Wuhan Renaissance Hotel – Hometown Holiday

We love being expats in China but sometimes it is nice to escape to a night of Western food and drinks. We decided not to go on any big trip for this spring’s week-long break but just for fun, we checked into an upscale hotel  about half an hour away by taxi for a posh night of dining, swimming and shopping. An overnight holiday in our own city! The Renaissance Hotel is located right beside Metro, where we wanted to do some food shopping anyway, and a short hike to Shopping Mall, the only shopping mall in Wuhan that is called Shopping Mall and that’s what you tell the taxi drivers when you want to go there, “Shopping Mall”. Who would have thought? The Renaissance puts on a great buffet spread every night for dinner. We have eaten out there a few times and were curious to see what the rest of the place was like. So we checked in for the night. We tacked on the extra fee to the room price to include the breakfast buffet as well. Basically a night and morning of pigging out!

The hotel was great and the service was fine. Most of the staff spoke English so it was easy enough to check in and find our way around the hotel. We are never disappointed with the buffet and this night was no exception. There is always a large selection of Western and Chinese food, along with a huge assortment of sushi, which I love. As always, there was oodles of fresh seafood. Every buffet is accompanied by some sort of roast and this time it was a large roast leg of lamb. The other great thing about the buffet is there is always a good selection of cheeses and breads, two things which are not that common in Wuhan. And really good deserts. After a great buffet dinner, with bottomless red or white wine included, we headed for the pool on the fourth floor. It was one of the biggest indoor hotel pools I have ever seen and we basically had it to ourselves. There was one other person there who left about five minutes after we arrived. On the same floor, there is a good exercise gym along with saunas,massage rooms, hot tubs and a spa. The saunas and hot tubs are located in the change rooms so it is not possible for couples to do those activities together!

Our room was on the 20th floor so we had great views of this area of the city at night. Another bonus was English TV, which we don’t have at home. The mall is located about a twenty minute walk away. Like everything else in this country, it is huge. We watched Battleship at the theater. The trick here to see if they have an English movie playing is to take a picture of the poster outside, show it to the ticket office and inquire whether or not the movie is in English or not!

So, for our little one night getaway in our own city, we got to have a wonderful buffet dinner, watch English TV, relax in a great pool, sauna and hot tub, and gorge ourselves again in the morning with a large breakfast buffet, complete with fresh-ground coffee. Most of these things are taken for granted in the rest of the Western world. Here, our options are limited!

The hotel is not located in the most convenient part of town but many things are a short distance away by taxi including the Yellow Crane Tower and the Hubei Provincial Museum. For a one-night holiday, it was a great choice!