Dayu Kaiyuan Resort 大禹开元 @ Shaoxing

Came here for a company retreat, got it at an amazing off-season price. Dayu Kaiyuan is in Shaoxing, not exactly as you still need to drive a fair distance to get there.

Dayu Kaiyuan Resort is located just 500 metres from Da Yu Ling (the Mausoleum of Yu the Great). It is 3 km from Shaoxing’s downtown area so it is not the obvious choice as a business hotel for Shaoxing City. However an hour drive from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport make this a good location for conventions and meetings.

Despite the location, however, the developers have invested quite heavily into the infrastructure, so it would be quite pleasant if everything is opened. Because it is the off-peak season, a lot of the restaurants and eating places in the resort are closed. We are left with two choices – the buffet restaurant and the Chinese restaurant – Yu Mansion located in one of these old houses.

The Room

The room I got was somebody’s home back in I don’t know when. But do not be disturbed by the rustic, old-looking exterior. You get all the modern comforts when you get in.

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The Rest of the Resort

There’s the rustic side of the resort, and there’s the modern side. So if you feel really disturbed to sleep in someone else’s house, there’s the new phase where everything has been built from ground up.

Resort at Dawn

The place is magical in the morning. The mist above the water soften the silhouettes of the buildings. The cool morning air rejuvenates the body and mind as you prepare for the rest of the day.

I cannot imagine a week ago this whole place was packed with holiday makers from Shanghai. I don’t like crowded places, and these days, you cannot find another resort like this unless they are new and unknown, or they are really out of place and not attractive. This falls into the second category.

Resort at Dusk

It was after the end of the public holidays so we had the resort almost to ourselves. While most Chinese resorts built in a refurbished village have an eerie feel in the evening, Dayu Kaiyuan has spent a lot of effort to bring in a warm lighting schema around the place to give it a cosy, pretty feeling.

Afterthoughts

Tastefully refurbished rooms and nice concept – much better than the usual reconstructed Chinese “old street”. Due to the location it feels like a self-contained boutique resort, and has great potential to be a relaxing getaway from the nearby cities of Hangzhou and Shanghai. However it falls short in not offering much in the way of activities, or even comfortable areas to relax and while away the time.

Once the free ten minute boat ride is over and you’ve done a few laps of the place on foot, there’s not a whole lot to keep you occupied. The rooms have old fashioned Chinese chairs (which look nice but aren’t particularly comfortable), and even the restaurant closes at 8pm.

To make it worth the journey there, it would be great if the hotel could build on the self-contained aspect and make it a more interesting place to spend a few days relaxing, or even a viable place for a company getaway/team building. e.g. offer a spa, a bar…Maybe a free shuttle service to the nearby scenic area (which is a bit of a walk away), cooking classes, pool table…pretty much anything in fact. 

Dayu Kaiyuan Resort 绍兴大禹开元观堂
浙江省绍兴市二环南路1988号 Yuecheng District, Shaoxing, China
Tel : +86 575 8829 8888

Date Visited : Oct 2017