Sule Shangri-La, Yangon

The Sule Shangri-La commands the most useful corner in Yangon: directly across from Bogyoke Aung San Market on Sule Pagoda Road, at the edge of the downtown grid where the city's remarkable stock of colonial-era architecture begins. Opened in 1996 as Traders Hotel and elevated to the Shangri-La flag in 2014, the tower has been the downtown default for business travellers and market-bound visitors ever since, and the group's famously warm service culture survives intact.

Rooms are classic Shangri-La—golden-toned, generously sized, immaculately kept—with Horizon Club floors adding a lounge whose views run across the rooftops to the gilded stupa of Sule Pagoda and, in the distance, Shwedagon. The location does the sightseeing groundwork: the market's lacquerware and gem stalls are across the street, and the Strand riverfront, Pansodan Street's grand facades and the downtown food scene are all walkable.

Eating in-house is a pleasure, from the multi-station buffets and Burmese dishes of Café Sule to refined Cantonese at Summer Palace and one of the city's better lobby-lounge afternoon teas. A outdoor pool, gym and spa handle the humid afternoons. Myanmar's circumstances have thinned Yangon's hotel scene, which makes the Sule's consistency all the more valuable—it remains the surest-footed operation downtown.