Private All-Inclusive Suzhou Day Trip from Shanghai by Bullet Train

The Humble Administrator's Garden

Suzhou's classical gardens are listed by UNESCO, and the Humble Administrator's Garden is the largest and most celebrated of them. Laid out in the early sixteenth century during the Ming dynasty, it covers about five hectares, a third of it water, arranged in eastern, central and western sections. Pavilions, covered corridors and moon gates frame carefully composed views of ponds, lotus, rockeries of eroded lake stone and bamboo, and the pagoda of a nearby temple is borrowed into the scenery across the water.

Your guide explains how scholars designed these gardens as landscapes in miniature for reflection and poetry, and leaves you time to sit in a pavilion beside the central pond. Plan about one and a half hours. The garden is at its best early in the day, before the tour groups, which is one of the advantages of a private Suzhou tour.

Pingjiang Road by rickshaw

Pingjiang Road runs beside a canal through one of the best-preserved quarters of old Suzhou, where the street plan has barely changed in eight centuries. Whitewashed houses with black-tiled roofs line the water, stone bridges arch over the canal, and small lanes lead to tea houses, craft shops and courtyards.

Instead of tiring your feet, you ride through the quarter in a private rickshaw, watching local life along the water at a gentle pace, then stop for lunch on Pingjiang Road, which is included. Tell us your dietary needs when you book and we pass them to your guide, who can choose a suitable restaurant; Suzhou also has halal (qingzhen) eateries run by Hui families, so a halal lunch can be requested.

Panmen Gate and the old city walls

In the south-west corner of the old city, Panmen Gate is a rare surviving combined water and land gate, guarding both the road and the canal that once led boats into Suzhou. Its double gateways, the high arched Wumen Bridge and the slender Ruiguang Pagoda form one of the most photographed groups of monuments in the city.

Suzhou was founded more than two and a half millennia ago, and the gate shows how its walls and moats were designed for defence as well as trade. Your guide walks you through the gate and the park around it for about an hour, depending on your interest. It is a quieter stop than the gardens and gives a good feeling for the scale of the old city.

Shantang Street and the Grand Canal boat ride

Shantang Street, laid out in the ninth century, follows a canal north-west from the old city towards Tiger Hill. Its eastern end is lined with restored houses, bridges hung with red lanterns and small stalls selling local snacks, and in the evening the reflections on the water are especially pretty. You may hear pingtan, the soft sung storytelling of Suzhou, drifting from a tea house.

Your boat ride on the Grand Canal, the vast waterway that has linked north and south China for more than a thousand years and is now a World Heritage Site, shows Suzhou from the water, past old bridges, temples and waterfront homes. If you would rather visit Tiger Hill, the Master of the Nets Garden, the Lingering Garden or a silk mill instead of a stop, just ask your guide.

How to get to Suzhou from Shanghai by bullet train

How to get to Suzhou from Shanghai? The fastest way is the high-speed train, which takes about 30 minutes from Shanghai to Suzhou station, on the northern edge of the old city. Suzhou has no airport of its own, so most visitors make it a Suzhou day trip from Shanghai like this one. Your round-trip tickets are included, and your guide handles the ticket and passport checks at the stations.

Every train ticket in China is issued in the traveller's name, so bring your passport. Pickup is from hotels in central Shanghai, with start times between 08:00 and 09:20; hotels outside the centre meet the guide at a central point. The best time to visit Suzhou is spring and autumn, when the gardens are green or golden and the weather is mild.