A hotel above the rivers
Where the Yangtze and the Jialing meet at Chaotianmen, the water draws a clear line between two colours — the first sentence of Chongqing's geography. On the bank just behind it, in the heart of the Jiefangbei–Raffles City district, Chongqing Ouchen High-Rise River View Hotel offers a different way to read the city: from a floor-to-ceiling window high above the mountain town, with the river laid out at the foot of the bed.
This is more than a place to sleep. It is a high-rise city experience — 180° river-facing glass, the comfort of a freestanding bathtub, and a food street connected directly to Level B2 of the building, so you never have to step outside at all.
Getting here
Address: Level 21, Everbright Holdings Chaotianmen Center, No. 1 Xinhua Road, Chaotianmen Sub-district, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400011, China.
Tip for taxis and map apps: drivers navigate by the Chinese address, so keep this on hand —
The hotel sits in the Chaotianmen area of the Yuzhong peninsula, moments from Metro Lines 1 and 6:
Xiaoshizi Station (Lines 1 & 6) — Exit 8 opens straight onto Raffles City and Chaotianmen Square. Exit 9 is about 400 m (a quarter of a mile) on foot to Hongyadong, the celebrated hillside stilt-house complex. Exit 5B puts the north station of the Yangtze River Cableway right beside you. Exit 5A leads toward the Jiefangbei pedestrian shopping street. Exit 6 is about 200 m (650 ft) from Luohan Temple. Exit 7 is about 600 m (0.4 mile) from Baixiangju, a much-filmed residential landmark.
Chaotianmen Station (Line 1) — Exit 3 leads directly into Raffles City shopping centre. From Exit 1, walk 50 m (160 ft) back to the left and you reach the lobby entrance of the hotel's tower.
Airport — Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport is about 50 minutes by metro, or roughly 38 minutes by taxi (subject to traffic).
Bus — the Chaotianmen bus interchange is on the LG level of Raffles City, served by routes 181, 382, 503 and 871, among others.
Everything around you: Raffles City Chongqing, the Jiefangbei pedestrian street, Hongyadong, the Yangtze River Cableway, Luohan Temple, Baixiangju, the Huguang Guild Hall, the Chaotianmen riverside walkway and the Bayi Road food street. Business trip or holiday, the city is already at your door.
The building, the design
The lobby is on Level 21 of the Everbright Holdings Chaotianmen Center tower. Guest rooms begin on Level 12 and climb from there — the higher the floor, the wider the view.
Most rooms are finished in warm natural wood tones, with clean lines and nothing extra; a small number of feature rooms carry their own colour stories. The restraint is deliberate — the finest decoration in the room is the window. Across the Ouchen properties in Chongqing, the details guests mention again and again are refreshingly plain — simple, unshowy soft furnishings, none of the gimmicky trend-chasing decor, genuinely good sound insulation, and breathable, comfortable bedding. That attention to quality is what the brand has always held on to.
77 rooms, one long window
Seventy-seven guest rooms and suites, from 18 m² to 108 m² (194–1,163 sq ft).
The 180° floor-to-ceiling windows face the water, and a whole wall of glass lays the river out at the end of the bed. Dawn brings cargo boats and bridge silhouettes taking shape out of the mist. Dusk gives you twenty orange minutes as the sun drops into the water. After dark, the buildings on both banks light up one by one, the river is folded into a moving ribbon of light, and the outline of a bridge lies across it. No need to elbow your way into a crowded viewing platform — the night view of Chongqing glows quietly inside your window frame.
Draw the curtain, let the screen light up, keep your drinks cold in the in-room fridge: outside is the river and the night, inside is the film you never finished. On evenings when you would rather not go out, the room itself is the destination. Most room categories come with a projector screen, a television and a mini fridge.
Two floors down, a whole street of Chongqing flavour
Take the lift down two floors and Level B2 opens directly onto a food street — no need to leave the building. Hotpot broth rolls in the iron pot, and the numbing fragrance of Sichuan pepper arrives a beat before the heat. The seasonings for a bowl of xiaomian noodles are spread out at the bottom of the bowl, and even a small one is enough to bring a glow to your forehead. Travelling with children or older relatives? Mild and non-spicy dishes are just as easy to find — and after lunch you can be back in your room for a rest, instead of walking two kilometres for a meal.
Next door, Raffles City Chongqing and the surrounding malls bring together well-known brands and a wide choice of restaurants: shopping, downtime and a late-night bite in a single trip.
The best piece of wellness equipment in the room is the window
Twenty minutes after sunset is the moment to be there — daylight not quite gone, the buildings already lit, blue hour and warm amber sharing the same frame over the river. Sink into the freestanding bathtub and the steam softens the orange; dim the lights and let Chongqing stay bright outside on your behalf all night long.
Downstairs is the Chaotianmen riverside walkway. Follow the bank to the deck of Qiansimen Bridge and you reach what locals regard as the finest full panorama of Hongyadong — far more open than the view from inside the scenic area itself.
The classics, all within walking range
From here, almost every Chongqing classic is within a walk:
Cross the river on the Yangtze River Cableway — 1,166 m (about 0.7 mile) of open sky, long described as the first aerial corridor over the Yangtze, and the Chongqing of the film Crazy Stone.
Visit Luohan Temple, a historic temple with Tang-dynasty origins, where some 500 arhat statues sit in still rows while glass towers rise a hundred metres across the road.
Walk the elevated corridor of Baixiangju, linking six residential blocks in mid-air — a filming location for Better Days and The Bad Kids.
See the Huguang Guild Hall on Changbin Road, an 18th-century merchants' hall from the great "Huguang Fills Sichuan" migration, its carved balustrades and painted beams still turned toward the river.
Closing
Chongqing Ouchen High-Rise River View Hotel (Jiefangbei Raffles City) is more than somewhere to stay — it is a way into the everyday life of a mountain city. Chongqing is a city you look up at: the hills stack its floors into a maze, the rivers fold its lights in two, and this hotel stands at the point where they cross. Here the river and the lights belong to you at once, and the slopes and staircases never feel like a rush. The night view other people plan a special trip for is simply the background behind your bed.
The river outside, the whole of Chongqing below. Stay a little higher. See a little further. Move a little slower
„Świetna lokalizacja. Tuż przy wejściu do metra i tuż obok wieżowców Raffles City Towers.
Nieskazitelna czystość.
Udogodnienia pozostawiają wiele do życzenia jak na hotel 4* według europejskich standardów.
W pokoju jest Wi-Fi, ale jeśli chcesz połączyć się z internetem przez komórkową transmisję danych, sygnał jest bardzo słaby. Poprosiłem o zmianę pokoju (w ramach tej samej kategorii) i zostałem odrzucony, twierdząc, że sieć jest taka sama w całym hotelu.
Śniadanie było dobre jak na lokalne standardy (chińskie), ale jeśli jesteś przyzwyczajony do zachodnich hoteli, zjesz bardzo mało lub nic.
W ostatni dzień poprosiłem o wymeldowanie dwie godziny później. Również zostałem odrzucony.
Dzięki za lokalizację.
Recepcja znajduje się na 21. piętrze, podobnie jak kilka innych hoteli w tym budynku.”