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Suzhou and Zhouzhuang Water Village Day Trip from Shanghai: Experience Centuries-Old Chinese Culture
3.7
417 Ratings
Suzhou
Visit two picturesque Chinese towns, Suzhou and Zhouzhuang on a day trip from Shanghai. You’ll see how daily life has remained unchanged over the centuries in these unique old towns. Visit the Suzhou’s magnificent gardens, feast on a Chinese lunch and travel through Zhouzhuang’s waterways on a Chinese-style gondola.
Visit two picturesque Chinese towns, Suzhou and Zhouzhuang on a day trip from Shanghai. You’ll see how daily life has remained unchanged over the centuries in these unique old towns. Visit the Suzhou’s magnificent gardens, feast on a Chinese lunch and travel through Zhouzhuang’s waterways on a Chinese-style gondola.
Duration:
10 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
-
Master-of-Nets Garden - Suzhou is one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze basin, founded in about 600 B.C. With its interconnected waterways and beautiful environment, the city is often referred as “The Venice of the East”.
The gardens embody the harmonious principles of Chinese garden construction, which dictate that gardens should attempt to…
- Master-of-Nets Garden - Suzhou is one of the oldest towns in the Yangtze basin, founded in about 600 B.C. With its interconnected waterways and beautiful environment, the city is often referred as “The Venice of the East”.
The gardens embody the harmonious principles of Chinese garden construction, which dictate that gardens should attempt to create a microcosm of the universe in a confined space. Net Master Garden is the best and most celebrated as a model Ming Dynasty Garden in all of Suzhou.
- Jinghang Waterway - The Grand Canal starts in Beijing, pass by Suzhou, and ends in Hangzhou. It is over 1,000 kilometers from the North China to South China, which is known as a miracle in the world.
- Panmen Gate - Panmen Gate is one of the oldest “ancient city walls” left in Suzhou, with the history over 1000 years. You will have the chance to picture it by Grand Canal.
- Suzhou Silk Museum - Suzhou No. 1 Silk Mill is world wide known for its silk products, with the Silk Museum in its workshop. It is your chance to purchase the traditional Chinese silk products.
- Zhouzhuang Water Town - With the reputation of No. 1 water village in the world, Zhouzhuang is well known for its beautiful environment and simple architecture, well preserved for over 900 years. The majority of the town’s residences were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and nearly 100 classic courtyards and 60 carved-brick archways are still in use.
Boat tour is also included in the water village.
- Zhouzhuang Boat - You will visit the water town of Zhouzhuang and board a Chinese-style gondola to cruise the waterways of the town. In this water village, locals live life on waterways, still doing everyday activities from washing clothes to shopping from vendors in boats.
What's Included
- Scenic boat tour in the picturesque water village
- Knowledgeable English-speaking tour guide
- Delicious lunch included
- Comfortable travel with in-vehicle air conditioning
- All admission tickets provided
- Convenient hotel pickup and drop off in the city center
- Scenic boat tour in the picturesque water village
- Knowledgeable English-speaking tour guide
- Delicious lunch included
- Comfortable travel with in-vehicle air conditioning
- All admission tickets provided
- Convenient hotel pickup and drop off in the city center
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Gratuities
Additional Information
- This is a Shared Tour - 3 people are needed as a minimum to proceed with the tour.
- This is a Shared Tour - 3 people are needed as a minimum to proceed with the tour.
Location
Master-of-Nets Garden
No.11 Kuojiatou Alley, Daichengqiao Road, Canglang District,
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.7
(417 Ratings)
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Vacation14939812086
Nov 9, 2024
It was a good day spent on the road - We enjoyed the entire trip. Get ready for a lot of traffic coming and going out of Shanghai, but it’s a good way to see rural China in the eyes of the water village.
We felt the trip was well planned with a lot of things to see on Suzhou, the garden is incredible and the silk museum is worth it to learn some silk making and buy some real silk products.
Our guide Elena was with us the whole time explaining about history and sights we were seeing.
Lunch was actually good, would prefer to have it in the water village though.
We wish we had more time to spend in the water village.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Charjimkeeton
Sep 29, 2024
Very nice day - Water village was very good. A little more time to explore the site would have been nice. The guide could have provided a little more information and spoken a little louder. Overall, a very good experience, and recommended.
Review provided by Viator
Rick_y
Jun 10, 2024
Great day trip out of Shanghai - Despite the dreary weather, my family had a great day trip out of Shanghai to check out these two spots. Our guide was quite knowledgeable and shared interesting stories about everything we saw. Besides the sights, we were also brought to a silk factory where we learnt about the process of making silk products. Also included was an authentic Suzhou-style meal.
Review provided by Viator
Zohaib_p
May 25, 2024
Great experience and contrast to Shanghai - Tom was a great tour guide and very knowledgeable and engaging. Highly recommended in terms of scenery.
Review provided by Viator
Emma_m
Mar 5, 2024
Great - The tour guide and zhouzhuamg were amazing. I wish we could have also called in at the temple instead of the silk factory xx
Review provided by Viator
Claire_h
Jun 23, 2024
water village was the highlight of my stay in China - It was great to get away from the glass and steel towers of Shanghai and see the real beauty of Chinese gardens. The highlight was the water village, despite being busy it still felt peaceful and unspoiled.
Review provided by Viator
Stephanie_d
May 20, 2024
Good, however could have planned more around traffic - Overall the tour was good, quite informative. We ended up spending a lot of time on the road due to traffic. Lunch was pre-ordered, though we would have preferred to have more of a say as there were one or two dishes that was not eaten, thus wasting food.
Review provided by Viator
Joseph_b
Apr 30, 2024
Great time - The guide was totally awesome with great knowledge, personality, and excellent English. I would like less time at silk factory and more at river village. Maybe skip silk factory
Review provided by Viator
Zoltán
Mar 3, 2025
Trip to Suzhou and water village - That was a bad decision. The tour guide didn't even introduce himself, he was like a military officer. The Suzhou program was quite incomprehensible. Lunch is a disaster. There were plenty of nice restaurants in the water village, it wouldn't have been more expensive, but even in Suzhou they took me to a restaurant on the ground floor of a block of flats. The guide wasn't even willing to ask for a beer - we pay for it, of course - but he didn't offer language help either. I do not recommend this service at all!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nicholashn6346eg
Jan 10, 2025
Refused refund - I don't know how the trip was exactly because the tour operator refused to pick me up from my hotel.
I was not informed that they wouldn't service my hotel, which is on the way from shanghai to the first destination, until the night before I was booked to go, meaning that I was unable to cancel my booking through trip advisor and get a refund. I believe they must do this on purpose in order to catch people out.
They also were dishonest to me and said it was impossible for them to cancel the booking on their end. I went through tripadvisor customer service and they contacted the operator who refused to give a refund. So they lied, they could absolutely give a refund, they just didnt want to. Very unprofessional.
Maybe some people get lucky and it all works out with this operator, but I would not trust them.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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