Tour the Commune by the Great Wall near Beijing, China
The lobby of the Commune by the Great Wall. The hotel calls itself a collection of living contemporary Chinese and Asian architecture.” (Susan Spano/Los Angeles Times)
The Commune by the Great Wall features award-winning architecture, a luxurious spa and, perhaps most valuable of all, a private path to a stretch of one of the worlds best-known landmarks: the Great Wall. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
Despite some communal aspects shared kitchens and living rooms in its huge villas the Commune hardly calls to mind the money-saving, ruling class-disdaining life. Instead, it is an unforgettable weekend escape just an hour from Beijing. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
The mountains can be seen from a bathroom villa at the Commune. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
Rooms face the hills at the Commune by the Great Wall. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
An attendant stands outside the Anantara Spa at the Commune. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
Massage tables await at the hotel’s Anantara Spa. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
The pool at the Commune is geared toward children. (Susan Spano/Los Angeles Times)
The Commune, now managed by the Kempinksi hotel group, won a prize at the 2002 Venice Biennale. (Susan Spano/Los Angeles Times)
The hotel sits on almost five miles of mountain land; the 11 original villas each have four to six bedrooms and butler service. The newer, more modest accommodations where we decamped comprise 265 bedrooms in villas dotted along a hillside road. (Susan Spano/Los Angeles Times)
