Shanghai & Hangzhou
 

Any recommendation for hotel stay in Shanghai and Hangzhou? Which tour agency is highly recommended for tours into Hangzhou or Suzhou?? We'll visit next month.

Don't know what your budget is but here are my recommendations (from personal experience):<BR>Shanghai: Grand Hyatt. The hotel is an experience all by itself. If you don't stay there, at least visit.<BR>Hangzhou: Shangri-La. Nice hotel, large rooms, great location across from the lake.

The Hyatt is very nice. It's located just across the river on the Pudong side and has convenient subway access to the Puxi side. Ask for a Bund view room. If you want to stay in the middle of busy, pedestrian Nanjing road, try the Sofitel Hyland (it's not in the same league as the Hyatt though).

Forgot to answer your agency question. The only tour agency (for day tours) that I've utilized and can recommend in Shanghai is Jin Jiang Optional tours. I found them in the Frommer's guide. You can read about their offerings here:<BR><BR>http://www.frommers.com/destinations/shanghai/0717023614.html<BR><BR>I don't know if they have any overnight tours though. For their group tours, they pick up at the Ritz Carlton, Jin Jiang, and one other hotel (can't remember which one now) so you'll need to get yourself to the pick up location. In addition, they offer the same tours on a private car basis. Hope this helps.

Les & Patty, Thank you so much for the info. It helps alot. We decide to spend 2 nights in Shangrila Hangzhou and rest in Shanghai (hotel not decide yet). Any suggestion how to head straight to Hangzhou upon arrival @ Shanghai Pudong Airport? How reliable is their train system? as we're considering taking train to Hangzhou.

Neo,<BR>While I can't give you any specific information about the train schedule from Shanghai to Hangzhou, my experience with train travel in China is that it's quite reliable (i.e., the trains run frequently, and on schedule). Hangzhou is fairly close to Shanghai, so the trip should be a short one.