This full-day exploration of Suzhou City and ZhouZhuang Water Village starts at 8:30 from your hotel or cruise terminal in Shanghai, where your private guide will pick you up and head to Suzhou. The first stop of the day will be the Master-of-Nets Garden. It is the smallest one of the Suzhou residential gardens but is considered as one of the most impressive ones in town. Its unique design, ethereal beauty, and enduring cultural significance have seen it proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Pan Gate was the only entrance to the wall that surrounded ancient Suzhou. It is so famous for its complex of both land and water city gates that many times, people directly refer to it as the "Land and Water Gate".
Afterward, head to the No.1 silk mill. At the factory, you will see complete production of silkworm raising, cocoon sorting, cocoon boiling, reeling, yarn spinning, and packing. Furthermore, at the product exhibition hall, you will see a collection of products produced by this factory.
Then you'll have lunch in a local Chinese restaurant near the Ancient Grand Canal. You will try some local dishes.
After lunch, you will be driven to ZhouZhuang Water Village. Wander about the heart of the village you will get a real feel for local life by the water and enjoy lovely scenes of white-washed houses, stone bridges and traditional-style houses by a boat ride.
Tom is knowledgble and very resourceful. The tour was arranged well with lots local stories amd recommondations. The local cruisine picked is tasty. We really enjoyed the tour.
This was a wonderful trip with Patrick who was the perfect guide and Joe our driver who moved us around safely and in comfort. Lunc was excellent too. ZhouZhuang was like being on a film set. I would recommend having the boat driver to sing, it made it even more magical. ❤️
We had a great day with Patrick and we felt comfortable and relaxed. He was knowledgeable therefore we enjoyed hearing the culture and history.
Tom provided a lot of valuable and interesting historical context to my visit to Suzhou and Zhouzhuang Water Village. Some of the historical stories are funny and smart. Tom introduced me to great street food during the tour. Definitely will do another tour with Tom next time I am in Shanghai.
Wonderful tour. Tom was an incredible guide. Great experience and wish we could do it all over again!
Great trip. Tom was very knowledgeable and considerate. My second time to both places (my wife’s first) and I still enjoyed it.
Tom was an excellent guide. He spoke great English, was very knowledgeable of the history and gave us great recommendations for Shanghai. Our lunch that was included was also very delicious. The car was clean and comfortable. The whole process was easy which gives you ease of mind when traveling.
We were picked up from our hotel by Mary and driver for our excursion to visit Suzhou and the ZhouZhuang water village. We also visited a silk museum which was very interesting. At ZhouZhuang we visited a couple of mansions and finished the tour there with a boat ride on the canals. This village was very picturesque. We were also shouted to lunch.
A great tour overall with highlights being the Master of the Nets Garden and boat ride through Zhouzhang village. Plenty of interesting information and experiences. Mary was a brilliant guide.
Brilliant day trip to Suzhou and Zhouzhuang water town with Mr Tom Zhang our English-speaking guide and driver. We started at 8:30am sharp from our hotel in Downtown Shanghai and returned by 5pm. Tom is fluent in English and is very knowledgable. Highly recommended.
Tom was a great tour guide who was very knowledgeable about the areas he showed us! All activities were planned to maximize the time we had.
We had a pleasant day tour from Shanghai. There were six of us. Tom, the owner, was our tour guide & there was a driver in addition. Tom was knowledgeable and shared interesting/good insights into the places we visited. He spoke very well in English and took care of us (restroom breaks, picture times, etc). He checked for any dietary restrictions for lunch. We wanted local cuisine, so he took us to a restaurant and ordered for us. Every single dish was very good. We will definitely go with Tom again when we return to Shanghai.
Great experience, a private tour with a knowledgeable guide, Peter. Thoroughly enjoyed. Great communication before the day so knew exactly what was expected.
This tour was excellent! Our driver, Tom, was prompt, spoke excellent English, and shared a wealth of information. The gardens in Suzhou were beautiful, lunch was delicious, and the water town was amazing! Highly recommend!
Fantastic tour. Our English speaking guide cum driver Roy was excellent. Roy provided brilliant commentary on the way and at the sites. He was very polite and answered all our questions. In Suzhou, The Master Of Nets Garden was really interesting and pretty as was the setting around the canal with traditional shops and restaurants. We learnt a lot about old Chinese culture. The stop at the Silk factory was ok and can be skipped. The bridges and canals of ZhouZhuang old water village are very picturesque. They do remind you of Venice. The boat ride was nice. The food at an excellent Suzhou restaurant was very good. The car was ok, the drive very comfortable and smooth. I highly recommend this tour and should be on the must do list in Shanghai.
This was one of the most delightful days I have had while traveling!! Peter, our guide, was incredible! He is a wealth of information and has fantastic conversational English. We went to a local restaurant for lunch; Peter ordered all his favorite dishes... DELICIOUS! The day had a magical, otherworldly feel to it. I would recommend this tour in a heartbeat! Ask for Peter!
We have been to Shanghai before and wanted to see more of the area this trip. Suzhou and ZhouZhuang were both beautiful cities and had interesting sites. Tom is an excellent guide and shared stories and information throughout the day. The added stop to the Silk Factory was nice and informative. Tom selected a very nice restaurant for lunch and had one of our favorite meals in China. The day was topped off by a boat ride in a canal and a singing oarswoman. The hour+ drive was worth every minute, we had a Great day.
Had a great day with my guide Roy - he explained all the history of the sites we visited as well as pointed out interesting buildings and sites on the drive to and from Shanghai. Both main sites are incredibly beautiful though a little crowded on the weekend (as expected). Lunch was in a very nice restaurant and all the dishes were tasty. Highly recommend if you have a free day in Shanghai!
The tour guide Roy is very nice, responsible and on time, he explained all the history story of different sightseeing spots for us and made us understand the city more. We went during CNY and everywhere was crowded. Our guide tried his very best to make all our itinerary on time and we had a great experience in Suzhou.
The tour guide and driver were very good and showed us a good time Suzhou was very interesting and the Watertown was fun and the lady who ran our boat sang for us
Roy was our tour guide. He was knowledgeable, caring and spoke good English. He took us to such a nice place for lunch ! the tour was pleasant and interesting thank you, Roy!
Jaimie, our tour guide was terrific. She was really knowledgeable, organized and thoughtful. She did a wonderful job showing us around, navigating the crowds, and telling us about the places we visited. Enjoyed learning so much from her. Driver was great, too.
Tom was our guide. Our first stop was this garden and the amount of knowledge he knew about it was unbelievable. He told us the deference in gardens of Civic, military and wealthy leaders of that day and how you could tell whose garden it was. He pointed out the seating arrangements of a room and where the most important person set and why. He explained why the windows were the shape that they were. He was a very knowledgeable guide. Absolutely loved learning as much as he could share. The silk factory was also great. I was really impressed to learn how much leaves a silk worm would eat. Tour was very informative and Tom was a great guide. Again, can't begin to tell you how great of a guide and how great of a tour it was.
Our guide, Leo, was very responsive to our interests, questions and needs. His English was great, sharing so much information and responding in detail to our questions. Our full day excursion was just what we needed. We highly recommend Leo.
Great day out at the water Village Went on the tour from Shanghai to the water Village by bus about 1.5hrs Boat ride to village with a historic tour of the town and lunch, lots of shops.
We had a great time touring around Suzhou and ZhouZhuang with Mark. We particularly enjoyed learning about the silk making process at the No. 1 Silk Mill. Lunch was also fantastic and Mark selected some amazing dishes and was very accommodating throughout the whole day. Would recommend this tour if you are looking to take a trip out of Shanghai.
We were staying in Shanghai for a couple of days and wanted to get out of the city and see some of the countryside. This was an awesome tour! We got exactly the trip as it was described and got the best guide, Tom Zhang. Tom has wonderful English skills! He is very knowledgeable about his country and obviously loves it. He picked us up right on time and was driving a very nice van. We toured in Suzhou and had a great tour of the silk factory. After lunch, we went to ZhouZhang. We walked along the canals and had a fun ride on a boat. It was a great relaxing afternoon in a beautiful part of China. Tom navigated the rush hour traffic and delivered us back to our hotel. We would highly recommend Tom and this tour. After this tour, we felt like we had made a new friend. Thank you, Tom, for a wonderful day!
Having a tour guide that looked after us in every way was a bonus. But when Bright sang in Chinese during our boat ride to remind us Venice - and then took us to a very small local café with freshly cooked food, we were spell bound and returned to the hotel knowing it was the best suggestion by Sharon at China Highlights.
Great day trip out of Shanghai with the guide, Tom. He was very knowledgeable, patient, and communicative. We learned so much about the history of SuZhou and ZhouZhuang Water Village and had an amazing time exploring the sites. Also, he brought us to a lunch place where they served delicious Chinese food that didn’t seem like just for tourists! I can’t recommend the trip enough to anyone!
We had an excellent time visiting SuZhou and ZhouZhuang areas with our guide Mark. Our day first started in the master of nets garden, here Mark took the time to explain different design aspects that make you feel like you are in the mountains by a lake rather than in a flat garden, very interesting 🙂 i will always remember the sad story of the tiger. Next we headed to the silk factory prior to this trip i knew nothing of how silk was made, it was a great experience seeing and touching the live silkworms, later there was a opportunity to buy items made of silk. Next was lunch and a walk through Suzhou while Mark explained the strategic significance of the various gates, much of which i would not have known without Mark. After Suzhou we headed to ZhouZhuang and after walking around the city we took a gondola ride and the got to see some work of the local artisans.
This was a great trip! Tom is a great guide and very knowledgeable on the history!!! Thanks for a fun day!!!
You know a wonderful culture amazing views our guide Jaime explained everything very well with a lot of culture
I was picked up directly from the hotel, then went to the ‘Nets Garden’. Tom our TourGuide knew a lot, especially the year who made history and when. It seemed a bit rushed. In the end we got 10 min alone and you can say that too. It's a really nice garden. Nice to look at, but don't find a place to linger forever. Afterwards we went to a canal/bank , was nice but if you have ever been to the Main also not much different. Then we went to a silk factory. I was given a private tour. With me was a married couple they got a tour in Spanish. Mine was in English. The tour was really cool and the products are mega! Would have liked to buy half the store empty, but unfortunately didn't have as much free weight left in the suitcase, so it only became smaller things, like tie and pillowcase. After that, we're out for dinner. That was super relaxed. Tom organized everything. You just had to sit down and eat. It was delicious. Then highlight the Zhouzhuang. You need your passport to enter and you had to buy the tickets at another location. Tom organized everything for us, though. We just had to give him the passport, 5 min later we got the passport again and then we drove on to the entrance from the water city. That's where we first took the boat trip. The city is really beautiful. After that we got another hour to stroll around free rather it went back at 4 pm. Shortly before 6pm I was back at the accommodation. On the whole a really successful day 😊
Super guide spoke good english! Nice tour. The silk factory was very interesting and you get a good picture of history china
Tom is an excellent Guide who made us have a very good day! I recommend if you want to learn more about local culture outside the big city
Wonderful day trip with Roy! Despite the rain it was a unique and fun day. Roy also knows a lot about the history, which makes it extra special.
The itinerary was very rich, and the beautiful garden of Master of Nets Garden was the first stop. Seeing the beauty of silk, Jiangsu Silk Factory naturally chose silk scarves and other products that I liked. I also experienced Suzhou food for lunch. Finally, we walked around Zhouzhuang, taking a boat through the town, as if we were returning to the tranquility hundreds of years ago. Our tour guide gave us very professional explanations and considerate care, allowing us to experience a wonderful one-day trip.
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