Templeside Deluxe Hutong House Hotel– Beijing China

There is no shortage of places to stay in Beijing China and visitors can choose from ultra-luxurious chain hotels, cheap dives, small guesthouses, and almost any other type of lodging you can imagine.  Lindsay and I decided early on that we wanted to stay in the charming, and vanishing (thanks to sprawling Beijing), old Hutong neighborhoods of Beijing.  Hutongs are ancient neighborhoods characterized by narrow alleyways, small houses, markets, locals, bicycles, etc.  Through much research we found and absolute gem called the Templeside Deluxe Hutong House Hotel located in a beautiful old Hutong close to the main attractions but away from the real “touristy areas” of the city.  While we were extremely excited to stay there we were also nervous because we had been told that it is very difficult to find (i.e. taxis don’t even know where it is).  Through literally hours of researching the web I had made a mental snapshot of the area using photos and Google Maps.  Amazingly within about an hour of our plane landing (from Moscow) we had made our way to the front door of our guesthouse (thanks to Beijing’s incredibly convenient Metro system).  Even the front door of this little Guesthouse was very charming.  The surrounding Hutong neighborhood was mostly made up of grey colored buildings but our Guesthouse had bright red double doors with two huge hanging red Chinese lanterns on each side.  We rang the door and within seconds we were being greeted by a bubbly Chinese teenager anxious to show us around.  As we entered the small guesthouse we were simply blown away by its charm.  The entire interior is an open courtyard with about 10 small rooms that surround it.  The courtyard has a glass roof and there were numerous colorful dragon kites and lanterns hung from the ceiling.   There was also a set of narrow bamboo steps which led to an open roof which was perfect for chilling.  We were shown to our room which was tiny and simple but very charming.  There were two small Chinese beds that faced each other on opposite sides of the room.  Lindsay and I had just arrived from a very long flight from Moscow so the first thing we did was lay down on the bed…this was also our first experience with how hard Chinese beds are. :)  Over the next few days we came & went through this guesthouse as we explored amazing Beijing.  One evening we had the cute local girl sitting at the small front desk in the courtroom order us some local food.  Within a few minutes there was a knock at the door and she had prepared our food on the tables of the courtyard.  We sat out there and ate our food and fell even more in love with this cute little guesthouse.  On our last night in Beijing we were killing a little time before our night train to Shanghai.  We got ourselves some drinks, climbed the small bamboo stairs to the rooftop and relaxed on the roof as a way of saying goodbye to Beijing.  The view from the roof was fascinating as you could see into the dense mix of houses that made up the surrounding Hutong (clothes hanging on the line, etc) but on the horizon you could see numerous glass/steel skyscrapers which are the new face of modern Beijing.  Right next to our guesthouse was an old temple with a tall white Stupa (tower) with flags hanging from the top.  The old Hutong, skyscrapers and temple surrounding us was the perfect mix of Beijing.  We hung out up on the roof for about an hour as the sun started to set over the city.  Eventually it was time to leave and we said goodbye to the most charming guesthouse in Beijing……Templeside Deluxe Hutong House Hotel.  As we made our way through the Hutongs to the train station we stumbled upon a little shop making a fried bread/meat treat and decided to get one.  It ended up being the best food we had the entire trip and we were so bummed that we discovered it on literally our last night in Beijing.  If you ever find yourself in Beijing China, and looking for a charming place to stay, make sure to try the Templeside Deluxe Hutong House Hotel.