Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing ranks #10 on our 2026 list of the best anniversary hotels in the world. The case below explains why: the hotel itself, what it does specifically for milestone celebrations, and the alternatives we measured it against.
“Beside the imperial Summer Palace gates, 51 rooms in restored century-old buildings, the most cultural Beijing luxury.”
The hotel itself
Beside the imperial Summer Palace gates, 51 rooms in restored century-old buildings, the most cultural Beijing luxury.
Why it works for an anniversary
Anniversary trips to great cities live or die on the dinner of the trip. The hotel must do the celebration without the city having to do the work, a private room in a Michelin restaurant inside the building, a bar where the right toast is poured, a turn-down service that knows tonight is the one. The cities that do this best, Paris, London, New York, Tokyo, Vienna, have grand-dame hotels measured in centuries, not decades.
An Aman is a particular kind of hotel. The architecture is local material, basalt in Bhutan, raw stone in Italy, bleached oak in New York, and the service philosophy refuses to perform. For an anniversary the case is structural: Aman's signature is suite-only inventory in many properties, deep-discount-free pricing, and the kind of pre-arrival communication that means the cake is on the bed before you ask. The brand exists to upgrade discreetly.
Where it ranks against rivals
For a 2026 milestone anniversary at this level, the most direct comparisons are its fellow Aman and Asian heritage houses higher on the list: Aman Tokyo (#3 on this list), Aman Kyoto (#7), and Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong (#8). Aman Summer Palace ranks just behind them because its draw is singular rather than broad: it is the cultural-heritage anniversary stay, not the urban grand-hotel one. For a couple whose trip is built around the Summer Palace and Qing-dynasty Beijing, it is the runaway choice; for a city-centre base, the others sit closer to the action.
Practical: getting in
Address: 1 Gongmenqian Street, 东城区 China, 100091. Anniversary-suited categories, the upgraded suites, the rooms with the morning view, book six to twelve months ahead. The full review at the hotel page has current rates, the room categories worth paying up for, and the dining and spa programmes worth booking pre-arrival. Use our anniversary occasion page for the broader context, or the Beijing city guide for what else to do while you’re there.