bniemand

I’m in the process of finalizing an itinerary for a 2 week trip to China in September 2011… the first time to China for DH and me. I’ve read many, many trip reports – thank you to all who took the time to write them. We’ll visit Beijing (4 or 5 nights) and Xian (2 nights) in the beginning of the trip, then continue to Hangzhou (2 nights) and Shanghai (3 or 4 nights.)

I originally was thinking we’d take the high speed train to get from Hangzhou to Shanghai, and then while in Shanghai take a day trip to Suzhou or one of the other water towns. But now wondering if we could hire a driver/guide to pick us up in Hangzhou, drive us to a water town and show us around for a couple hours, then drive us to our hotel in Shanghai. Looking at the travel times on Google Maps it seems feasible and would give us more uninterrupted time once we get to Shanghai. (Google says Hangzhou to Suzhou 2.25 hrs, Suzhou to Shanghai 1.25 hrs, does this sound realistic?)

Potentially I think we could do Hangzhou - Suzhou - Shanghai on our own via train in one day, but we typically travel with too much luggage and I think dragging it around all day on our own and figuring out where to store it while touring the water town might suck the fun out of the day. I've kind of ruled this out but will keep an open mind if anyone has suggestions to make it work (please, no packing advice.)

So do you think this driver/guide idea makes sense? If so does anyone have recommendations on who to hire? Or would it be better to stick with the original plan of visiting a water town as a day trip out of Shanghai?

The other thing that’s occurred to me is maybe after seeing the water, gardens and pagodas in Hangzhou we’ll have had enough and we could just skip the water town visit altogether.

Your thoughts are appreciated!

bniemand

anyone?

HappyMom32

Suzhou and Tongli are easy day trips from Shanghai. It may be easier to settle in Shanghai and do day trips by D Train than hiring a car and driver with your luggage.

Shanghainese

I agree with the above, Suzhou and Tongli could even be done in one long day, and you could do a long day trip by train from Shanghai to Hangzhou too. A better plan is to work out an overnight trip to Hangzhou, or Suzhou/Tongli with your Shanghai hotel by leaving your luggage with them. Don't skip the watertown, it is different than the 2 cities.

bniemand

Thanks for your input. I do want to spend at least one night in Hangzhou so we can see the Impression West Lake show.

Maybe to give ourselves more time in Shanghai for daytrips we can cut a night from Beijing or Xian. It's challenging to finalize the number of nights in each city because the flight schedules for September are not final. I've been looking on C-Trip. How many months in advance do they finalize the flight times?

What is the best website to look at times for the high speed train from Hangzhou to Shanghai?

HappyMom32

You can check train schedules here

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/

rkkwan

If you have plenty of luggage, just use car/driver more and train less. Door to door is much better than hotel to train to hotel.

Marija

We enjoyed the high speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou but it did take us an hour by cab from the train station to West Lake. Traffic was unbelievable. Our hotel bought us the train tickets so it was very easy.

Shanghainese

C-Trip usually don't have the flight schedules more than 60 days out.

bniemand

Thanks everyone, this is all very helpful. Based on Marija's experience with the traffic I'm thinking the travel times I found on Google Maps are likely not realistic. However, if anyone can recommend a driver/guide in the area I'd like to email him and ask if my Hangzhou - Suzhou - Shanghai idea is feasible. rkkwan's comment about door to door is right on.

bniemand

Shanghainese, based on what you know about C-Trip maybe you can answer this question. When I enter my September date for a flight from Beijing to Xian, 10 or more flights appear, of course with the message about the schedule not being final. I am wondering how much the schedules will change between now and July.....will many of those flights disappear or will most of them still exist?

HappyMom32

I find that travelzen.com is more user friendly than C-trip and they don't charge 3% fee for using credit cards.

Shanghainese

They schedules don't change much or disappear, you just need to keep checking for final schedules at 60 days. You are traveling between cities who have very frequent flights, don't worry too much. If you can sleep on trains, you can consider taking the overnight train from Beijing to Xian, the subject has been frequently discussed on this board.

thursdaysd

Does the high-speed train to Hangzhou stop at a new station? I took the train from Shanghai to Hangzhou ON National Day in 2004 and the trip to a hotel very near the lake didn't take long at all. There was a long line at the station to get a taxi, but it moved very fast. I really would recommend longer for both Hangzhou and Suzhou (don't just visit the most well-known gardens, and don't miss the silk embroidery), and less time for Shanghai, unless you're a big fan of shopping or very modern architecture.

Also, not booking planes too far ahead has been extensively discussed here.

rkkwan

The new high-speed "G" trains terminate at the original Hangzhou Station.

The semi-highspeed "D" trains that head futher south stops at Hangzhou South.

bniemand

Thanks everyone for the additional info. HappyMom, I played with travelzen a bit and you're right, it is more friendly.

Thursday, I'm not planning on purchasing flights now, I'll likely wait til July or so. (I know many will still consider that to be early.) But I do want to attempt to nail down my itinerary, thus my questions about schedule changes. I've read many of threads related to this so I understand the pros/cons of booking early versus waiting.

And I am actually a big fan of shopping and modern architecture so I'm hoping to spend 2.5 or 3 days in Shanghai.

Basically I think my decision boils down to cutting down Beijing in order to allow time in Suzhou, and I'm not sure I want to rush Beijing. I may end up deciding Suzhou has to wait until the next trip. (I already have Hong Kong, Guilin, Lijiang and maybe Lhasa on the "next trip" list!)