Dali Manju Ocean Hotel Review: Staying in an Underwater Aquarium-Themed Hotel in Yunnan, China

If you’ve been following my Social Media, you’ve probably noticed I’ve shared quite a bit about Dali Manju Ocean Hotel, Yunnan, China and honestly, it’s because I really enjoyed this YOLO experience, the place looks even better in real life. Videos already capture its beauty well, but being there in person is on another level.

My best friend absolutely loves the sea, sea creatures, and aquariums and that was really my main motivation for this trip. Honestly, China was never somewhere I imagined visiting, and it wasn’t even on my bucket list, but this experience changed that.

I’m putting together this article to share a more detailed look at my stay at Dali Manju Hotel; my experience, honest review, the amenities, what’s worth trying, and what you might want to skip.

There isn’t much information online, so I hope this gives you a clearer picture if you’re considering it. I have to say, staying in the underwater room was pure bliss. Watching the water through the glass felt strangely calming and therapeutic. 

We chose the adorable round-bed room, which is typically designed for families, but I stayed there with my best friends and it made the experience even more fun and nostalgic. 

The room is definitely designed with kids and families in mind—but it works just as well for adult-kids like us who are young at heart. It doesn’t feel overly childish at all; instead, it carries a warm wood-toned, modern luxury vibe, with subtle design details inspired by the sea and aquarium woven thoughtfully into the space. 

I have to say, the thoughtful check-in gifts and essentials were incredibly generous—there was so much provided that we couldn’t even finish everything. 

There are also thoughtful touches like a booklet introducing the different fish and sea creatures, which makes the experience even more engaging—especially for kids, as it adds an educational element to the stay. 

Our hotel booking came with breakfast vouchers, so before anything else, let me show you what to expect from their breakfast. 

There’s also an aquarium window tucked in one corner of the restaurant, though it’s quite limited and not right next to the seating area. Still, we managed to spot quite a number of sharks resting at this level, which was a nice surprise. 

Just a heads-up, although the breakfast was pretty average. We also tried some in-room dining that looked good on the menu, but ended up regretting it. The vegetables were overly oily, the pizza was disappointing, and I even had an upset stomach afterwards. Safe to say, I’d be a bit cautious about ordering Western-style dishes like truffle pizza here next time. 

Alright, for now, let me show you some of the food you can expect at breakfast:

Appetizer:

Condiments and Dim Sum:

Buns and Fruits:

There’s also a freshly cooked noodle station and a cereal corner. The restaurant itself feels quite spacious, almost too spacious.

The entry hall aquarium view is on the opposite side of the restaurant windows, so you’ll notice the same group of sharks resting in this area as well. 

Another thing to add for your information—right next to the hotel, there’s an animal theme park and also the main public aquarium space that visitors can explore. 

Our Hotel room window actually overlooks the public underwater tunnel, so we could sometimes see guests walking through it below. It’s usually quite quiet, though it gets noticeably busier during mermaid performance times. (And they can see us in the hotel room too)

We can’t fully see the mermaid performance from the room—only a partial, slightly blocked view—but it was still really thoughtful that divers and mermaids swam over to our side and waved at us. Honestly, that moment was so heartwarming. 

There’s also an option to pay extra for something called a “golden moment” (in Chinese), where they can extend their time at your window or even attract more fish to gather there. It has to be booked in advance and seems especially fun for kids who would be super excited to have a live show right outside their bedroom window. I have to admit—I was pretty excited about it too.

Back to talking about the theme park on the other side—there’s a really eye-catching spot with a gigantic octopus sculpture on top of the building, which actually makes for nice photo opportunities.

The pet-themed park is located in the basement, and when we visited, it felt very quiet with almost no one else accept for us. It seemed a bit under-visited, and I can understand why it may not be for everyone. Personally, I wouldn’t really recommend it based on my experience and probably how I felt the animals were treated.

There were animals like deer, raccoons, meerkats, rabbits, alpacas, parrots, and donkeys, and more, they were mainly being fed carrots. We did notice that they seemed quite eager for food, and the feeding interaction felt a bit intense at times. Our ticket didn’t include animal food, so we paid extra to feed them, but I personally felt unsure about whether the diet and feeding setup was ideal for all the animals.

From my understanding, for example, rabbits shouldn’t have too many carrots, so it did raise some concerns for me. Some of the animals also seemed quite competitive during feeding time, which made the whole experience feel a little overwhelming.

The meerkat enclosure was especially difficult to see. Meerkats are naturally social and active animals, but there was only one left in the enclosure, and it looked visibly bored and understimulated. 

There were also two types of deer, and the larger one appeared to dominate both space and food. The alpacas gave a similarly concerning impression—one stronger “alpha” alpaca kept taking most of the food, while some of the smaller ones seemed too weak or hesitant to compete.

There was only one staff member handling the carrot station, and it felt like there wasn’t much supervision or interaction in terms of explaining or guiding the experience, which left me with mixed feelings overall. 

I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable supporting a space where animals are kept in that kind of environment to attract tourism. It does seem like they are more specialised in marine life—fishes and sea creatures—while the land animals don’t appear to be as well cared for.

Coming back to the hotel experience, we were also informed that guests can actually dive into the aquarium wearing a bikini or swim suit and provided equipment, as it’s included in the hotel booking. It can be claimed during the hotel stay period. 

However, my friend and I are both not very adventurous when it comes to water sports, so we didn’t try it. That said, it could be a really fun experience for someone who enjoys that kind of activity—definitely a proper YOLO moment.

The building has six storeys in total, and before visiting, I always assumed the aquarium was literally “under the sea or lake?”—but that isn’t quite the case. From what I understood, levels 1 to 4 are positioned around the main aquarium tank, giving different perspectives from the lower depths up to the water surface view. The higher floors, around level 5 or 6, likely offer views of the surrounding Dali scenery landscape outside instead (I think it comes with Balcony, as seen from outside of the building).

One thing to note is that the aquarium lights are switched off in the midnight. At that point, you can only see faint shadows of the sea creatures and fish. I had expected to be able to watch the fish swimming 24/7 therapuetically, so there was a small moment of disappointment when lights off and it was time to go to sleep.

But later on, I noticed jellyfish glowing in the dark, slowly shifting colours in their transparent form. I wasn’t even sure if I was imagining it at first. (Sorry, I don't have photos or videos for you, it seems like only human eyes can see it - not a choice)

My best friend and I ended up staring closely and quietly discussing it in the dark—it was actually quite funny. In a way, it’s these unexpected little moments that make the experience so unique.

I also really love how often we get to see fish, stingrays, sharks, and more up close right at the window. The only shy one was the sea turtle—it didn’t really come by our side.

And the sharks… honestly, seeing them so close made them look a lot more fierce and intimidating than I expected.

One downside is that the toilet doesn’t have much ventilation. I did feel a bit bad about it after the truffle pizza incident—you know what I mean. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do except switch on the bathroom fan, as there’s no window for natural ventilation. 

We were curious whether the gym would also have an aquarium view, but it turns out it doesn’t. Both the gym and the laundry room are quite standard and don’t feature any of the underwater scenery. 

If you love the sea creatures here, you can actually bring them home in plush form—they’re available for purchase at the lobby counter. It’s a cute option, especially if you’re travelling with kids, as it helps keep the excitement and memories going even after heading back to home. 

Here are some of my Videos uploaded on Social Media:

-Fishes, Diver & Mermaid
-Happiest, Magical, Silent Moment captured on camera

LOCATION
📍Dali Manju Ocean Hotel 大理海东山地新城大理海洋城

大理海东山地新城大理海洋城1栋2单元 海洋城 邮政编码: 671006

(Dali, Yunnan, China)

PRICES 

SGD$250-$400.00/- per night
(depends on room type and what sea creature you choose to see more)

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