East China · 7 days
Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou & the Water Towns: A 7-Day Jiangnan Route
The three cities that make a first trip to eastern China, plus the thing most itineraries skip: a night in a water town, after the day coaches have gone. Seven days is enough for both if you plan the transfer days properly.
The route
What this trip actually feels like
- The Humble Administrator’s Garden at opening, before the queue
- A night in a water town after the day groups leave — Zhouzhuang, Tongli or Wuzhen
- West Lake at dawn from the Broken Bridge
- Shanghai’s Shikumen lanes and the old city with a private guide
Best for
- Travellers who have been to Beijing and want the southern half of China
- Anyone who wants gardens, canals and a lake in one trip
- Families looking for a route with variety but no long transfer days
Along the way
The places this route passes through
Day by day
The plan, as it would actually run
Arrive Shanghai, the Bund at first light tomorrow
Arrive at Pudong (PVG) or Hongqiao (SHA). The airport express from Pudong reaches the Bund in about an hour. Check in and keep the afternoon light — a walk along Suzhou Creek, the Rockbund, and the old warehouses. Eat early; the first Shanghai dinner sets the tone for the trip.
- Morning
- Airport arrival and transfer
- Afternoon
- Suzhou Creek and the Rockbund
- Evening
- First dinner — Shanghainese
- Meals
- Dinner included
Night 1 Aman Yangyun
Note. If you land late, move this walking route to Day 2 rather than compressing it. Shanghai in a rush is the wrong city to rush.
The Bund, Yu Garden and the old city
Be on the Bund promenade before 7am, before the tour groups. Then cross to Yu Garden and the bazaar lanes, the Old City God Temple and the city wall, and finish in the French Concession with the Wukang Road and the Shikumen lanes. A private guide for the old city and the lanes for three hours is the single best-value hour of the trip.
- Morning
- The Bund at dawn, Yu Garden and the bazaar
- Afternoon
- Old City God Temple and the city wall
- Evening
- French Concession and Shikumen alleys
- Meals
- Breakfast included
Night 2 Aman Yangyun
Note. Come back to the Bund after dark. The lit facades and the mood are completely different from the daytime.
The Suzhou gardens, opened early
The Humble Administrator’s Garden opens at 7:30 and is empty for the first hour. Take a private guide to two gardens — the Humble Administrator’s plus either the Lion Grove or the Lingering Garden — and finish with a lunch on a canal boat. The afternoon is for the Pingjiang Road waterway and the silk workshops.
- Morning
- Humble Administrator’s Garden at opening
- Afternoon
- Rail to Suzhou, check in, second garden
- Evening
- Pingjiang canal boat and dinner
- Meals
- Breakfast included · Dinner included
Night 3 The Ritz-Carlton Suzhou
Note. Enter through the Humble Administrator’s Garden and leave via the Suzhou Museum, which sits inside the same complex.
A second garden, then a water town overnight
A morning at the Lingering Garden, with a guide who can explain what the planting and the borrowed scenery are doing. Afternoon transfer to a water town — Zhouzhuang for the preserved layout, Tongli for the quiet, Wuzhen for the atmosphere. Stay overnight: the difference between 4pm and 7am is the difference between a tour group and an empty stone bridge.
- Morning
- Lingering Garden with a guide
- Afternoon
- Transfer to the water town
- Evening
- Overnight in the water town, dinner included
- Meals
- Breakfast included · Dinner included
Note. Overnight is what makes a water town worth the trip. Everything about it changes after the coaches leave.
Dawn in the water town, then Hangzhou
Up early for the town at dawn, breakfast by the canal, then the train to Hangzhou. Check in and go straight out to West Lake — the Broken Bridge, the Bai Causeway and a boat to the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon. The lake is best at dawn; if you arrive mid-afternoon, walk the West Lake Causeway at sunset instead.
- Morning
- Dawn in the water town, rail to Hangzhou
- Afternoon
- West Lake: Broken Bridge, Causeway, boat
- Evening
- Lakeside dinner
- Meals
- Breakfast included · Dinner included
Night 5 Amanfayun
Note. Public bicycles line the causeway if you want a slower circuit of the lake.
Lingyin Temple and the tea hills
Early to Lingyin Temple and the Feilai Feng grottoes, then into the Longjing tea fields above the lake. Most visitors have never tasted longjing properly — arrange a tea house visit with a proper gongfu ceremony rather than a market tasting counter. The afternoon is free in the lakeside lanes.
- Morning
- Lingyin Temple and the Feilai Feng grottoes
- Afternoon
- Longjing tea fields and a tea house visit
- Evening
- Free evening, lakeside dinner
- Meals
- Breakfast included
Night 6 Amanfayun
Note. Book the tea house for the morning and skip the tea market. The difference in quality and explanation is enormous for a small premium.
Departure, or an overnight in a Song-dynasty village
A last morning by the lake, then transfer to Hangzhou Xiaoshan (HGH) or Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA). If you have the time, extend by a night at a restored Song-dynasty village above the lake — twenty-seven houses, no other large hotel within a kilometre.
- Morning
- Last morning at West Lake
- Afternoon
- Transfer to the airport
- Evening
- Departure
- Meals
- Breakfast included
Note. Wuzhen is the most photogenic of the water towns and the most commercial. Zhouzhuang is the best preserved. Tongli is the quietest.
In pictures
Scenes from the Shanghai · Suzhou · Water Towns route
Where you sleep
Handpicked stays on this route
Aman · Ultra Luxury
Aman Yangyun
A relocated Ming-dynasty camphor tree and a collection of antique villas set inside a forest in Jing’an. Forty minutes from the Bund, and the most quietly spectacular hotel in Shanghai.
- Daily breakfast for each bedroom
- US$100 dining credit
- Room upgrade
- Early check-in and late checkout
From US$960 per night
Valid to 2026-12-31
Fairmont · Luxury
Fairmont Peace Hotel
The 1930s Sassoon House on the Bund, with the legendary Jazz Bar and a rooftop terrace facing the Pudong skyline. History is the selling point here, and it delivers.
- Stay 3, pay for 2
- Daily breakfast for two
- Room upgrade
- US$100 dining credit
From US$970 per night
Valid to 2026-12-31
Ritz-Carlton · Luxury
The Ritz-Carlton Suzhou
On the southern shore of Lake Tai, with the classical garden district on one side and the water on the other. The best-placed hotel for the Suzhou gardens.
- Stay 3, pay for 2
- Room upgrade
- Daily breakfast for two
- US$100 hotel credit
From US$1,060 per night
Valid to 2026-12-31
Four Seasons · Luxury
Four Seasons Hotel Suzhou
A walled garden hotel in the Jinji Lake district with four separate gardens, each with its own pool — the calmest Suzhou option, away from the canal crowds.
- Daily breakfast for two
- US$100 dining or spa credit
- Room upgrade
- Early check-in and late checkout
Rate on request
Valid to 2026-12-31
Aman · Ultra Luxury
Amanfayun
A restored hillside village of Song-dynasty dwellings in the tea fields above West Lake. Twenty-seven houses, one village — and no two rooms alike.
- Daily breakfast for two
- Room upgrade
- US$100 dining credit
- Early check-in and late checkout
From US$960 per night
Valid to 2026-12-31
Practicalities
The things to get right before departure
Visa and entry
A mainland visa is required. All three cities and the water towns are in the standard visa-on-arrival eligible list for most Western passports.
Getting between the cities
Shanghai Hongqiao to Suzhou takes 25 to 40 minutes; Suzhou to Hangzhou about 1 hour 40 minutes. The water towns sit on the same rail lines — Tongli on the Suzhou–Shanghai route, Zhouzhuang on the Shanghai–Nanjing line — so no car is needed, though a driver gives more freedom for a combined town-and-village day.
Questions
Asked by travellers on this route
How many days do you need for Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou?
Seven days is the comfortable minimum — three in Shanghai, one night in Suzhou, one in a water town and one in Hangzhou. Five days works only if you drop either Suzhou or Hangzhou, and then you lose the gardens or the lake.
Is an overnight in a water town worth it?
More than anything else on this route. The towns are popular domestic destinations, and by the time the day coaches leave, the stone bridges and the canal lanes belong to whoever stayed. It is the difference between a busy attraction and a quiet place.
Which water town should we choose — Zhouzhuang, Tongli or Wuzhen?
Zhouzhuang for the best-preserved layout and the famous stone bridges, Tongli for quiet and photography, Wuzhen for the atmosphere and the evening lights. All three are on the rail line and easy to reach.
Should we take the high-speed rail or drive between Shanghai and Suzhou?
Rail. It takes 25 to 40 minutes, trains run constantly, and it drops you in the centre. A car makes sense only if you want to add a second town or a silk farm on the way.
Is West Lake worth two half-days?
One full morning is enough if you go early, and it should be early. The lake is a place to be rather than a list of sights, and the early light and the absence of crowds are the whole point.