Beautiful atmosphere! nice lobby! n nice rooms.

I stayed at Deluxe Pool villa w/ a female frd. Wouldn't recommend this room, better choose Jacuzzi villa. Though the pool is warm water, said to be 27 degrees, I still felt it too cold at the heat of the daylight, I could only let me feets in, though my frd changed to swimsuit n stayed in the water, the pool was too small for swimming, maybe good for kids.

The chinese food was great! reasonable price. The spa wasn't good enough, could have paid less for better experience n atmosphere in an high end resort in Phuket, Thailand, was a bit disappointed. Room service was a mess, needs alot more improvement, any shangri-la, inter-continental, ritz-carlton would have done alot much better job!!

One reminder to you: when u check in w/ ur credit-card, take note, that they didn't "credit" ur deposit, my credit card company called me to reconfirm my transaction telling me I've just credited 8000RMB! Reception keep telling me they didn't credit the sum, but after insisting, they cancelled all the transaction. And my card company called me to confirm that all transaction had been cancelled.

Overall, very nice Hote! only 13miins walk to one of the attractions.
Nice food, Nice rooms. Nice atmosphere. As seen as photos on website. Services should be improved. bit too pricy for the experience.

We recently spent 2 nights at the Bnayan Tree Lijiang (and 2 nights at the Zen Garden Hotel -- see accompanying review). The BT is excellent in many ways. We had a ground floor Deluxe Suite which was a large bedroom area with adjoining living room that opened up onto a small outdoor private space. All high marks for the room and comfort. But being on the ground floor and with the adjoining (Chinese-style) high brick walls the room did feel a bit dark. If you go try to get an upstairs suite. The rain did not help! But the rain allowed us to utilize the umbrellas and rain gear in the room, and we borrowed a DVD from the extensive library at the front desk to entertain our daughter during the rain -- all of these being very nice touches and much appreciated.

Contrary to other reviewers, I found the common areas a bit lacking at the BT. There is little sense of community and little space for public lounging. The Chinese design of the BT comes through positively in the manicured plantings and elegant pools, but the other side of this coin is that there are also lots of high walls to create more private space than pubic. This is part of life in China. Having said that, I think the grounds could do with more plantings, garden pools, benches and the such to make strolling around more rewarding. The BT could also do with having a pool for all guests! I've been to a lot of hotels around the world and I don't think I've been to a high-grade hotel that lacks a pool. But that's a minor point.

The food at the BT is very good. The breakfast buffet (included in our rate) has lots to choose from, all the food & drink being tasty and fresh, and is served until 11am -- thank you! We had dinner one night at their Chinese restaurant Bai Yun. The food was excellent but I found the prices to be very high. I can accept high prices for good food to pay homage to a skilled chef and to sourcing high-quality ingredients. However, tea at RMB40 per person and Nongfu Spring water at RMB35 per small plastic bottle (RMB2 in town) are unbelivably marked up, almost insulting so. No pun intended, but this just put a bad taste in my mouth. Sure, I know hotel restaurant prices are usually higher than found at independent eateries, but I just felt ripped off.

The BT is close to Shihe, walking distance if you don't have a small child to carry all the way. Taxi cost is RMB8 to Shihe and RMB10 back, so its easily accessible. I was disappointed with Shihe. I much prefer Lijiang, crowds and all. Lijiang is a RMB16 taxi ride and takes about 10 minutes.

Overall, the BT Lijiang is great but still has room for improvement.

Considering the reputation of Banyan Tree as well as the price, and this stay being my first one with the brand, I had high expectations. And I must admit that I was very impressed.
Let's start with the design of the whole resort which is nothing less than gorgeous. From the gardens with their bamboo groves to the villas that mix traditional Chinese architecture with modern style and hints of local Naxi decoration, every gaze is a delight for the eyes with a surreal mountain background on top of things.
The check-in is very pleasant as you are sitting during the whole process and offered a cup of ginger tea. You can also choose between a whole set of different types of pillows. Once finished you are driven to your private villa in a golf kart which are by the way available all day long if you are feeling lazy walking in the alleys of the resort.
The private villas are awesome providing a warm atmosphere and an absolute comfort. The bed is facing the wide glass doors entrance so you are facing the mountain scenery when you wake up. Magic. The private open-air jacuzzi in the garden is perfect after a long day of sightseeing or for a midnight dip.
On the F&B side, the buffet breakfast is common, the room service has nothing exceptional but you have to experience the private BBQ in your own garden with your own chef and your own waiter.
Last point, I recommend you to stay away of their Banyan Tree gift shop or you might end up with an additional luggage...

The Banyan Tree Lijiang is up to the chain's standards and offered a wonderful experience. Staff is very pleasant, well trained, smiling. The hotel itself is beautiful and very quiet. The restaurant offers a wonderful view over the Jade Dragon Mountain (and the decoration is much nicer than the Western Restaurant of the Banyan Tree Sanya). Villas are very nice and spacious : pools are not as big and cosy as those in Sanya and you can't watch TV from your bed (!), but the morning view from the bed over the mountain is gorgeous. The Spa is great and the tours are also very nice : our guide spoke excellent english (quite rare in China), and was a true Naxi so could explain the local culture. The hotel could be more proactive in advertising the tour operator or the complementary yoga classes in the morning.
One excellent point of the hotel, is that it is walking distance from Shuhe, a wonderful little village lined with canals and cafes : Shuhe is as beautiful as Lijiang old town, much less crowded and 10 minutes away by foot from the Banyan Tree.