A designer retreat built into the hillside

Nine Rebirths sits high on the eastern shore of Erhai Lake, in the villa district off the ring road at Haidong.
Eight rooms, one view, and a level of finish that made the house a landmark the year it opened.

270° of it

Nothing stands between the house and the water. From the terraces you look straight across Erhai Lake to the Cangshan range, with Dali Old Town off to the north. Sunrise comes up over the lake; the light on the mountains lasts until the last of the evening.

Specified, not decorated

The house is the work of a designer who spent real time on it, and it shows in the parts you touch: Hansgrohe showers, Sony televisions, Marshall speakers, an Amiro vanity mirror, a Dyson in the cupboard. Nothing here is a stand-in for something better.

Only eight rooms

Opened in 2022 and small by design. Eight rooms means the terraces are never crowded, the kitchen cooks to order, and someone knows your name by the second morning. Every room faces the lake, and each has its own balcony plunge pool.

Rooms that open onto the water

Every room in the house looks out at Erhai Lake, and every room has a balcony with its own
plunge pool. You can be in the water, above the water, ten seconds after you wake up.

Wake up, walk out, get in

The rooms are built around the balcony rather than the other way round. Glass runs the full width, the doors fold back, and the plunge pool sits at the edge of the deck with the lake behind it. Mornings here tend to start slowly and outdoors.

Inside: a rain shower from Hansgrohe, a Marshall speaker you will actually use, a Sony television you probably will not, and a lit vanity mirror for the part of the evening that happens before dinner. Wi-Fi throughout the house.

What the house does for you

A small inn can only be good by doing a few things properly. Here that means getting you
from the airport, feeding you well, and staying out of the way for the rest of it.

Eating, drinking, unwinding

There is a restaurant, a café, a bar and a tea room, plus a snack bar for the hours in between. With eight rooms the kitchen works to order rather than to a buffet schedule, so tell us when you want to eat and roughly what you feel like.

For unwinding: hot spring access at no charge, a massage room, a sauna, and space set aside for yoga. There is a play area for children, luggage storage for the day you arrive early, and laundry service for the day you have run out of clothes.

Getting here

Dali Fengyi Airport is 11.6 km away and Dali Railway Station is 14.9 km. Airport pickup and drop-off are free, and we run a shuttle to and from the station. Tell us your flight or train number and someone will be waiting.

Once you are here there is valet parking, car hire and bicycle hire if you want to ride the ring road. The Yunnan Guili cultural tourism base is 318 m from the door and the Dali Fairytale Mountain & Sea Garden is about 505 m — both an easy walk.

Ask at the desk and we can arrange the things Erhai is good for: kayaking and paddling on the lake, hiking up into Cangshan, golf, riding, and courts and tables nearby for anyone who cannot sit still.

House rules, briefly

Check in from 14:00, check out by 12:00. Children are welcome: twelve and under stay free using the existing bedding, thirteen to seventeen is ¥299 per person per night. We cannot add extra beds or provide cots — the rooms are the size they are.

No pets, though service animals are always welcome. No cooking in the rooms. Commercial photography is fine and so are parties, as long as the house is quiet between 23:00 and 08:00 — sound carries a long way over the water, which is part of why people come.

Reserve a room

Send us your dates and we will come back to you with what is open. For anything urgent,
or if you would rather just talk it through, call +86 199 8723 3009.