast is on the 56th floor, 06:30~10:30.
At the far north end, behind the tables, there are shengjian buns and pan-fried dumplings, and they taste good.
The view from the upper floors makes photos come out well even when you snap them casually.
The soundproofing is good, so it's quiet at night too.
The pool is also an indoor pool with a view, so even outside the room you see the city from high up.
At this hotel, booking a river view comes before worrying about the floor.
From river-view rooms, you see the old Bund buildings across the river.
There are also room photos with the Oriental Pearl Tower outside the window, so depending on room direction, some rooms face the tower side.
More details are in the Grand Hyatt river-view rooms article.
The Ritz-Carlton Pudong is also above the IFC Mall, so the 1st floor is a department store and the lobby is on the 52nd floor.
Rooms are on the 39th to 51st floors, so every room is high.
It's close to the Oriental Pearl Tower, so you look up at the tower.
At this hotel too, separately requesting a room facing the Oriental Pearl Tower head-on comes before the floor.
Hotels away from the river but in tall buildings
On the west bank, around People's Square, there are tall hotels too.
At these hotels, even though there's some distance to the river, the floors are high, so from a river-side room you can see beyond the Bund.
Conrad Shanghai is next to People's Square.
Rooms are between the 27th and 58th floors, so every room has a good view.
Among them, the Bund View rooms are on the 36th to 39th floors.
Shanghai Marriott Marquis City Centre is also a tower hotel on the People's Square side.
From Bund-view rooms, you see the Oriental Pearl Tower and Pudong's three towers right in front of you.
There's also a photo of the Lujiazui night view seen through a room window.
It's about a 7-minute walk to People's Square Station, so taking the metro is easy too.
JW Marriott Tomorrow Square is inside the Tomorrow Square building.
The view from the room is fantastic.
The coffee in the Executive Lounge is good, and you can also browse a bookstore high up in the building.
On the other hand, the hotel is old, so the shower booth is on the small side.
However, this hotel is west of People's Square, so it's closer to a high-floor city view than a river night view.
If you must see the Oriental Pearl Tower, look first at hotels where river-side rooms are a sure thing.
Hotels where you need a high floor to see it
At hotels in areas a little away from the river, like East Nanjing Road, if the floor is low, the buildings in front may block the window.
At these hotels, the floor is the view.
Radisson Collection Hyland is right in the middle of East Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street.
The front desk is on the 2nd floor.
If you're assigned a high floor, you see the Oriental Pearl Tower head-on.
The rooms are on the worn side, but the high-floor view from the 20th floor is good.
From the breakfast seats, you look down on East Nanjing Road.
There are no shelves in the bathroom, so there's no good place for toiletries.
If you're lucky, you get an Oriental Pearl Tower room.
As "if you're lucky" suggests, it's not a room you always get.
If you choose this hotel, be sure to write high floor in your requests.
How to write it is summarized in the article on the "high floor, Oriental Pearl Tower view" request.
JI Hotel The Bund Sichuan Zhong Road is an old red-brick building 3 to 4 hundred meters from the Bund.
From rooms with a good view, you can see the Oriental Pearl Tower in the distance.
As "in the distance" suggests, it's not a room where the tower fills the window.
This hotel has rooms with a terrace.
It's right to think of it as a room for getting fresh air on the terrace rather than for height.
At Golden Tulip Bund New Asia, if you ask, they often give you an Oriental Pearl Tower room on a high floor.
But sometimes you get a 2nd-floor room.
On low floors, it's hard to expect the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Hotels that use only a few floors of a building
Some hotels rent only a few floors of a big building.
Hanting Hotel Nanjing Dong Road Metro Station is on the 7th floor of the Bailian building.
At Atour Hotel Shanghai Bund Land Plaza, the front desk is on the 8th floor of the building.
It's right to think of these hotels as places where you walk out to the Bund to see the night view rather than seeing the river from your room.
On the other hand, East Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street is right outside the door, so it's easy to walk out late at night.
Atour serves late-night snacks at 9:30 p.m.
The walk is in Walking from East Nanjing Road to the Bund.
Hotels where the same floor differs by wing
Even on the same floor, what you see differs if the wing is different.
At Hyatt On The Bund, the East Tower and the West Tower stand side by side.
The West Tower faces the Oriental Pearl Tower head-on, while the East Tower sees it from the side.
Even a high-floor river-side room in the East Tower sees the tower at an angle.
So at this hotel, write the wing before the floor.
It's an older 5-star, so the rooms aren't very new, but they're kept clean.
At the Haiou Regent, even on the same floor, the windows differ by room number.
Suite 06 faces Lujiazui head-on, while Suite 15 faces Waibaidu Bridge, so what you see is different.
At this hotel, the Oriental Pearl Tower is head-on even from low floors.
The terrace of the 2nd-floor restaurant 「绣」 faces the Oriental Pearl Tower, and at the 5th-floor Conde bar you watch the Bund night view while listening to jazz.
It means that if no buildings block the view between the river and the tower, low floors are enough.
Room location also affects noise.
At The Eton Hotel, you can sometimes hear the elevator from the room.
If you're a light sleeper, also write "room away from the elevator" in your requests.
What you see also depends on distance from the river
Even the same Oriental Pearl Tower looks a different size depending on where you see it from.
From the North Bund, you see it head-on across the river, so the night view comes in wide.
From Lujiazui, the tower is right next to you, so it looks big and you look up at it.
Hyatt On The Bund is about an 8-minute walk to the Bund.
From this hotel's river-side rooms, you can see Pudong's three towers in Lujiazui at a glance.
Grand Hyatt is about a 13-minute walk to the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Even at the same height, seen from across the river several towers fit into one shot, while seen from right next to it, the single tower fills the window.
Puyan Hotel The Bund is in an old stone building, not a tall tower hotel.
Yet out the window you see Suzhou Creek and the Oriental Pearl Tower together.
If you're close to where the river bends, the view opens up even if the floor isn't very high.
For seeing the Oriental Pearl Tower, I prefer the North Bund side.
This is a matter of taste, so decide after reading the North Bund vs. Lujiazui article.
In short
- At hotels inside Pudong skyscrapers, look at river view vs. city view rather than the floor.
- At tower hotels on the People's Square side, a river-side room lets you see beyond the Bund thanks to the height.
- At low hotels away from the river, like on East Nanjing Road, a high-floor request is a must.
- At two-wing hotels, write the wing first.
- At hotels using only a few floors of a building, don't expect a room view; walk out to the Bund.
Other questions
Is the highest floor the best?
Not necessarily.
On cloudy days the tower looks hazy.
Even on a high floor you can't do anything about the weather, so if you're staying 2 nights or more, keep a clear night free for the night view.
How to deal with cloudy days is in Night views on cloudy or rainy days.
Can I know the floor before booking?
The floor is often decided at check-in.
So before booking, check which floor the rooms start on, and after booking, write high floor in your requests.
How to read the view from room names is in Room names that see the Oriental Pearl Tower.
High-floor view rooms tend to cost more than standard rooms at the same hotel.
Prices change by date, so check them for your own dates.
