The Peninsula Hotels are rolling out new Peninsula Academy programs this Spring. The new programs will be focused on the “art of hospitality,” and continue the brand’s long tradition of taking hotel guests behind the façade of a city and providing authentic cultural experiences not accessible to other travelers. The new 2011 programs will feature art experiences and will bring visitors to each city’s most iconic spots.
In Asis, at the Peninsula Beijing, clients can participate in the Discover Chinese Antiques program. Participants will learn the finer points of Chinese antiques, including porcelain, furniture and jade with an expert and obtain a brief introduction to the first private Chinese museum, The Guanfu Museum. Participants will be given a preview of private collections not usually open to the public. The price includes an English-speaking guide and roundtrip transfers.
In Shanghai, Peninsula Shanghai is offering the Jewish Heritage Tour. Some of Shanghai’s earliest and most prominent international residents were Jewish traders from India and the Middle East. Their pioneering spirit helped build the city. In the 20th century, Ashkenazi immigration enhanced the cultural milieu, while the wartime ghetto in northeast Shanghai housed refugees fleeing Europe. Historian Dvir Bar-Gal takes clients to the heartland of Jewish commerce, architecture and tradition in old Shanghai. Each tour lasts approximately four hours.
The Peninusla Hong Kong is featuring the Hong Kong in Nature program starting this spring. Clients can retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city and travel up the slopes of Tai Mo Shan, the highest mountain in Hong Kong, to an authentic tea house in a rural setting, which serves tea brewed from mountain water. Here, guests can mingle with local villagers before strolling by pristine watercress fields and scenic hiking paths, escorted by a personal guide towards The Yuen Yuen Institute, a Taoist temple built in the 1950s.
The Details
The Peninsula Hotelswww.peninsula.com
