Hotel Grand United (21st Downtown)

The Hotel Grand United (21st Downtown) is a tall eight-story building that's (currently) the newest on a block full of mostly crumbling tenement houses. The facade is relatively simple, with a concrete and steel cut-out exterior, but it does stand out for this part of old Yangon. Guests need to take the elevator up to the fourth floor, which is where the hotel starts, and the lobby is set with two black couches, a couple of armchairs, a small table, and a few free copies of the International Herald Tribune. The lobby is fairly cramped -- a clue as to what the rooms are like.  The scene for guests is on the top floor, where View Restaurant is located. Travelers, mostly couples and business people, can be found admiring the city views from the alfresco eating space. All in all, the style here is understated, though reasonably modern, and this hotel is best used as a reasonably priced home base for exploring and sightseeing.

Located in the heart of Yangon's downtown, the hotel is about a 10-minute walk or drive from the actual city center, though traffic in town is so bad it's often fastest to walk. It's Chinatown setting is an old, crumbling, bustling, and chaotic part of town, with fascinating street life, market vendors, and street food. It's a great spot to soak up the local atmosphere, but requires an early start to get to the airport (which can take up to an hour-and-a-half in rush hour). It's about a 10-minute drive to Shwedagon Pagoda, the top tourist and pilgrimage site in the city, and the 19th Street night market is just around the corner, with seemingly limitless food vendors setting up their stalls each evening. While the hotel is slightly off of main Mahabandoola Road, it still gets plenty of noise, although things mellow out quite a bit at night.

There are 40 rooms here and they are quite tiny, especially the entry-level Superior Rooms, which offer just a double or pair of twin beds and a crammed-in cabinet and desk. The look is simple, but modern, and some rooms include nice black upholstered headboards and black-and-white floral wallpaper that works together to create a sharp aesthetic. Flooring varies from carpets to wood laminate, and furniture is done in simple light wood veneer surfaces. All rooms include electronic safes, minibars, flat-screen TVs with cable channels, air-conditioning, electric hot water kettles for tea and coffee, and free Wi-Fi. Unfortunately many rooms lack any windows.

Bathrooms are nice, and can feel a bit more spacious than the rooms themselves. Superior Rooms have shower/tub combos and Deluxe Rooms have walk-in showers. They're done in attractive gray tiling or faux-marble tiling, and don't offer much in the way of counter space. The best choice in the house is the Grand United Shwedagon Pagoda View Room, which has the most space and the largest bathroom. It offers views of the famed temple after which it's named, even though it's quite far in the distance.

The Hotel Grand United (21st Downtown) doesn't offer much in the way of features. This small city hotel has a nice rooftop dining venue, View Restaurant, which overlooks all of Chinatown -- diners can see both Shwedagon and Sule Pagodas in the distance. Free breakfast buffets are served to all guests up here, with options including both egg and noodle stations, and then the restaurant is open for lunch and dinner with a variety of local and international dishes on the menu. There's both an indoor section as well as a lovely alfresco terrace.

The only other facility here is a fitness center, but it has just two cardio machines packed into a glorified closet that gets direct afternoon sunlight. If you want to hit up an exercise bike in a sauna....well, you get the picture. One extra that's worth mentioning is the elevator. Many buildings in downtown Yangon don't have elevators, just brutal flights of endless stairs. Not only does the Grand United have an elevator, but it functions smoothly and efficiently. Wi-Fi is free throughout the property, and there are computers for guests to use in the lobby.