Eco Tree Hotel Sheung Wan

Rooms and decor

Picture a plain, tall boutique on Des Voeux Road West, at the western edge of Sheung Wan, set among old Chinese medicine shops and dried-goods stores that have run for decades — that is the charm of Eco Tree Hotel. The appeal is not grandeur but a clean, plain look, space used well, and a rate you can reach at the 4-star level. The hotel has around 95 rooms, done in a warm-toned modern minimal style with plain lines that read current rather than cluttered. To be straight about it, the rooms here are compact in the classic Hong Kong way, but they are designed to cover what you need, with enough storage and everything in its place. The part many people like most is that a lot of rooms have city views, looking onto the towers and the old quarter below. Plenty of reviews praise the well-kept cleanliness and the value, and scores hold above 80% on every platform — Agoda, Booking and Trip.com. Waking up in a plain, clean room, opening the curtains to a city view, then heading down into the old Hong Kong streets below is genuinely hard to find at the same price in the heart of Hong Kong Island.

Food and amenities

The charm of Eco Tree Hotel is not luxe facilities like a giant pool or a rooftop bar — it is being a value boutique that delivers as much clean, tidy room in a good location as it can. Every room comes with the basics covered: air-con, a flat-screen TV and free Wi-Fi throughout, with the focus on a clean, current-looking room to rest in after a full day out. As a mid-size boutique, the feel is not as busy as a big chain hotel. The key point is that the location easily makes up for the on-site facilities, because the streets around the hotel are the real food quarter — a few steps out and you hit old dim sum spots, wonton noodle shops, Hong Kong tea houses, traditional sweet shops and late-opening convenience stores. Any meal is easy to find, so you do not need a hotel restaurant. Anyone who likes to walk and graze on local food will enjoy this block in particular, because Des Voeux Road West and the lanes around it are a stash of real Hong Kong food that general tourists usually never reach.

Location and getting there

Location is the strongest card here. The hotel stands on Des Voeux Road West at the western edge of Sheung Wan where it meets Sai Ying Pun, and the standout point is that it sits right by Exit A2 of MTR Sai Ying Pun on the Island Line — a few steps from the door to the station entrance. That makes it easy to jump on a train across Hong Kong Island and over to Kowloon without the long uphill walk many hotels in this area face. The surrounding streets are an old Hong Kong quarter that is still genuinely alive: this road is known for dried-goods stores, bird's nest, dried scallops, dried fish and old Chinese medicine shops lined up block after block, with the smell of Chinese herbs and an old-time feel still in the air — good for a wander and photos. If you want a hipper area, walk a bit uphill to the east and you reach SoHo, the antiques strip of Hollywood Road with its curio shops and galleries, and the old Man Mo Temple thick with incense. The ferry pier to Macau is also close by for a day trip on. In short, if you want a spot a few steps from the MTR, in the middle of real Hong Kong and easy to connect from on a budget, this fits well.

Things to know before booking

To talk straight and help you decide: the first thing to know is that Eco Tree Hotel is a Hong Kong hotel, so the rooms are compact, especially the cheapest category where space to set down bags and move around the bed is fairly limited. Anyone with a big suitcase or who likes open rooms should brace for it, or if the budget allows, upgrade to a larger category or pick a room listed with a city view for comfort across the trip. The second point is the edge-of-district position — the hotel sits on Des Voeux Road West where Sheung Wan meets Sai Ying Pun, so it is a little out from the center of the Sheung Wan-Central area and from MTR Sheung Wan station. If you plan to walk straight into SoHo or Central, you will head fairly uphill or hop one more MTR stop, though being right at Sai Ying Pun station makes the train easy anyway. The third is that this is a boutique built mainly around value rooms, so there are no luxe facilities like a pool, spa, gym or rooftop bar on site. Anyone who likes to spend time in the hotel may find it thin, but if you mean to use the hotel as a base to sleep and head out, that is not an issue. And because it is an old trading quarter with a fairly busy street by day, some rooms may catch noise from the commercial area — light sleepers should ask about the aspect and room type before booking.

Our take

From reading through a good range of real reviews, Eco Tree Hotel Sheung Wan sells itself as a value 4-star boutique in the heart of Hong Kong Island impressively well for its price. With plain, clean rooms, space used well and many with city views, a location right by MTR Sai Ying Pun Exit A2 — a few steps and you are on a train across town — and review scores above 80% on every platform, it earns it. If the trip in your head is waking up in a plain, clean room, opening the curtains to a city view, heading down for dim sum at an old shop and exploring the Chinese medicine and dried-goods stores of an old quarter, then jumping on the MTR to roam all of Hong Kong Island without paying 5-star rates, this is a value pick that fits — especially for couples, solo travelers and anyone after the real Hong Kong on a budget. But if you put weight on a large open room, a hotel with a pool and spa, or staying right in the center of Sheung Wan-Central with everything in walking reach, the edge-of-district spot and the small boutique rooms may give you pause. Overall we give it 8.5/10, best for couples, solo travelers and anyone looking for a well-priced stay in a Hong Kong quarter that still runs on real local life, close to the MTR and easy to get around.