Tianfu International Hotel Complex

The area is huge, and the western part belongs to the ancient Shu and Hanzhong regions from the Three Kingdoms period. November is a really great time to visit, with autumn being very comfortable. The airport doesn’t start flying until 1:00 AM, so it’s quiet. Breakfast is average.

Breakfast covered the basics, with rice noodles, bread, salad, and a few other essentials. The room was another story in the winter cold. I checked in on January 17th, when it was 2 degrees Celsius. There was no central air conditioning, just a heater, and it was too small for such a large room. It felt like an ice palace. The towels and blankets were damp and cold, so I used a hairdryer to warm and dry them before I could get comfortable. Plane noise woke me whenever one took off, though my travel companion slept through it, so that may depend on the person.

The staff barely understood any English. Even “breakfast” and “cappuccino” seemed unfamiliar to them. We arrived at night in the rain, and although there are several buildings, they only pointed us in the right direction instead of showing us to ours. They also refused when we asked for an umbrella. We had to find the breakfast building across the street from the main entrance ourselves, and the meal was a disaster. The food was all Chinese and we couldn't eat it. There was no coffee machine, and the weak coffee tasted like water. We bought two coffees at the shop across the street for 700 rubles, and they tasted just like the free breakfast coffee. I'm honestly shocked by the good reviews. The hotel and service were terrible, and the whole stay was extremely unpleasant. Breakfast also felt completely unsuitable for Europeans.

It's handy if you're arriving and leaving on the same day, and there's an airport shuttle. The rooms are decent, with shops and restaurants nearby. The layout is split into sections, which made me think the place might once have been the Olympic athletes' village. A market and more shops are around a 10-15 minute taxi ride away. All in all, a pretty good stay.