A Four Seasons journey starts with first step
Print Edition
GET on board a petite, good old fashioned wooden boat and cruise through the willow-fringed waters and the delicate bridges around West Lake. Sit back and enjoy a fresh pot of Longjing tea, and listen to a local boatman who spins tales of ancient legends.
Marco Polo once said: “A voyage on this lake offers more refreshment and delectation than any other experience on Earth.”
The quiet and twisting ride is designed to get guests away from hordes of tourists. So, despite the crowds, guests can truly appreciate the serene beauty of the lake, a UNESCO cultural heritage site since 2011, which has been a muse to countless poets and painters since ancient times and a royal retreat ancient emperors couldn’t resist.
As the boat approaches the private pier of Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake, the journey continues. The stunning landscape extends from water onto land with the hotel’s famed water garden lagoons and streams embracing the pagoda-like pavilions. It’s as though the houses have been here forever.
People often say “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
There is no better or more unique way to impress business partners than this grand entrance via an intimate and exclusive boat ride to a secluded space where nature is most appreciated and highlighted.
Four Seasons Hotel at West Lake, hidden minutes from the hustle and bustle of the city core, is the only venue that provides such a journey.
Many say it’s a boutique hotel with full services — a spacious hotel with only 78 guest rooms, plus three villas. Facilities include a spa, gym, swimming pools, restaurants and the added-value of a private view of the always crowded West Lake. It is a rare venue creating a balance between privacy and convenience with a traditional yet modern approach that, of course, goes along with great service.
Such balance is best exemplified by the hotel’s three villas, each reminiscent of a lakeside mansion built by a wealthy silk merchant in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Each villa, combining centuries of Chinese tradition and chic designer style, is close to 1,000 square meters. The villas feature modern business facilities for private meetings, a different Chinese garden attached to each of three bedrooms and the living room. Every small garden contains the quintessential elements of the hotel’s larger and more sophisticated gardens. The color palette features white walls, black tiles, gray rocks and red columns in harmony with natural greens and browns. For guests who prize privacy, the personal gardens have captured the essence of the larger lagoon garden.
The traditional Chinese windows in the villas, like those on the long corridors linking the entire hotel, are well placed to provide a glimpse of nature, as well as a feeling of unity with one’s environment in an elegantly calm atmosphere sought by emperors and travelers for centuries.
While Chinese are accustomed to business meals, Jin Sha restaurant provides a menu that combines exquisite Shanghainese, Cantonese and classic local cuisine, all presented with an artistic combination of colors, tastes and fragrances.
For those who require larger and more formal meeting spaces, the hotel’s opulent and grand ballroom is well equipped to accommodate conferences for different purposes. It can also be divided into two smaller rooms. Three other smaller conference rooms cater to more intimate functions.
To impress meeting guests, one can also take full advantage of the ballroom’s foyer, with a terrace that overlooks the water garden and its sumptuous landscaping.
According to fengshui principles, water is a symbol of creativity, wisdom, sensitivity, reflection and desire for life. This gives plenty of reasons to appreciate the hotel’s lagoon and various garden streams vying for attention.
The outdoor lawn, hidden amidst the vibrant garden and only steps from West Lake, is a popular sought-after wedding space where couples can say their vows surrounded by nature and a view of West Lake.
The lawn is also a great outdoor meeting space for those with innovative ideas who seek inspiration from the lake like ancient intellectuals, artists and emperors.
A stroll around the spacious garden — featuring various trees andflowers that highlight the FourSeasons — takes one further from the intense activity of the city. A relaxing spa after the walk guarantees a fresh start the next day.
The hotel’s spa is designed to resemble a boat ride, with nine sizeable yet intimate treatment rooms situated above soothing ponds. The nourishing spa journey includes many local elements such as Longjing tea and a jasmine bath. It is followed by a foot bath with green tea and black stone, and concludes with a relaxing oil massage. The therapist uses oil infused with Longjing tea. True bliss awaits.
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