We stayed a bit after the national holiday for 6 nights at the Zen Garden hotel. We stayed at the less expensive section (not the Lion Hill).

LOCATION: bettter than Lion Hill (which is not far from the center but you have to climb all the way up every time). Just in the center of the old town, 20 meters from one of the main streets and 1 minute walk to the main square.

ROOMS: smal, but clean and comfortable (althpugh the beds are not soft, as usual) we had the seconf floor rooms, which has this great joined balcony with the best views. try to get the second floor rooms !!

PRICE: Total of 500 RMB including breakfest (no taxes in Lijiang). Since there are MANY hotels in Lijiang guess one can find a cheaper one with better rooms. But if you want to save your time and go for sure - pick this one.

We eould probably have stayed there more but 6 nights are more than enough for Lijiang.

EXTRAS: free wireless (good speed). 2 computer for free use in the hotel entrance.

Please email us for any other questions and enjoy the pictures we added

We chose this hotel due to the reviews on tripadvisor and stayed for 2 nights. Our overall experience was good, the hotel is really clean and the staff were very helpful and friendly. I personally love the look of the hotel. A couple of things to take note of:

- There were indeed lots of huge mosquitoes but their reaction were too slow though...

- The breakfast had an odd combination of items. I took a few pictures and I'm sure you would agree with me too. However, the music of the zither during breakfast time was so pleasing to the ear that anything would have tasted good.

My wife and I spent 2 weeks in China right after the Olympic Games. Stayed at Zen Garden for 3 days while visiting Lijiang. We enjoyed this hotel very much. That's why I decided to write this review since I rarely write any review unless I'm truly impressed or deeply disappointed.

To start with, we would recommend contacting the hotel a few days before your arrival, and ask the hotel to arrange a car to pick you up at the airport. When we landed, the taxi driver was already there holding a sign with my name. The cost was 80 RMB ($12). Considering the airport is about 60KM from the hotel plus waiting, it's well worth it. If you decide to get a taxi at the airport, you may save a buck or two, or may not.

The hotel is located at the center of Lijiang Old Town where cars are not allowed. You have to talk about 5 mins downhill to get to the hotel from the gate. Guess what, the hotel will send someone to help with your luggage. So don't worry.

Check-in is very quick since the hotel only has about 16 rooms. Your housekeeper will bring some Chinese cake to your room right after check-in (not big fang of the cake though). The room is relatively small if you are used to American standard. Two single beds with a nightstand and a TV. You don't have much room to wonder around in your room. But why would you? You are going to spend most of your time in the town anyway. The bathroom is modern and clean, but again relatively small.

The best part of the hotel is its courtyard. As a Chinese, I've seen many places, especially at those historical sites, trying to have an ancient or historical looking. I have to say that Zen Garden is one of the best with very tasteful decorations and authentic antiques. They have a charcoal fire place in the lobby (living room to be more accurate), which adds a great touch to the cozy feeling, especially when you come back from a cold raining day. The view from the 2nd floor porch is amazing. You want to be there when the old town lights up. They have free wireless in the hotel as well as two computers for guest use. Internet is free, but they charge for printing (20RMB).

Couple things you may want to be aware. They don’t have ice machine in this hotel (not common in China anyway). So if you want ice water after a hot day, you may be a little disappointed since they only have cold water. Also, they don't have a full kitchen. They do offer complementary breakfast with only cold selections, no scrambled eggs or bacon and etc. I asked the manager why not serve some hot eggs as western travelers may want them. Well, they tried and the chef wouldn't satisfy the guests with various requests... scrambled, sunny side up, not over cooked.... So they gave up. If you are a healthy eater, you would like their breakfast.

Zen Garden sits right in the heart of Lijiang Old Town. The next door neighbor, unlike 90% of the homes in the Old Town, hasn't converted their home into a hotel or shop. So you still get a chance to see the old way of living of Naxi people. We enjoyed every single time when we walked by and saw grandma feeding her grandkids at a stone table in front of her home. There are bigger and more modern hotels located outside the Old Town. But you will miss what I just described.

Couple words about Lijiang.... Well, Lijiang Old Town is definitely loosing its charm, and becoming too much a commercial and touristy spot. If you come to the old town after 6pm, you would think you are part of a parade. Thousands of tourists including people like us and people just off tour buses are wondering around to buy faked antiques or overpriced souvenirs. With that being said, the Old Town is still unique and beautiful for first-time comers. I probably won’t go back again, but have no regrets what so ever. The best time to see the old town is before 7am when local residents finally take the town back and conduct their daily morning business.

One place in Lijiang to avoid is Jade Dragon Mountain (or Yu Long Xue Shang in Chinese) even though it's ranked #1 tourist spot in Lijiang. The ticket is ridiculously over priced (350 RMB). The wait for cable car during peak season could be over 3 hours. The worst part is that there's nothing up there to see after spending so much money and time. There's rarely a clear day around the summit for you to look around, and the mountain no longer has a snow capped peak during summer and fall due to global warming. Don’t be fooled by the pictures you see on the brochures, it's not going to happen to you.

Anyway, we enjoyed the Zen Garden very much and hope you will have a wonderful trip to Lijiang. Btw, the owner of Zen Garden just opened her 2nd hotel (Zen Garden Lion Hill). We went there for an afternoon tea. The rooms are newer and bigger. But with doubled rate we think the original one is a better choice.

this was my 3rd trip to Lijiang, for RMB 500 the room was substantially cheaper than my 2nd trip to Lijiang (stayed at the Banyan Tree) & much more expensive vs. the RMB 100 room I stayed at the first time (a youth hostel in old town)

I loved the antiques around the hotel & the lobby/garden /public areas were my favorite parts of the hotel, the room was quite basic & ok (could be cleaner, ie lots of hair left on the ground in the bathroom by previous guests not cleaned up properly)

the night view of Lijiang was absolutely fantastic & I loved the location (very short walk from the center of Lijiang yet nicely & quietly tucked away in a little alley)

given the cleanliness level, I found this place a bit pricey for RMB500 (stayed the night before at Kempinski in Shenzhen for RMB800 -- much much nicer / cleaner room)

would I stay here again? maybe, or would try out some place else in Lijiang, just to see what else RMB 500 could pay for ?

We enjoyed everything but the communication.

The room was warm and cozy. The atmosphere of the place just wonderful. The breakfasts tasty.

The downside was communicating with the staff. While we well understand that English language communication in China can be a real challenge, for a hotel that markets itself to western travelers, we really felt the front desk staff needs some English lessons. Several times we made requests for cars, tours, etc. which were responded with many smiles and "yes, yes, yes" but when the time came to leave, nothing had been done and nobody at the desk knew anything as the morning staff and the night staff were not the same.

It's a minor quibble as everything eventually sorted itself out, but it would have been nice if one, we could have gotten better information about trips and tours from the front desk, and two, if our requests, once we made them, had been understood and fulfilled.

We very much enjoyed our stay at Zen Garden.
Quiet place if you compare it with central Li Jiang.
Very helpfull, warm hearted and friendly staff.
I loved the breakfast. Simple, tasty and well cared.
Staying here you will not regret.

Loved this place - picked it because of the reviews here and they were right. It was really warm when I was in Lijiang but my room was lovely and cool because of the traditional design of the building. Didn't need AC.

As with so many Chinese beds these are firm - but I slept on extra pillows so was fine. The staff are lovely, so sweet and helpful - if you're sitting on one of the computer's they bring you tea. Yumei who runs the place is great and can help with all kinds of stuff.

Breakast is yummy and by candle light. The musican who plays in the courtyard is fab. It's a very relaxing place to be - even when Lijiang is at it's craziest. Sitting on the veranda escaping the afternoon sun looking over the whole town is heavenly.

I couldn't recommend the place highly enough.

We stayed at the Zen Garden Hotel for three nights in Aug 2007 and absolutely loved it - we can't wait to go back. The staff were tremendously warm and helpful - our flight was terribly delayed from Kunming. We got into Lijiang a midnight, during a rainstorm. When we arrived, the hotel had arranged for a porter to bring us umbrellas and help us with our bags through the tiny car-free unlabeled streets of Lijiang. Truly fantastic service. The accomidations are totally fine (clean, comfortable rooms with private western bathrooms) - but the best part is the ambiance of living in Old Lijiang. Save time for breakfast in the morning - enjoy your tea overlooking the goldfish ponds in the courtyard...

For great food in Lijiang - try the Naxi sandwich at Lamu's Tibetan. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is worth the trip - just make sure you get the "western" trip - and are not the only westerners on a trip targeted at the chinese tourists...

We cannot recommend Zen Garden highly enough - we can wait to go back...

If ever a hotel can be designed to be a work of art, this is the place! It's on various levels with an ample use of greenery, traditional Chinese furnishings, a fishpond, verandahs with a view, etc. Beautiful! And the view of Lijiang town at night -- with its lighting -- is wonderful. The hotel is hidden on a backstreet away from the tour groups and the heavy commercialism. However, our room was pretty small -- and cold at night. Mind you, there was a space heater. There were no coffee or tea making facilities in the room. Be sure that you have printed proof of your reservation: the front desk seems a bit disorganized (and had no proof of our reservation). However, I had the e-mail -- and all was settled amicably and quickly. Breakfast is set out very elegantly -- but is a little skimpy (for China). Be prepared for cold -- wear your coat at breakfast -- at least in winter.

Charming hotel and helpful staff. We got lost in the ancient city and the hotel sent someone to come get us, which was really nice of them. The rooms are a little small and I did not like the fact that you could not throw toilet paper into the toilet. However, rooms were clean and we were overall happy with it considering how much we paid. We had breakfast the first day, which was not good and went out to other cafes for subsequent breakfasts. I would recommend that you request for the rooms on the top floor as it could get noisy on the ground floor. Not a room you would like to hang out in, but great location and good value for money.

We spent the first 2 nights (of 6) at the Zen Garden. Our first impressions were good: the staff was welcoming and helpful, the property is charming: we even had live music in the courtyard, and it's centrallly located in the beautiful old town of Lijiang. However, we had 2 standard rooms on the ground floor and we found them very small. August is a hot and humid month and there were lots of (noisy) mosquitos in the room. However, the hotel provided a plug-in mosquito repellent which we used at night. Anyhow, besides the tightness of the rooms and the mosquitos, we were quite happy...until the next day, when walking and getting lost in the narrow streets of the old town, we stumbled upon another B&B just a couple minutes walk from the Zen Garden, at the end of a small, quiet alley. We entered and discovered the GEM in Lijiang. The setting was absolutely gorgeous! A real palace with several courtyards, including an outdoor sitting room to sip tea, making the Zen Garden look quite basic . Noone could speak any English but everyone was really friendly and with gestures and a dictionary, we managed to visit the rooms. They were so cute, so spacious and so nicely decorated with a view on the roofs of the old town from the upper floor. As a result, we checked out from the Zen Garden after 2 nights and spent the rest of our stay in this newfound B&B. The price was slightly less than the Zen Garden but they only accepted cash, the rooms and property were a lot prettier and maybe because it's much more spacious and immaculately clean, bright and airy, there were barely any mosquitos! Our only regret is that we forgot the name of the place and can't find it on Expedia, hotels.com or elong.net. We do have a business card somewhere and if we happen to locate it, we'll post it on Trip Advisor. Otherwise, we'd say the Zen Garden is the 2nd best choice.

IThe owner - a Naxi lady - has done a terrific job in decorating the place. The reception area is done up like a scholar's studio in ancient China - full of objets d'art and carved Chinese furniture.

My room, though quite small, was clean. So was the bathroom - though I was quite concerned by the notice which advised that I should not flush paper down the toilet but throw it in the basket. Being slightly bashful, I didn't enquire further whether the paper in the notice included toilet paper. So I dutifully obeyed to the letter of the notice!

The staff were invariably polite and helpful.

As for the breakfast, it's in keeping with the Chinese atmosphere of this place - they offered rice porridge, soy bean milk, baba (local bread) in addition to toast and boiled eggs.

After having to spend two nights in the awful Jade Dragon Hotel due to our travel agent in London, Evertravel and their partner Peace travel in Beijing once again messing up our hotel reservations, we were so relieved to arrive at the Zen Garden. We had read all about it on Tripadvisor and so glad we made it! They even brought our luggage over from the other hotel for us.

This has got to be one of the best hotel experiences we had during our 51 days of travel in the region. The staff are really friendly they brought us tea when we were using the internet, we met some really nice fellow travellers, had comfortable seats to sit on outside our room on the top floor and relax, had tea and hot water provide in the room an Naxi cake provided when we arrived. Breakfast was a small buffet but good enough, although we slept ina couple of days and went into town to eat. There is broadband access in the room and when we had a problem the manager came staright up to sort it out.

We left our luggage when we went to Tiger Leaping Gorge and when we returned it was already in our room when we checked in.

It is easy to walk into the old town and get off the beaten track away from the tourist hordes. We ate at the Petite Lijiang Bookcafe a couple of times and loved it. Watch out for the price of coffee in Lijiang it ranges from 8 or 10 to 35 yuen so you know when you are being ripped off! Avoid Foreigners street after 6pm as it turns into a nightclub! had breakfast there at a french restaurant which was very good value. Also, eat the fish it is wonderful, especially in Baisha village and the local Naxi restaurants.

Trip Advisor delivered again. We picked this hotel because of what we read here and we were not disappointed. Rooms and bathroooms are small and very clean. There's a computer you can use in the lobby. Excellent location.

We recommend staying in old town. There are lots of other hotels in old town that appear fine from the outside but obviously we cannot comment on them. What we can say is that old town is where the action is and that we would not have liked not being part of the scene.

Heartily recommend this small hotel - charming staff, good location, nice and quiet (needed in Lijiang), beautiful courtyard garden complete with fish ponds, and simple but lovely breakfast with good coffee.

Try for Room number 4 upstairs as it has windows two sides so is lighter and seems more spacious.

Probably the best hotel in Lijiang's old town, the Zen Garden is a lovely spot exuding tranquility and with lovely views. The rooms were simple but spotlessly clean. What makes this hotel special is the garden, the reception room and the very kind staff who clearly love this place. It seems to draw repeat visitors - Chinese and foreign alike.

Although there are luxury properties like the Banyan Tree outside of town, you won't find better within the old town and it's definitely worth staying in Lijiang's old town. It is also a very good value with their very reasonable rates that include breakfast.

Not only would I recommend it to a friend, I have already done so and would definitely return myself!

i was travelling alone and decided to stay about 10 days in lijiang, using it as my base as i travel around the surrounding areas. i booked into this hotel as they have a website for me to have a rough idea of what it looks like and it looks safe for a lone traveller like me. In addition, a fellow traveller who has posted his review on this site before had also recommended it.

i was not disappointed - the hotel is very central to the old town and yet is situated at the end of a small lane, away from the maddening crowd of tourists. it also has a very nice and tranquil small garden and houses only about 16 rooms.

for 400RMB a night, i suppose it is more expensive than the other inns in the old town, but i still feel that it is worth my money. it comes with breakfast and free internet access on 2 computers in the lobby. if you bring your own laptop, there is free internet access as well in the room.

i will highly recommend this hotel to other travellers. the hotel can also arrange a trusted taxi driver who happens to be the owner's friend to take you around. i went for a day trip to the jade dragon snow mountain, baisha village, su he old town and black dragon pool in the private taxi for only 160 rmb.

I rated this hotel above average because the room was too small for a third bed. The room was not spacious for two beds but good enough considering the price.

The staff were extremely polite and helpful. Service is great! Our room was very clean.

The place is beautiful, and located in the old town of Lijiang. If I go back to Lijiang I will certainly stay at this hotel again!