Four-star Songjiang, Shanghai
InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland
Sixteen floors hung down the wall of a flooded quarry at Sheshan, 88 metres deep, with the lowest rooms and a seafood restaurant below the waterline.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Rooms
- 336 rooms and suites
- Opened
- November 2018
- Depth
- About 88 metres, two floors under water
- From the airport
- About 30 minutes from Hongqiao
The hotel
A hotel down a quarry wall.
The quarry at Sheshan, in the hills of Songjiang south-west of the city, had been left as an 88-metre pit filled with water. In 2006 Martin Jochman won a competition with a plan to hang a hotel down its side. The Shimao Group built it with Atkins and the Shanghai design institute ECADI; it took about ten years and an estimated 500 million US dollars.
It opened in November 2018 as the 200th InterContinental. Only two of its eighteen storeys stand above ground, under a grass roof; sixteen step down the cliff, the last two below the surface of the lake. A glass column holding the lifts falls down the rock face like a waterfall. The MICHELIN Guide gave the hotel one Key in its first selection, in 2025.
- Below the waterline Mr Fisher serves seafood one floor under the surface, with windows onto an aquarium.
- Underwater loft A two-level suite with a terrace at water level and bedrooms beneath it inside the aquarium. Butlers look after the bottom floor around the clock.
- Pools and spa Indoor and outdoor pools, a spa with sauna and jacuzzi, and a kids' club.
Rooms & suites
Cliffs on one side, waterfalls on the other.
The 336 rooms and suites look out over the quarry, its waterfalls and the rock walls around it.
- Rooms Classic and Premium rooms The entry rooms, facing the quarry and its waterfalls.
- Two levels Duplex Suite A suite laid out over two levels.
- Under water Underwater loft Living room and terrace at water level, bedrooms below, set inside the aquarium.
Dining
From the rim to under the lake.
Restaurants and bars as listed by the hotel and at opening. Shown for information.
- Cai Feng Lou Chinese, Zhejiang and Guangdong The signature restaurant
- Mr Fisher Seafood One floor below the water, by the aquarium
- The Quarry Scotch whisky Bar
- She Shan Lounge Tea, coffee and cocktails In the lobby
Recognition
Keys.
- One MICHELIN Key 2025, the first selection
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Children Welcome. Children up to 17 stay free in an existing bed, and there is a kids' club.
- Pets Not accepted.
- Setting The hotel stands in Songjiang, well outside central Shanghai. Plan on a car for trips into the city.
Getting there
Flying to Shanghai.
Hongqiao is about thirty minutes away by car. Pudong, where international flights and most business jets from abroad arrive, is across the city: allow about an hour and a quarter, our estimate.
- Beijing 1 h 45
- Hong Kong 1 h 55
- Tokyo 2 h 40
- Singapore 5 h 20
- London 12 h 30 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- How deep is InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland?
- The quarry is about 88 metres deep. Sixteen of the hotel's eighteen storeys lie below ground level, and the last two are under water.
- Can you sleep under water at the Wonderland?
- Yes. The underwater loft has its bedrooms below the waterline, inside an aquarium, with a living room and terrace at the surface.
- Which airport is closest to the hotel?
- Hongqiao, about thirty minutes by car. Pudong is roughly an hour and a quarter away by our estimate.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Shanghai?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Shanghai, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Shanghai
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Capella Shanghai, Jian Ye Li Fifty-five rooms in three-storey shikumen villas made from the old lane houses, and Pierre Gagnaire’s only restaurant in mainland China.
- Bvlgari Hotel Shanghai In and beside the old Chamber of Commerce building, with Bao Li Xuan holding two stars and Niko Romito’s restaurant one.
- The Peninsula Shanghai The Peninsula on the Bund, with Yi Long Court and its star for Cantonese cooking.
- J Hotel Shanghai Tower High in the Shanghai Tower, and a new entry with two Keys in the 2026 selection.
- The PuLi Shanghai One Key in the 2026 selection, held again this year.
- Amanyangyun Aman outside the city, with one Key in the first Shanghai selection and two in 2026.
- Upper House Shanghai The former Middle House, renamed by Swire, central in Jing’an and holding one MICHELIN Key.
- Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai On the Pudong bank of the Huangpu, where Yong Yi Ting, with one MICHELIN star, cooks in the Hangzhou style.
- Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund One MICHELIN Key, and a heritage wing that was the Shanghai Club, built in 1911.
- The Sukhothai Shanghai Neri&Hu designed the interiors in stone, fine woods, silk and polished brass; the hotel holds one Key.
- Park Hyatt Shanghai Floors 79 to 93 of the Shanghai World Financial Centre, with the 100 Century Avenue steakhouse.
- The Langham, Shanghai, Xintiandi T’ang Court, with two MICHELIN stars in 2026, is one of the restaurants in this hotel of 357 rooms.
- The St. Regis Shanghai Jingan Five glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly, and a club floor, The Manor, on the 55th storey.
- The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai Five hundred and ninety-three rooms and suites, and afternoon tea in The Ritz Bar & Lounge.
Staying at InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Shanghai, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.