Jazz at the Fairmont Peace Hotel

Formerly the Cathay and Palace Hotel, this is one of those old-school Shanghai properties with a lot of history (it's where Noël Coward wrote Private Lives). The Communist government used to have the rooms bugged, and one former guest told me how he’d commented to his companion on his room’s foul-smelling carpet, only to return later to find it freshly deodorized.

Following a $60 million, plus three-year restoration, this is now the Fairmont Peace Hotel, and the bar has been restored to its 1930s glory, making a visit feel like time travel. Visitors can also sip cocktails and listen to the octogenarian Jazz band who have played together since the 1980s (two members were in Jimmy King’s legendary 1940s jazz ensemble). A charming way to kick off or end an evening.