I’m the kind of person who’s easily seduced by slogan-like phrases. Tell me about a “Kyoto of tea, bamboo, forest, and sea,” and I’ll want to go no matter what. So when a hotel gave itself the name Indigo Moonlight City, I immediately decided I had to see it for myself.

I returned to Shangri-La after spending 5 days in the forests of Yubeng, and I was unexpectedly excited to be reunited with the bustle of a town again. Even the old town’s commercial streets, which I would normally dismiss, felt lively and charming this time, so my expectations for the hotel were high.

Before arriving, I worried that I’d find one of those heavily dark-wood “Tibetan-style” hotels. But at first glance, what I saw looked more like a giant LEGO set.

The exterior uses white as the dominant color, accented with red, blue, yellow, and black. These colors are among the most important in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and on the Yubeng trekking route you often see mani stones painted in just this way.

Once inside, the panoramic restaurant is one of the hotel’s biggest highlights. The Indigo sits on a small hilltop, a truly one-of-a-kind location in all of Shangri-La, with sweeping views over the entire Dukezong Ancient Town.

The floor-to-ceiling windows look nearly 10 meters tall, like a giant screen facing the Zhongdian Scripture Hall in the distance. Even if you’re not staying at the Indigo, I’d still recommend stopping by the restaurant for a while. The food is actually quite good.

The bar outside the panoramic restaurant is designed like a small garden, and with its openwork ceiling, it gets excellent natural light. At night, that light would be moonlight instead.

While it’s not overwhelmingly Tibetan in style, the details throughout the public areas hide local touches everywhere: spotlights shaped like prayer wheels, geometric animal figures all around, greenery reminiscent of the forests of Yubeng, and all kinds of Tibetan-style plates and trunks.

The guest rooms are spread among different two-story buildings around the courtyard. Scattered throughout are brightly colored sculptural horses in different shapes and materials, making it feel as if you’re staying in a huge caravan courtyard.

When the weather is good in Shangri-La, it’s unbelievably comfortable, as if the sky is within arm’s reach.

This horse with the colorful lines was my favorite. I claim it mine.

The guest room buildings are modeled after traditional Tibetan watchtower houses. You can see that the outer walls are slightly trapezoidal; in Tibet’s high-altitude regions, that kind of slant helps increase the amount of natural light.

In Tibetan areas, people generally live on the second floor, while the ground floor is used for livestock and storage. Materially speaking, many Tibetan residents live quite comfortably now, and the government directly subsidizes half the cost of building a house. While traveling through Tibetan regions, you often see brand-new small towns.

I loved the color of this room number sign.

IHG top-tier members can generally be upgraded to a deluxe room with a balcony. The guest room design also carries a bit of ethnic character. The slightly raised ceiling over the bedroom area and the diagonal lines make it feel almost like being inside a nomadic tent.

The mural behind the bed, the rug, and the sofa cushions in the sitting area all use lines and patterns to create a lively atmosphere.

The welcome amenity was generous. After several days in a high-altitude area, I hadn’t had much fresh fruit, and there were also local pastries and Pu'er tea.

The bathroom is also packed with decorative touches, with the horse-head lamp as the standout. The tissue box and amenity box are cute in shape and brightly colored, so the whole bathroom feels anything but dull.

The hotel thoughtfully provided two different bathrobe styles, one for men and one for women. But for a twin room, shouldn’t the default assumption be two guests of the same sex? Haha.

The room’s terrace is quite large. In the morning, you can push open the door and watch the entire Dukezong Ancient Town wake up in the glow of dawn; at midday, you can stay inside the cool room and admire Shangri-La’s blue skies and white clouds; and at sunset, with a cup of tea in hand, you can watch the Moonlight City sparkle under the moon.

You have four messages from the sunrise.

At night, the courtyard glows with scattered lights and plenty of atmosphere. Walk downhill from the hotel’s little slope and you’ll reach Sifang Street in the old town, where you can join a Guozhuang dance to walk off your meal.

If you ever get the chance to visit Shangri-La, don’t miss this especially distinctive Indigo.

About the Author

This article comes from a friend’s WeChat public account. Feel free to follow it if you’re interested.