Best Suzhou Tours
Top Suzhou Attractions
More Things to Do
Praised as the 'Oriental Venice', Suzhou features a scenic water town with numerous ponds and streams. Our exquisite private Suzhou tour package will enthrall you with the unique and lingering charm of its city landscape, especially the fantastic gardens, which have high reputation for their tranquil beauty, featured landscapes and delicate architecture. Besides touring in Suzhou city, you will also have side trips to Hangzhou, Tongli and Zhouzhuang water towns to explore the traditional towns in east China.
Best Private Suzhou Tours
144-Hour Visa-Free Transit Policy
China's 144-hour visa free transit policy makes a layover in Shanghai and its surroundings without a visa much easier than ever before. This policy gives travelers from 53 countries or regions the ability to visit the Shanghai Municipality, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province for up to 144 hours with a visa exemption. This makes it easy to visit great places like Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and water towns like Wuzhen, Zhouzhuang and Tongli. We can help you plan your layover tour to meet your interest.
What are the things to do in Suzhou?
Visit Suzhou Gardens
What makes Suzhou an attractive place for many travelers is the city's classical gardens. It is nicknamed the City of Gardens for possessing more than 60 gardens. Some of the best well-known are the Blue Wave Pavilion, Lion Grove Garden, Humble Administrator's Garden and the Lingering Garden. These four gardens respectively show the artistic styles of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Often two or three gardens are sufficient for most visitors although each of them has its own features. If you are keen on architecture, history and scenery, Suzhou Gardens won't disappoint you.
Enjoy the performance in the garden
Learning Tai Chi in Suzhou
Explore the Water Towns in Southern China
When traveling to cities in the Yangtze River Delta, a trip to one of the ancient water towns is well worth experiencing. One can enjoy the old streets, antique residential houses, charming waterscape, various bridges and traditional folk customs.
Some of the most popular water towns are Tongli, Nanxun, Zhouzhuang, Luzhi, Wuzhen and Xitang. Though built hundreds or even over one thousand years ago, these water towns have integrally retained their original style and historical charm. Only a short distance from Suzhou, any of these water towns makes a very good choice for a day-trip.
Some of the most popular water towns are Tongli, Nanxun, Zhouzhuang, Luzhi, Wuzhen and Xitang. Though built hundreds or even over one thousand years ago, these water towns have integrally retained their original style and historical charm. Only a short distance from Suzhou, any of these water towns makes a very good choice for a day-trip.
Water Town | Trip Distance | Main Features |
---|---|---|
Tongli | 40 minutes | Ideal to see garden-style architectures and stone bridges in a laid-back atmosphere |
Xitang | 1 hour 15 minutes | The largest one which is abounding with old bridges, lanes and waterside corridors |
Zhouzhuang | 1 hour | Rich in cultural landscape, the earliest developed and most popular one |
Nanxun | 1 hour 15 minutes | Most tranquil, ancient buildings of Ming & Qing Dynasties, as well as western style architecture |
Wuzhen | 1.5 hours | The liveliest, ride a small boat with black awning, amazing night views |
Luzhi | 50 minutes | The smallest, less touristy, tranquil atmosphere permeates the place |
Visiting a water town may take you back to the ancient time of China
Travel to Famous Cities via High-speed Trains
The advanced high-speed rail network enables people to travel by train from Suzhou to the famous cities like Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing and others from 30 minutes to 2 hours. If you have ample time, you may also extend your private Suzhou tour to these cities based on your interests.
Destinations | High Speed Trains | Travel Time |
---|---|---|
Shanghai | G7213, G7029, G7211, G7031... 93 departures from 06:37 to 22:22 |
25m - 46m |
D3125, D2281, D3135, D3025... 22 departures from 05:27 and 22:43 |
28m - 59m | |
Hangzhou | G7581, G7355, G7587, G7591... 11 departures from 08:28 to 17:28 |
1h32m - 2h04m |
D3125, D2281, D3135, D3141 4 departures from 08:03 to 13:36 |
1h45m - 2h10m | |
Nanjing | G7072, G7032, G7076… 87 departures from 06:17 to 22:18 |
1h12m - 1h57m |
D636, D2206, D3072... 23 departures from 06:46 to 23:41 |
1h15m - 1h59m | |
Beijing | D312, D314 at 19:58 and 21:54 | 11h01m - 11h09m |
Xian | D306 at 23:41 | 10h25m |
What is the best time to visit Suzhou?
Best time to visit: March to May & September to October
Suzhou has a subtropical monsoon climate with four distinct seasons. The weather is often mild and moist, neither too hot nor very cold. As the seasons change, Suzhou Gardens greet visitors with different beauty. The exquisite garden architecture coupled with blooming flowers in spring, lush green trees in summer, glorious colors in autumn and silver-coated scene in winter will bring you an unforgettable travel experience.
Suzhou has a subtropical monsoon climate with four distinct seasons. The weather is often mild and moist, neither too hot nor very cold. As the seasons change, Suzhou Gardens greet visitors with different beauty. The exquisite garden architecture coupled with blooming flowers in spring, lush green trees in summer, glorious colors in autumn and silver-coated scene in winter will bring you an unforgettable travel experience.
Welcome to Suzhou!
- 4.728 ReviewsMexicoPosted on May 07, 2021We just had a superb Suzhou tour and felt that we got the value of the money.
Suzhou was a picturesque city and full of leisure atmosphere. Our guide was a great English speaker and introduced this city and scenic spots we visited in detail.
Also, she tried her best to meet our needs and was open to all questions. We all felt pleasured with her company.DenmarkPosted on March 05, 2021Every day of this 2-day tour, we were seeing exciting new things. The time was utilized perfectly in our opinion. We loved the Humble Administrator's Garden and would strongly recommend it to anyone going to Suzhou.
It stood out as quite different from everything we saw and we do have memories that last a long time. The only thing we wanted to complain about was that we'd like to have more lunch time to choose a great restaurant.IrelandPosted on November 16, 2020We had a reasonable schedule and attentive and satisfactory service form TCG team. Suzhou gardens were really elegant and peaceful, and each of them had its unique highlight.
The Humble Administrator’s Garden was the largest and most renowned one in Suzhou while the Master of Nets Garden was the smallest with a perfect miniature landscape in a limited space.
All in all, this tour experience helped us learn more about classic Chinese gardens and they were all good places to relax and rest! A fruitful journey full of happiness! ... More