Guilin's latest attraction towers over karst mountains

The verdant and effortlessly splayed karst mountains of Guilin unfurled before me as I pulled open the hotel room draperies in a performance that was pure Panavision.

The hills, which have inspired legions of artists to recreate the rolling enchantment in paintings, prints and written paeans - not to mention the winsome backside of the 20-yuan note - are merely a backdrop for the Shangri-La Hotel, Guilin, a stunning new hotel that sets a new standard in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

If the gentle slopes were a salve, the Shangri-La was an oasis within an oasis after two hectic days of schlepping and low-impact spelunking amid the limestone: to the peak of Elephant Trunk Hill and into the phantasmagorical Reed Flute Caves.

Guilin's newest attraction - a hotel thoughtfully situated on a bend of the storied Lijiang River - puts on a show all its own. A dramatic lobby lounge, with its expansive windows, overlooks a terraced waterfall constructed to resemble the serpentine Longsheng rice paddies.

The Shangri-La balances sleek modernity with traditional elements. "It's not like a lot of Shangri-Las I know," says Sigi Bierbaumer, the hotel's general manager. "Most of the Shangri-Las are city properties, in towers. Ours takes up 68,000 square meters", a larger-than-usual footprint for a hotel in the Hong Kong-based chain.

Bierbaumer has served most of his career in the hospitality business in locales including Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Yangon. "Coming from Austria, it sounds very strange to people" that he has a particular affinity for hot climates.

In Guilin he gets his coveted lush surroundings, which are reflected, literally and figuratively, throughout the hotel. "Our hotel has a Chinese roof and a huge garden," Bierbaumer says.

Technically, that garden is in its nascent stage; the hotel opened in March, and during my visit in late May construction on the 449-room property was still under way. Still, I wouldn't have known it, thanks to the superb noise insulation in the serene guestrooms of 42 to 84 sq m, the largest in Guilin.