“上有天堂 下有蘇杭 // In heaven there is paradise. On earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou.” – Chinese Proverb
If you are staying in Shanghai for a few days, I would highly recommend a Shanghai day trip to Suzhou. The change of pace and greenery is a welcome relief from the Shanghai’s neon lights, crowds and skyscapers.
Suzhou is nicknamed the Venice of Asia and is often included in lists of ‘water towns’. While technically true, do not expect a quaint village. The population of Suzhou is more than the whole of Scotland!
That being said, Suzhou’s easy accessibility, beautiful gardens and UNESCO World Heritage Site status make it certainly worth a visit as a Shanghai day trip (or even for a few days).
Shanghai Day Trip Itinerary
Getting There
Catching the train from Shanghai is easy (relative to Chinese train travel).
The Shanghai – Suzhou train was 30 minutes, but the process of Hotel -> Metro -> Buying a ticket -> Security at the station -> Boarding -> Actually travelling = Closer to 1.5 hours. (I left People’s Square at 10:30 and got to Suzhou for 12).
Arriving
On arrival in Suzhou, take the south exit out the station, cross the bridge and walk along the river for 20-30 minutes to reach the main gardens.
(On first arrival at the station, Suzhou isn’t that impressive, bare with it and hold judgement until you get to the nice bit!)
Humble Administrator Garden
There are many parks and attractions in Suzhou, but if you’re only there for a day trip, Humble Administrator Garden is the most famous of the gardens in Suzhou and one of China’s 52 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The park is 90 yuan (£10) which felt a bit pricey, but since I’d made the effort to get there I figured I may as well go inside.
Inside the gates was busy, as with literally anything of interest in China. It was nice to walk around and if you try hard enough you can scope out a quiet corner to sit for a while too.
There were many guided tours happening in Chinese and I saw some folk listening to headsets attached to devices so I think there may have been a self guided option too.
I didn’t bother with a guide, instead I just strolled around enjoying the pretty scenery and people watching.
The streets directly outside the park are the classic tourist traps. There is an abundance of silk scarves, fans and chopsticks on offer. There is also plenty of street food and restaurant options too.
Wandering the streets
It’s easy to see why Suzhou is known as the Venice of Asia. Take some time away from the official “sights” and walk around the streets lined with canals (or are the canals lined with streets? I can’t work out this sentence!). There are cute bridges, boats touring up and down and local residents going about their every day life. It feels really authentic and not staged for the tourists (except the boats of course).
Pingjiang Road
One street definitely more set up for tourists is Pingjiang Road. I stumbled upon this one after leaving the park and as crazy as it is, it’s a lot of fun. There are food stalls, antiques, calligraphy writing, souvenir shops and lots of people weaving in and out through this narrow street that runs parallel to the water. This is the perfect location to grab lunch or a snack if you didn’t already eat in the gardens.
Guanqian Street
This street is equally as crazy but in a different way. Guanqian street is where you come for actual shopping in Suzhou. It’s half a mile long and lined with mostly clothing stores. While I tend to avoid clothes shopping when travelling, I stopped at a few to pick up some wonderful Chin-glish T-shirts. The amusing translations on so many slogan T’s means window shopping provides endless hours of entertainment. (Tempted to do a separate blog dedicated to all of them!)
Return to Shanghai or grab dinner
From the end of Guanqian Street I caught the metro back to Suzhou Station at about 5pm as I had to catch my flight home that night. If you can spend longer in Suzhou or don’t fancy the shopping street, there are plenty more gardens to be explored.
Warning: I didn’t book my return train ticket because I wanted to be flexible on my timings. When I got to the station at 5:30, the next available train was 8pm!!! Luckily I was able to skip some final Shanghai plans to make up the lost time and avoid missing my flight, but if you have a tight schedule book the return in advance.
