China " Heaven on Earth": 5-Day Suzhou & Hangzhou Highilights Tour from Shanghai by train

Summary

DAY 1 Arrive in Shanghai
DAY 2 Shanghai to Hangzhou by High-speed train: Boat Ride on West Lake, Viewing Fish at Flower Park, Meijiawu Tea Village, Eighteen Imperial Tree, China National Tea Museum
DAY 3 Hangzhou: Lingyin Temple, Bamboo Lined Path at Yunqi, Six Harmonies Pagoda, Qinghefang Street
DAY 4 Hangzhou to Suzhou by High-speed Train: Cruising on the Grand Canal, Lingering Garden, Panmen Gate, Suzhou No.1 Silk Mill
DAY 5 Tongli Water Town Tour, Shanghai Departure

DAY 1 Arrive in Shanghai

Upon your arrival in Shanghai, our local Shanghai driver will pick you up at the exit of the airport, you will find a welcome signage "China Private Tour" and transfer you to your hotel directly. The rest of the day is free on your own to recover your jetlag.

DAY 2 Shanghai to Hangzhou by High-speed train

In the morning, our driver will take you to Shanghai train station and you will take high-speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. Upon arrival, our local hangzhou tour guide will pick you up at the exit of Hangzhou train station with a welcome sign"China Private Tour", then starts the Hangzhou day tour as below: 

First, taking a boat sailing on the picturesque West Lake. This is an enjoyable and relaxing way to appreciate the beautiful scenery with its islands, causeways, temples, pagodas and ornamental planting. Different from appreciating scenery on the bank of West Lake, you’ll enjoy the heavenly lake view in another angle, closer and closer. It is not surprised that you’ll become a part of this traditional Chinese painting. West Lake has an area of 5.6 square kilometers (2.2 square miles) and is the symbol of Hangzhou which lies on its banks and is a place of tranquility.

Later, move to the Fish Viewing at the Flower Pond(Huagang Park) , This spot is located at the southern end of Su Causeway. A clean stream flows from Huajia Hill to join West Lake here, and many flowers grow where the fresh water flows in, so it called "Flowery Harbor". This area now has been made into a 22 hectare (54 acre) park with many varieties of trees and flowers, featuring a peony garden and a goldfish pond which is the famous site for viewing fish.

Have your Lunch at the restaurant popular with the local people to stay away from the tourists' meals.( In china, do not go to the tourists's restaurants when you are on a tour. You shold go to the right place to have the meals, then you are in real china ). We give you the meal options as below:

Option 1: Lunch at Local Tea Farmer's House, to know the real life of the local people: And we also can organize tea farmers teach you how to prepare, cook local delicaies if you want to. You can learn how to cook: Beger's Chicken, Westlake carp in vinegar source (Do not be scared, no bones!!! Aha), Lotus root, bamboo shoot...and other many tasty vegetables )

Option 2: At the local restaurants which are popular with local people, such as Grandma's Kitchen, Green Tea Restaurants...And also fancy ones as well, 28 Hubin Road(Top 50 Best in Asia, Jinsha Restaurant in Four Seasons Hotel. We are the local, we are the sources. We know many excellent restaurants even not listed on Lonely Planet and some other travel guides.

After lunch, continue on your tour to visit the Meijiawu Tea Culture Village. Meijiawu Teaplantation has long been well known for its Longjing (Dragon Well) Tea tradition. It is a good place to understand the brilliant past and equally bright future of tea in China. Taking tea dates back to several centuries before the birth of Jesus! In the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220), people considered tea to a medicine for curing ailments. But drinking tea as a social function or leisure or cultural purposes date back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Drinking tea in China was quite popular around 760 AD. Meijiawu Village in particular is famous for its history of offering exquisite tea. This beautiful village will make you to feel the pleasure of a perfect cup of tea, our guide will show you how to pick the tea leaves, how to fry the tea leaves and how to drink the tea.

Continue your tour to Eighteen Imperial Tea Bushes with famous Longjing tea. Longjing tea was granted the status of "Imperial Tea" in Qing Dynasty by Chinese Emperor Kangxi. Emperor Qianlong was also so impressed by the Longjing tea produced here that he conferred a special imperial status on those 18 tea bushes. The bushes continue producing premium Longjing tea and the tea they produce is auctioned annually for higher price per gram than gold.

Next, you will visit China National Tea Museum. It is the only one in the country with the tea theme. It has no external walls but is enclosed by vegetation giving the unique impression that the halls and the tea plants inside depend upon each other. Additionally, one hundred distinctive Chinese characters relating to tea are enchased in the road to add color to your trip.

After the tour, you will be taken back to your hotel in Hangzhou.

DAY 3 Hangzhou

After breakfast, the first stop for today is the Lingyin Temple & Peak Flying From Afar: Lingyin temple, commonly translated as "Temple of the Soul's Retreat" is one of the largest and wealthiest temples in China. It was originally founded in 326 AD, but has been rebuilt no less than sixteen times since then. Lingyin Temple is one of the ten most famous ancient Buddhist temples in China. It also houses various Buddhist literature and treasures situated in front of the Temple, and is famous for its more than 470 stone carvings of Buddhist figures, which dated from the 10th to 14th centuries.

Later, move to Bamboo lined path at Yunqi: The forest is breathtaking. It really makes you realise how insignificant you are when you stand next to the bamboo trees towering way above you. You are surprised at how hard the bamboo actually was - no wonder Asian builders use it as scaffolding! The thing really liked about the bamboo forest is the light - even though the forest was dense, it still seemed really light and crisp, because of the fact the bamboo's all green (not like normal trees where the trunk is dark brown). It gives the forest a totally different vibe, hard to explain but it was just fascinating.

Have your Lunch at the restaurant popular with the local people to stay away from the tourists' meals. 

In the afternoon, you will pay a visit for Six Harmonies Pagoda, which is a representative ancient pavilion-style tower in China, located on Yuelun Mountain to the south of the West Lake and facing Qiantang River. It is one of the three renowned pagodas in Hangzhou, together with another two around the West Lake, Baochu Pagoda and Leifeng Pagoda.

Your last destination is Qinghefang street, is a good place to experience the life of Old Hangzhou, because it is the epitome of historic Hangzhou. A great place for shopping, eating, and sightseeing. You can see the well-preserved old buildings, explore the interesting boutique stores, and choose your favourite souvenirs.

Drive you back to your hotel after the tour ends.

DAY 4 Hangzhou to Suzhou by High-speed train

In the morning, our driver will drive you Hangzhou train station and you'll take train to Suzhou. Our local Suzhou tour guide will pick you up at the exit of Suzhou train station with a welcome signage "China Private Tour" once you arrived.

Your Suzhou tour starts at the Lingering Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the city's finest classical gardens. It has been listed as one of the four most famous national classic gardens together with the humble administrator's garden, the Summer Palace and Mountain Summer Resort in Chengde are called China's four largest gardens. Landscape architectural space processing is very exquisite, using a variety of artistic techniques, built a unique space system, becoming one of the world civilization examples of architectural space art processing.

After that, take a leisure walk along the Grand Canal, get close to real life of locals. Dancing or singing on the public parks or just have a comfortable talk with locals, know the local culture and history from our local tour guide.

Then go to take a Boat Ride on Grand Canal (also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world and a famous tourist destination. Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The canal is a communication artery connecting north and south China, it is the oldest and longest artificial waterway in the world.

Enjoy lunch at a local Chinese restaurant with authentic Suzhou food.

Next agenda is Panmen Gate. The history of the Panmen Gate dates back to 514 AD. Built by Wu State during the spring and autumn period, Panmen is the only ancient city wall still intact in Suzhou.

The last stop is Suzhou No. 1 Silk Mill has a long and rich history of silk culture, including mulberry tree and silk worm cultivation and turning raw silk into beautiful fabric. Suzhou's climate and soil are perfect for silk production, and the city has been a center of China's silk trade for many centuries. The Suzhou No. 1 Silk Mill has been a proud steward of this heritage for over 80 years. It's more like a museum which shows you how the silk is made from cocoons from the beginning and the whole silk process. Not to be missed.

After the tour, you will be taken back to your hotel in Suzhou.

DAY 5 Tongli Water Town Tour, Departure Shanghai

After breakfast, our tour guide meet you at your hotel lobby and drive you to Tongli water town directly, it takes around 40 minutes for one way.

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 Garden (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.

After finished Tongli Water Town, you will be transferred to Shanghai airport and you fly back home or your next destination(Based on your requirements). Have a pleasant trip.

Price Per Person in US Dollars