Kunming Green Lake Hotel, WorldHotels Elite

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan, a southwestern province of mountains, lakes, and ethnic diversity, blessed with the mild climate that earns the city its nickname, the Spring City, and a handy base for the terraced hills and the famous Stone Forest beyond. On the shore of Green Lake, the Kunming Green Lake Hotel, WorldHotels Elite, has stood since 1956, a piece of the city's living history that has watched it grow for over sixty years. The rooms are styled in classical European elegance across business, executive, and VIP floors, and lake-view rooms look out over the lotus blooms and soft dawns of Green Lake, with multiple room types to choose from. A 24-hour butler service, the first of its kind in southwest China, attends to the details of each stay, day or night. Thirteen meeting rooms of varying sizes anchor the events offering, led by a 791-square-metre Golden Ballroom that seats more than 400 for a banquet, with smaller rooms that combine freely for gatherings of any shape. The all-day western restaurant is known for refined Italian and Indian cooking, with window seats framing the lake, while the Chinese restaurant carries on a culinary tradition more than a century in the making. Just outside, the willow-lined causeways and wintering gulls of Green Lake are yours to enjoy.