I spent three unforgettable days at G Hotel, perched atop the world's tallest three-tower connected building in Nanjing. From the moment I stepped into the elevator hall designed like an ancient city gate to sipping cocktails at the cloud-level bar overlooking the Qinhuai River, this stay redefined what luxury means in modern China. The hotel isn't just a place to sleep—it's a journey through 2,500 years of Nanjing history, wrapped in contemporary design that pulses with energy and sophistication.
Trip Overview
When: August
Duration: 3 days
Travelers: Solo
Budget: ~2,000 RMB (~$280 USD)
Accommodation: G Hotel Nanjing (金鹰世界G酒店)
Location: 888 Yingtian Avenue, Jianye District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
Day 1: Arrival and First Impressions
"Other ancient capitals concentrate their history in palaces. But Nanjing dissolves history into nature." That's what the locals say, and standing before this architectural marvel rising from the city's newest commercial district, I finally understood what they meant.
Nanjing has always been a city where mountains, water, urban landscape, and forests blend seamlessly. Over thousands of years, the natural geography shaped the city's character, creating spaces that feel poetic—connected to both history and the future.
As Yang Bangsheng, the interior designer of G·Hotel, once told me: "A hotel is a microcosm of the city. All the flavors of the city can be revealed through the hotel. Guests don't need to ask what's here or what's different about this city—they simply feel it through the hotel. This kind of cultural transmission is the most powerful."
| Meet the Designer: Yang Bangsheng |
The Jiangnan region is renowned for its elegance, and Nanjing (Jinling) embodies this spirit perfectly. Boat sounds mix with lantern shadows; painted boats carry songs across the water.
Traveling through millennia, history rises and falls like scattered clouds, yet the gentle Qinhuai River remains calm. This winding waterway has flowed through vanity and romance, nurturing the city's generous spirit. It became the most emotional silhouette of Nanjing and the source of inspiration for YANG Design Group's interpretation of G•Hotel.
G•Hotel sits atop the world's tallest three-tower connected building and Asia's largest commercial complex, continuing the architectural artistry to the extreme while interpreting luxury lifestyle in the most fashionable way.
YANG Design allows history and the present to inherit and subvert, collide and fuse within the space—awakening spirits, stimulating inspiration, and bringing a completely new "chasing the tide" experience.
Seeking the City's Collective Memory
The elevator hall, crafted in antique bronze to resemble ancient city gates, blends past and present, constructing a tunnel through time toward the unknown.
Arriving at the sky lobby and lobby bar on the tower's connecting level, the view from this urban peak stirred something in my soul. The minimalist design focuses attention on the panoramic view of Jinling's scenery—a true cloud-level experience.
The texture of Nanjing's ancient city walls has been extracted and transformed into the metal framework of the lobby bar partition. The transparent design makes the space semi-concealed and semi-visible—both enhancing the connection with the lobby and ensuring the bar's independence. This translates the thousand-year-old capital's culture into something more fashionable and light.
Day 2: The Heart of the Experience
Reflections of Paddles, Surprises in Sight
Where the Qinhuai River shines most beautifully, swallows dance and orioles sing, and the sound of oars carries light and shadow like rainbows. The romantic charm of "ten miles of misty moon" happens to coincide with the unrestrained freedom and fashionable vitality embodied by the G brand.
The atrium area connecting the towers was originally a public corridor. To effectively utilize the space and gather foot traffic, YANG designed this area as an atrium display area and lobby bar—enriching the hotel's functions while making the space its brightest highlight.
The atrium display area is a five-story architectural space, serving as the elevator hall to the 55th-floor sky bar. The 13-meter-high wall features iridescent glass creating golden light effects reminiscent of sunset reflections on water—a visually stunning impact. As the elevator slowly rises, the shimmering water seems within reach, dreamlike and enchanting.
A 13-meter LED screen descends with the elevator, with cool dynamic effects enriching the overall atmosphere while giving the elevator hall the function of a multimedia center front desk—creating an open exhibition or press conference experience.
Brilliant Lanterns, Perfect Full Moon
One River Qinhuai, Half the Elegance
In the legendary stories of the Qinhuai River, half are tales of romance, half are about scholarly ambition. The magnanimity and heroism of being the "cultural center of the world" have settled into the city's backbone.
Pingwei Jiangnan Chinese Restaurant on the hotel's 50th floor blends Nanjing's historical culture with modern fashionable vitality. Being there gives a sense of temporal inheritance—following the rhythm and music, inheriting the openness and heroism of ancient scholars, creating a unique dining experience for G·Hotel.
The restaurant features nine private dining rooms, each with independent restrooms, televisions, and sofas. The largest room can accommodate up to 16 diners.
The restaurant focuses on Huaiyang cuisine, blended with "Su," "Zhe," "Hui," and local Shanghai flavors. Dishes feature fresh ingredients from rivers, lakes, and streams, offering rich and sweet flavors beyond traditional selection.
The mix of Chinese-style lighting fixtures with Western leather chairs in the private dining rooms embodies an open, inclusive, and eclectic spirit. The deep celestial blue and passionate sun red create a space where past and future intersect.
The Sky All-Day Dining Restaurant on the 50th floor offers endless multi-national cuisine, combined with local Nanjing flavors, delivering both exotic charm and Jinling taste.
The live cooking stations create a zero-distance interactive experience between chefs, food, and diners, presenting a multi-dimensional culinary experience beyond taste.
After the night's revelry fades, the all-day restaurant becomes elegant and refined. The space uses low-brightness colors to create a tranquil atmosphere. Seated in the clouds, welcoming the sunrise and bidding farewell to sunset, I savored exquisite cuisine and precious leisure time in complete relaxation.
The Sky Lounge on the 50th floor overlooks the Hexi scenery from the clouds, complemented by various themed afternoon teas. It's not only the first choice for guests to taste extraordinary luxury but also a new sweet microcosm of the charming Jinling city. Meeting friends, sitting hundreds of meters high in the air, enjoying an elegant "cloud afternoon tea" by the bright panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows—I was tasting not just delicious desserts but an elegant lifestyle.
The open lobby bar uses semi-walls to define the space boundary on the corridor side, facilitating flow while presenting a novel bar experience. The massive water-patterned metal on the ceiling reflects enchanting lights—where elegance meets trendiness, reality blends with illusion, making you forget whether you're in a cloud bar or wandering by the Qinhuai River at night.
The Sky Bar's design draws inspiration from the shimmering waves of the Qinhuai River. When night falls over Nanjing, shedding its daytime armor and setting aside the traffic, the city reveals a different kind of refined beauty. The Qinhuai River flowing through the city softly tells stories of thousands of years. Blending historical atmosphere with fashionable elements, it quietly inherits the toasting culture of the Qinhuai River.
Day 3: Rooms, Wellness & Departure
Rain Flower Stones Flowing with Color, Light Connecting Past and Present
The hotel features 468 guest rooms. The design draws inspiration from Yuhua stones (rain flower stones), creating a colorful, serene retreat.
Every detail of the rooms presents a rounded texture, like the delicate, warm feeling of Yuhua stones. Combined with ever-changing colors and naturally formed artistic conceptions, it creates a dreamy place of flowing light and color. Like a secluded paradise away from the world, it invites you to explore the "heavenly flowers falling" charm. Within this small space, there's a whole world.
Yuhua stones sleeping by the Qinhuai River, polished by time, become increasingly brilliant. They witnessed the glorious lights of the Six Dynasties ancient capital and reflect the fashionable vitality of modern Nanjing, becoming the source of inspiration for the room design.
The full, rounded forms of Yuhua stones are incorporated into the curves of ceilings and furniture, bringing a smooth, unrestrained spiritual enjoyment. Colors are extracted into carpets and pillows, creating a naturally tranquil yet fashionable space atmosphere.
Breaking away from traditional room layouts where everything is visible at a glance, G·Hotel rooms use a technique of first suppressing then elevating. A mosaic wall serves as an entrance screen, taking the meaning of "entryway"—both enhancing spatial privacy and delaying the surprise of discovery, making satisfaction more intense when it arrives.
The bedroom and bathroom spaces are separated by curtains or wired glass doors. The use of frosted glass in the shower room makes the space transparent yet closable, creating a more open living experience.
The infinity pool in the sky has become a popular photo spot and another pleasant surprise. Looking up, full of starlight, dreamlike and enchanting, the flickering light creates a warm, comfortable, and vibrant spatial experience.
The fitness center on the 56th floor uses Technogym equipment and offers private customized classes. Professional fitness coaches are available to guide you through rehabilitation training.
Seeking the splendid prosperity lost in the river of time, creating spiritual resonance beyond the senses, meeting in time and space, weaving a "purple intoxication and golden fascination" Jinling dream—redefining the top luxury lifestyle.
Quick Reference Guide
🎯 Practical Info
Hotel Name: G Hotel Nanjing (金鹰世界G酒店) Address: 888 Yingtian Avenue, Jianye District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province (江苏省南京市建邺区应天大街888号) Project Area: 37,000 square meters Total Rooms: 468 Owner: Golden Eagle International Group (金鹰国际集团) Architecture: French designer Frederic Rolland Interior Design: YANG Design Group (Yang Bangsheng, Huang Shengguang, Tan Jiesheng, Zhang Jianchao, Yao Lulu) Opening Date: September 30, 2019 (soft opening) Photography: Sean (肖恩)
🍽️ Dining Options
Pingwei Jiangnan Chinese Restaurant (50F): Huaiyang cuisine with private dining rooms Sky All-Day Dining Restaurant (50F): International buffet with local Nanjing flavors Sky Lounge (50F): Afternoon tea and cocktails Lobby Bar: Evening drinks and light bites
🏊 Facilities
Infinity Pool: Sky-level swimming with panoramic views Fitness Center (56F): Technogym equipment, personal training available Sky Bar (55F): Highest bar in Nanjing
📍 Design Highlights
Ancient Gate Elevator Hall: Antique bronze city gate design 13-Meter Glass Wall: Iridescent Qinhuai River sunset effect 13-Meter LED Screen: Descends with elevator for multimedia experience City Wall Inspired Metalwork: Lobby bar partition design Yuhua Stone Room Design: Flowing curves and colorful accents
Sources: Designwire (designwire), G Hotel Nanjing Official (GHOTEL_GE)