And that’s meant literally. The InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland is built into the wall of an abandoned quarry, with all 17 floors of the hotel below ground level—one floor is even below water level at the bottom.
The 336-room hotel, with rooms starting at about $490 a night, is part of a major development that also includes the Wonderland theme park. It’s about an hour’s drive from the center of Shanghai. In normal traffic, that is.
Construction was not without problems: a major storm caused a nearby river to flood the lower part of the pit early on; an embankment and wall system were built to prevent that happening again. In addition, a pumping system was added for protection.,
As for the suites below water level: Their windows don’t actually look out into the quarrry; where windows would be, they have fish tanks.
