day trip from Shanghai
 

We'll be in Shanghai for enough days in Sept. that I wanted to do a day trip to Suzhou, and an overnight stay at Hangzhou. Someone told me the two places are similar and I should consider something else instead of Suzhou. I had thought Suzhou would be unique because of it being a "water town" and because of the gardens. Comments? Alternatives that are no more than a couple of hours away by train?

Thanks for your help.

I have heard it is nice and was told to go there when I use to spend so much time in Shanghai.

I have heard the water town is nice and was told to go there when I use to spend so much time in Shanghai. Never made as I was working so much and usually stayed out until 5 or so in the morning on Ma Ming Lo street (spelling incorrect) on weekends when I got off of work at 2:00am.

We just signed up for a day-trip at our hotel with a local tour company.

Suzhou is really not a watertown, even though it's close the Taiwu Lake, and the Grand Canal passes close to it. The main sights of Suzhou are its classic garden. It also has pretty intact city walls with no highrise inside the old city. It's also famous for its silk knit centers.

There are several watertowns near Suzhou, and between Suzhou and Shanghai that are quite interesting.

Hangzhou is quite different from Suzhou. Its main sites are around the very large West Lake - with temples, monasteries and other classic buildings, as well as parks.

You won't find the Suzhou gardens anywhere else, but beware of crowds at the most popular two or three. If crowd is a problem, go to one of the lesser known ones.

I went to the river town Zhujaijiao outside of Shanghai. It is called "The Venice of the East." We were pretty disappointed. It was so commercial that you just want to groan. It is again a narrow gauntlet of merchants, trinkets "lady, lady" and the ubiquitous pork hocks (who eats all those thousands of pork hocks on the tourist trail anyway?)

Maybe other water villages are better, but my guess is that they are pretty much the same. Spending a whole day by the time you get there, walk around and get back to your point of origin, the day is shot.

Save yourself a trip. Take a look at the pictures in my album to see what a river town looks like, and then spend the day instead going to the "new" Shanghai, which is amazing. Take a ride to the suberbs and see where the expats and the new upper middle Chinese live. Go to the top of the Pearl Tower and look around. Sit in a cafe on Nanjing Road and watch the youngsters walk by in their outlandish outfits. Gain an understanding of where this city/country is going. Make certain to visit the building that houses the massive city plan.

However, if you have already seen all of Shanghai, then it might be a good side trip. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about Hangzhou to give you any alternatives from that location.

That is my two cents. The only thing I would have changed on my entire three week trip is skipping the "water village"

Here are the river town pictures if you have interest:

http://photos.yahoo.com/guchinatrip

(water town is folder "1A")

There are many, many of these water towns near Shanghai, each labeling themselves the 'Venice of the east'. Unfortunately, by the time you hear of one, it's likely to be a fairly commercialized experience. I visited Zhouzhuang years ago and it was already getting to be that way. I can't imagine what it's like now. The trick is trying to find one that hasn't been turned into a theme park like village. If you can get past those aspects, you may still find it quite picturesque.

BTW Suzhou isn't considered a water town. It's a much larger city that's well known for its gardens.

Zhouzhuang is certainly commercialised, although we spent a pleasant enough afternoon there. By the time we'd been ripped off by a local restaurant and had a loud but losing fight with the Zhouzhuang Hotel's obstinately unhelpful staff our mood had soured and we were feeling nostalgic for Suzhou.

Of course Suzhou has been tarted up for the tourist trade, but we enjoyed walking around the old town and visiting the Garden of the Master of Nets. It was during the October holiday week, but the crowds weren't too bad, and we liked Shiquan Jie, a lively shopping-eating-drinking street.

Suzhou is good for an overnight stay but make Zhouzhuang, if you go, a day trip.

I'm with BostonHarbor though - there's plenty to see in Shanghai. It's a young city by Chinese standards but it has has a fascinating 20th-century history (I think) as the centre of Western imperialism in China, a cradle of revolution (not unrelated) and now the face of rampant Chinese capitalism. Don't miss the National Museum at Renmin Park. I also liked the little museum in the house which housed the first national congress of the CCP, and the former residences of Zhou Enlai and Dr Sun Yatsen are also worth a brief visit.