2025 Travel Recap | 7 Historic Buildings I Stayed In This Year

| 7 Historic Buildings I Stayed In This Year. 2025 Travel Recap | 7 Historic Buildings I Stayed In This Year

As a lover of old houses, I not only enjoy viewing historic buildings but also staying in historic building hotels.

Buildings have always been, in my eyes, settings where stories unfold—magical spaces where the soul of history still lingers.

Because I love history, I always want to stay in various old houses. Old houses have a certain atmosphere, condensing layers upon layers of changes that have occurred within that space. Breathing inside them creates a rapid exchange of information—the building exhales stories of years past to me, and I offer it today's world in return, thus together we create new history.

In 2024, I stayed at 7 historic building hotels/guesthouses, some well-known and others more niche. Staying in historic buildings has its pros and cons:

The advantages are:
1) Locations are typically within protected historic districts or ancient towns, maximizing immersive experiences.
2) You can experience the historic district environment day and night, with nighttime often offering a completely different atmosphere and feeling.
3) Sleeping inside makes time travel convenient (just kidding).

The disadvantages are:
1) They're not as standardized as chain hotels; sometimes prices are higher but the living experience isn't as good as chain hotels. My solution is to stay for just one night to fully experience it, rather than staying throughout the entire trip. After all, historic buildings offer novelty and nostalgia, not comfort and luxury.
2) Some buildings are genuinely ancient, and sensitive people might feel uncomfortable or actually sense something. I recommend staying with one or more companions to sleep more soundly. Reconstructed buildings generally don't give off much of a feeling, while preserved original buildings tend to have more of an atmosphere. This feeling isn't necessarily about seeing ghosts. Occasionally when staying alone, I find myself wanting to sleep with the lights on to feel secure—this level of discomfort is what I call "sensing something."

The following hotels/guesthouses are listed in the order I stayed in them, with no particular ranking. For some, I forgot to photograph the exterior; for others, I forgot to capture the guest rooms (sorry), but you can find them all on Trip.com:
[Nanxun] Yibaijian Riverside Scenic View Designer Guesthouse
[Hangzhou] Weihan Hotel
[Tianjin] Wudadao Xiaobaolou Meilun Hotel
[Chongqing] Houzhen Mansion
[Harbin] 1903 Grand Mansion Hotel
[Guangzhou] Guangdong Victory Hotel
[Tianjin] Astor Hotel

Does anyone have other historic building hotels they've stayed in? I'd love to collect a comment section full of historic building hotels.