Every Londoner – as well as anyone who has visited the city even once – has no doubt stood still to peer up at The Shard. This is what it’s like to stay inside it, at Shangri-La The Shard.
Completed in 2012 and located on the south side of the Thames – just across the river from the 11th-century-built Tower of London – this Renzo Piano-designed, glass-clad, pyramid-shaped building instantly became one of the city’s contemporary landmarks.
A mixed-use space, (offices, apartments, restaurants and bars), there might be a more famous crown jewel on the other side of the water, but the crown jewel of this building is its hotel: Shangri-La The Shard, London.
The Vibe
There’s something special about entering Shangri-La The Shard. You’re greeted on the ground floor, whisked through a quick (and very friendly) security check and guided towards a lift to whizz up to the 35th floor – 125 metres high – in seconds (I’m told it takes exactly 32 seconds). As you step out of the dimly lit lift, let your eyes adjust to the bright, spacious, open-plan lobby brimming with fresh flowers (a Shangri-La staple, wherever you are in the world).
It’s an impressive space – but you’re unlikely to notice at first: the sweeping views outside of its windows take centre stage. Peek out of them for your first glance of central London (and beyond) unfurling like a toy town below you. We’re willing to bet you’ll spend at least a few minutes admiring the views before whipping out your passports to check in.
The Rooms
Photographer: Philip Reed
Like the lobby, the view is the star of the show across all 202 bedrooms and suites; especially if you’ve booked one with views trailing the River Thames. Through floor-to-ceiling windows, the views from my room stretched from 20 Fenchurch Street (the walkie-talkie building) to the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and beyond. It’s even more special if, like me, you’re lucky enough to see Tower Bridge open its bascules to let a cruise liner sail through within an hour of arriving.
Once you’ve had your initial fill of landmark spotting, attention turns to the bedroom. Because of the building’s unique layout, each room differs to the next in terms of floor plan but all display a similar interior design: modern, clean-cut and with spacious beds, pale-wood panelling, blue patterned carpets, and a nod to the hotel’s Singapore-founded heritage in the cherry-blossom artwork on the headboard wall.
Then there’s the bathrooms. I’m not one to wax-lyrical about hotel bathrooms, but this time it’s worth it. In my room (no. 4105) the bathroom was as impressive as the bedroom, with a large walk-in rainforest-headed shower, a heated marble floor, a Japanese toilet, a TV hidden in the mirror and, the pièce de résistance, a bathtub overlooking the city. With products by Jo Loves plus salts for soaking, this is a true sanctuary of a bathroom, and a place to spend a few hours pampering – day or night.
The Food + Drink
Views from GŎNG
There’s something sexy about sipping on a cocktail at an intimate city-view bar, and it doesn’t get more dazzling than from a towering table at GŎNG, the Shangri-La’s cocktail and Champagne bar on level 52. At a lofty 182 meters high, it’s not only the highest bar inside The Shard, it’s also the highest in London – and one of the highest in all of Europe too.
Seventeen floors down (but still eye-wateringly high – and with a view to match), the Shangri-La’s main restaurant, TING, leans on the hotel’s Asian roots with a menu of small, large and raw plates, plus side dishes. How you order them is up to you; there’s a variety of menus served through lunch and dinner (each à la carte or sharing, plus a special kids’ menu). You won’t go far wrong with any of them, but I chose the dinner time Yinghé sharing menu, which came with some of my all-time favourite dishes (hello spicy tuna tartare, chilli and garlic fried prawns, paneer makhani and Wagyu bao buns). End the evening with one of the creative desserts, such as the matcha-infused sponge cake served with mascarpone.
Like everyone else, you’ll want a windowside seat for the best views, and the best way to guarantee this is by booking the ‘Romance in the Clouds Window Experience’ which comes with a rose-petal filled table and a welcome glass of rosé Champagne. Ideal for proposals, it’s seen a few – the hotel has been home to more than 3,000 proposals since it opened, many of which have taken place right here.
Afternoon tea and breakfast are also served at TING, and if you’re missing morning staples from Asia this is the place to get your fix: pastries, pancakes, granola and eggs are served alongside dishes including congee, okonomiyaki, dim sum, wonton soup, idli sambhar, poha and paratha. Plus a masala chai that set me up for the day.
Spa and Wellness
The Sky Pool at Shangri-La The Shard London
Ready for another superlative? On the 52nd floor, the swimming pool at Shangri-La The Shard is the highest in western Europe, so it’s no surprise that it’s also one of the hotel’s most covetable spaces. Yet, at just 10-metres long and with only a handful of surrounding loungers and chairs, it also has the potential to become overrun – with both wellness seekers and those in it for the ‘gram (guilty). There’s therefore a (fairly strict) entrance policy to counteract this: book in advance and your space is held for an hour. Next door is the sauna and a reasonably sized gym open 24/7 (yes, both have the same astonishing views).
The sauna at level 52
Until 31 December 2025, the hotel (and indeed all global Shangri-La hotels) are offering an Eat Play Love package: choose one of the three when booking and they’ll curate experiential moments related to your preference. I decided on Love, which comes with a spa treatment, time in the pool and sauna, plus an optional in-room rose-petal bubble bath with Champagne. Spa treatments include massages and facials using ELEMIS products to nourish, revive, renew and define. I opted for a deep-tissue tension-easing massage and spent a blissful hour immersed in knot-pummelling aided by a lemon-scented oil.
The Little Extras
“…he felt an extraordinary sense of physical and mental settlement. It was perfectly true; he just rather liked being at Shangri-La,” reads a highlighted quote from James Hilton’s 1933 novel, Lost Horizon, which lies by my bed. Hilton’s book was the first to depict the fictional utopia of Shangri-La, a term now synonymous with one or other version of paradise. On this evening, at this moment, as I snuggle into bed, lights out, overlooking London’s twinkling night sky, I’m inclined to agree with Hilton’s words.
Other in-room amenities include the usual (Nespresso machine, mini bar, iron), but also the not-so-usual, like the Japanese-made Opticron binoculars that, as well as allowing me to zoom in on the city’s big-hitters were powerful enough to take me down to street level. I spent most of my time in the room curled up on a windowside chair peering through them – skyline spotting, but also immersing myself in the day-to-day of London life. I’m almost certain I spotted a ground-level mural by one of my favourite artists, the French-Tunisian calligraphist, El Seed.
Staff go the extra mile, and the little things matter: evident throughout my stay but notable in small moments – like when the host at TING addressed me by name without hesitation as I returned for dinner reservations, having previously only spoken to them briefly. Or when the pool attendant swooped in with a clean, dry towel before I’d even swung my feet out of the water.
The To-Do List
The picturesque banks of the Thames are only a five-minute walk away, and the best places to explore on this side of the river include Tower Bridge, Borough Market, the historic cobbled streets of Shad Thames, Bermondsey Street, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Tate Modern. On the opposite bank: the Tower of London, Leadenhall Market and St. Katherine Docks. Explore it all and more on a two-hour cruise aboard the Shangri-La yacht, Illuminate, which will cruise down the Thames passing London landmarks including Big Ben and the London Eye.
London Bridge station is on your doorstep (about 10 steps away) so it’s easy to explore any and all of the city. Drinking? Dining? Exhibitions? London has so much to see and do that it can be hard to know where to begin. Opt for the hotel’s 2025 Eat Play Love package and all the thinking and planning is taken care of.
Choose Eat and they’ll pair you up with a hotel chef to tour next-door Borough Market, picking out seasonal ingredients to take back to the hotel and whip into a personalised feast, paired with sommelier-selected wines.
Exploring the markets of London on Shangri-La The Shard’s Eat package
Decide to Play and you’ll be whisked away on a private city walking tour starting at trendy Maltby Street Market and taking in the sights, sounds and tastes of the local neighbourhood as you wander medieval streets towards Bermondsey Street (stopping for craft beer on the Bermondsey Beer Mile), then back towards Borough Market stopping for cheese – seeing, learning and tasting as you go.
Opt for Love and self-care takes precedence: you’ll sink into an indulgent spa treatment, take in London’s skyline from the sauna and pool, then slink back to your room for Champagne and to finish your day soaking your muscles (and soaking up the views) from what has to be one of the world’s best-placed bathtubs.
Lead image photographer: Philip Reed
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