3 Days Shanghai Private Tour with Excursion to Suzhou

Summary

DAY 1 Shanghai: Yuyuan Garden, Shanghai Bazaar, Jinmao Tower, Shanghai Bund, Old French Concession
DAY 2 Shanghai--Suzhou by Bulle Train: Lingering Garden, Hanshan Temple, Panmen Gate, Shantang Street, Suzhou No.1 Silk Mill
DAY 3 Suzhou: Tongli Water Town

DAY 1

In the morning, our tour guide will pick you up at your hotel in Shanghai, you will find a welcome signage "Shanghai Private Tour". And your Shanghai Suzhou tour start.

Our Shanghai Pick Up Sign "Shanghai Private Tour"

Your first destination is Yuyuan Garden. Yuyuan Garden is an extensive Chinese garden located beside the City God Temple in heart of the old city of Shanghai. Yuyuan Garden is near a famous old tea house with a zigzag bridge, is one of the best gardens in China. The garden was originally made, in 1559, for a retired scholar-administrator, but has often been damaged and rebuilt. Many of the garden features are excellent: the dragon wall, the moon gate, the long roofed corridor-bridge and a brilliant collection of garden windows and doors. The artificial mountain, made of yellow rocks, is thought to survive from the original design and to be the work of Zhang Nanyang.

Next to Shanghai Bazaar. It is used to be a City God Temple located in the south of Yuyuan Garden. But now it is a street, called Miaoqian Street, is an old business street that has a combination of tourist attractions, shops, entertainment and cultural exhibits. It owes its special social attractions and rich commercial background to the fact that the earliest bank, gold shop, jeweler's store, wine shop and tea house of Shanghai were all to be found here.

Later, cotinue your tour to Shanghai Jinmao Tower.  Shanghai Jinmao Tower is also known as the Jinmao Building or Jinmao Tower, is an 88-story (93 if counting the floors in the spire) landmark skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai, China. It is 420.5 metres (1,380 feet) tall and is one of the tallest buildings in the world. It contains a shopping mall, offices and the Grand Hyatt Shanghai hotel, which at the time of completion was the highest hotel in the world. Along with the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower it is part of the Lujiazui skyline seen from the Bund. Taking the elevator to the 88-storey Observation Deck of Jinmao Tower to have a bird's eye view of Huangpu River.

Continue your tour to Shanghai Bund. The Bund is a legendary waterfront located on the western bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. 'Bund' means embankment. Originally the Bund ran from Suzhou Creek in the north down to Jinling Lu. The Bund is famous for its grand, Western-style buildings that were built in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. The buildings feature architectural styles from Neoclassical to Beaux-Arts to Gothic to Baroque.

Your final stop is Old Frech Concession. was a foreign concession in Shanghai from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The concession came to an end in 1943 when the French State under German pressure signed it over to the pro-Japanese Reorganized National Government of China in Nanjing. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the premier residential and retail district of Shanghai, and was also one of the centres of Catholicism in China. Despite re-development over the last few decades, the area retains a distinct character, now it's tree-lined avenues and their many Tudor mansions still retain an air of the "Paris of the East" is a popular tourist destination in Shanghai.

After the tour ends, drive you back to your hotel.

DAY 2

After breakfast, drive you to Shanghai train station for your train to Suzhou, it takes around 30 minutes from Shanghai to Suzhou. Our Suzhou local tour guide will pick you up at the exit of the train station, you will find a welcome signage "Suzhou Private Tour". 

Our Suzhou Pick Up Sign "Suzhou Private Tour"

Your Suzhou tour will start with the Lingering Garden. Known for stunning architecture, Lingering Garden in the historic city of Suzhou, is among the best-preserved gardens in the city, and one of the four most famous in China — the others being the Humble Administrator's Garden, also in Suzhou, Beijing's Summer Palace and the Chengde Mountain Resort. The garden spans more than 23,000 square meters, and originally served as a classical private garden, with magnificent halls, various buildings and lush grounds that visitors can enjoy today.

Explore the Hanshan temple's charm. Hanshan Temple is situated three miles (about five kilometers) from Fengqiao Old Town in Suzhou.  it presents the architectural style of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It includes the Grand Prayer Hall, Sutra-Collection Building, Bell Tower, Fengjiang Pavilion and Tablets Corridor, etc. There are many more historical relics in the temple, such as the statue of Han Shan, the stone tablet inscription of the poem A Night Mooring Near Maple Bridge. This Hanshan Buddhist temple is also known for its large bells, unique black roof and domed bridge. Take a wander around its halls, pavilions, corridors and well-maintained gardens. A good place to let your mind and body rest.

Later, take in the sights at Panmen Gate. Standing at the southwest corner of the ancient city Suzhou, Panmen Gate has multiple ancient sites and humane landscape. The central courtyard in the layout "one pool and three hills" as that in traditional classic gardens has integrated ancient refined buildings, water town appearances, hills, pools, pavilions and lake landscape. It is the only ancient city gate site existed in Suzhou, and also the only city gate linked with both water and land existing in China. It has become a particular historic and cultural tourist resort in Suzhou.

Take a stroll on Shantang Street. Shantang Street was one of the streets which trade and culture were most highly developed in Ming and Qing dynasties, regarded as "the No.1 Ancient Street in China". There is a folk song, singing "There is a paradise in heaven, but there are Suzhou and Hangzhou on the earth. Hangzhou has the West Lake while Suzhou has Shantang. Both are good places with boundless sceneries", which is the vivid image of Shantang.

Then you'll head to Suzhou No.1 Silk Facotry. It was built in Suzhou in 1926 and divided into three parts: the exhibition hall which showsthe history of Suzhou silk and some ancient collections; the working spot, where you can see how the silk is made; and the product exhibition hall, exhibiting the main products of this factory, the silk wadding quilts. The factorygains a good reputation in the silk industry for its complete technical process of silkworm raising, cocoon sorting,cocoon boiling, and silk reeling, rewinding and packing. Suzhou first silk mill provides magic silk production and fashion show the whole process, so as to prove the Chinese silk glorious history. At the same time,it also describes the history of the development of Chinese silk response which further profound Chinese culture.In this factory you can not only see how the silk is processed from worm to the final product, but also learn some histories of silk in China.

After the tour ends, drive you to your hotel in Suzhou, our tour guide will help you check in.

DAY 3

Today in the morning, our tour guide will meet you at your hotel lobby and transfer you to Suzhou Tongli Water Town (around 1.5 hours).

Residential House: Tongli Water Town deserves its name of a "museum of ancient architectures" as there are many homes and temples dating from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Designed along the riverside and embellished with carved windows, porcelain furniture, figured clay bricks, flying eaves, dapper gardens and tiny stairs leading all the way down to the water, these complexes named Tongli Water Town could be a shining pearl among the water townships south of Yangtze.

Retreat and Reflection (Tuisi) Garden: designed by the retired official Ren Lansheng throughout 1885 and 1887, is that the most spectacular in Tongli Water Town. Its name, Tuisi, suggests being meditative upon the previous faults when away from officialdom. The ingenious style for Tuisi Garden conforms to the native landforms and conditions and covers 700 square meters. Compact and harmonious, the garden is made from two parts. The garden within the east has verandas, ponds, waterside pavilions, Marble Boats, halls, kiosks, rockeries and bridges. 

In conjunction with flourishing trees and colorful flowers the garden greets guests with its beauty and charm regardless of the season. The residential area to the west consists of an outer house and inner house together with the tea hall, the sedan hall, 2 buildings forming the particular dwelling and a main reception hall.

Ancient Bridge: Taiping Bridge was built in 1747 during the Qing dynasty. Changqing Bridge, also named Guangli Bridge, was rebuilt by Xiezhen in the Ming dynasty. Siben Bridge, built in the Southern Song dynasty, is the oldest bridge in Tongli town. Dubu Bridge, 5 feet in length and 3 feet in width, is the smallest bridge in the town.As a character of Tongli, these ancient bridges today is reputed as the witness of the history, telling the story of the past.

Free on your own for a while and you will be transferred back to your hotel or train station in Suzhou.

Price Per Person in US Dollars