8-Day Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing and Yangzhou Tour Unveiling the Rich Heritage and Scenic Treasures of Eastern China

Summary

Day 1 Shanghai Arrival
Day 2 Shanghai: Yuyuan Garden, The Bund, Tianzifang, Old French Concession, Nanjing Road
Day 3 Shanghai - Hangzhou by Bullet Train: West Lake Boat Cruise, Viewing Fish at the Flower Pond, Guo Garden, Meijiawu Tea Plantation, Bamboo-lined Path at Yunqi, Hefang Street
Day 4 Hangzhou - Suzhou by Bullet Train: Lingering Garden, Hanshan Temple, Panmen Gate, Shantang Street, Suzhou No.1 Silk Mill
Day 5 Suzhou - Wuxi by Car: Lingshan Buddha Scenic Area, Yuantouzhu
Day 6 Wuxi - Nanjing by Bullet Train: Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Linggu Temple, Presidential Palace, Confucius Temple (Fuzi Miao)
Day 7 Nanjing - Yangzhou by Bullet Train: Slender West Lake, Daming Temple, China Grand Canal Museum, He Garden, Take train back to Shanghai
Day 8 Shanghai Departure

Day 1 Shanghai Arrival

Arriving in Shanghai

Welcome to Shanghai. When you land, your driver meets you at the arrivals exit holding a 'Your Way Holiday' sign and drives you straight to your hotel in downtown Shanghai, so you can check in and drop your bags. The rest of the day is on your own - use it to shake off the jet lag, walk along the Bund, or simply rest before the tour proper starts tomorrow.

Day 2 Shanghai

Meeting Your Guide in Shanghai

Your guide meets you in the hotel lobby this morning holding a 'Your Way Holiday' sign, and your private car and driver are yours for the day. Shanghai is huge, so rather than backtracking you start in the old city and work outward, ending near the river.

Yuyuan Garden and Bazaar

The first stop is Yuyuan Garden, a classical garden laid out in the Ming Dynasty, built in the 1500s by a local official for his parents. It packs rockeries, ponds, dragon walls, halls and winding walkways into a small walled plot. Your guide explains how the garden was designed to change as you move through it, and helps you around the crowd. The market lanes outside, Yuyuan Bazaar, sell snacks and souvenirs; there is time to look, but it is touristy, so your guide will point out which corners are worth stopping.

The Bund

Then a short drive to the Bund, the waterfront promenade on the west bank of the Huangpu River. On one side stands a row of early-20th-century bank and trading-house buildings in Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical styles, the old international settlement; across the water is the Pudong skyline, the Oriental Pearl sphere, Jinmao Tower and the World Financial Center. Your guide walks the history of both sides and points out the best stretches for photos, up to Waibaidu Bridge at the north end. It is an easy flat walk.

Tianzifang

Next, Tianzifang, a maze of lanes in the former French Concession made up of old brick Shikumen workshops and houses now filled with small galleries, craft studios, boutiques and cafes. It is where you browse for something more interesting than the market stalls - ceramics, prints, handmade goods - and sit down for a coffee. It is compact and easy to get lost in, so your guide picks the lanes worth the detour and leaves you free time.

A Shanghai Lunch

For lunch your guide takes you to sit down to Shanghai home cooking, which leans sweet and savoury. The things to try are xiao long bao, thin-skinned soup dumplings, hong shao rou, pork belly braised in soy and sugar, and stir-fried rice noodles; order as much or as little as you like and pay for what you eat. Tell your guide about any dietary needs - vegetarian and lighter dishes are easy to find - and they will help you order so the spread suits the table.

The Old French Concession

The afternoon moves to the Old French Concession, the quiet grid of plane-tree-lined streets that the Qing government leased to France in the mid-19th century. It is the opposite of the Pudong skyline: low lanes of villas, garden houses and corner cafes in Republican-era architecture, around streets like Huhai Road and the edges of Fuxing Park, made for a slow walk. Your guide shares how the district grew and where the good cafe and boutique corners are, with time to browse or sit.

Nanjing Road

For the last part of the day there is Nanjing Road, Shanghai's main shopping street, which runs about 5.5 km east to west. East Nanjing Road, the pedestrian-street end, is the busy neon and souvenir stretch that spills out near the Bund; West Nanjing Road toward Jing'an Temple is the calmer, high-end end with department stores. Your guide drops you where it suits and helps with anything you want to track down or ship home.

Back to Your Hotel

At the end of the day your driver takes you back to your Shanghai hotel. Your guide confirms tomorrow's plan and the train on to Hangzhou, so you can rest up for the next city.

Day 3 Shanghai - Hangzhou

Hangzhou by High-Speed Train

This morning you take the high-speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou, about 45 to 60 minutes; your guide arranges the tickets and gets you seated. On arrival your guide meets you at Hangzhou Railway Station with a 'Your Way Holiday' sign, and your private air-conditioned car is waiting. Tell your guide what you most want to see and the order and pace of the day can be adjusted - it is your car and your time.

West Lake by Boat

Hangzhou's centre is West Lake, a freshwater lake ringed by willow banks, causeways and pagodas, now a UNESCO cultural landscape. You take a wooden boat out on the water to see the causeways, the Leifeng and Baochu pagodas and the small stone towers of the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, with your guide telling the lake's legends as you go. The shoreline means a lot of walking, so the boat is the easy way to take in the wide lake, and your guide paces it to you.

Viewing Fish at Flower Pond

One of the classic West Lake scenes is Huagang Park's Viewing Fish at Flower Pond, laid out around ponds of carp and beds of peonies and camellias. It is a park for a slow walk rather than a big sight - you stand over the feeding pools where the koi crowd, and the paths run down to the lake edge. Your guide points out the names behind the scenes and where to get the quieter photographs.

Guo Garden

Nearby is Guo's Garden, a small classical Jiangnan garden on the West Lake shore built up in the Qing Dynasty. Like the Suzhou gardens it works by framing - latticed windows, rockeries, a central pond and covered walkways that keep opening onto a new view of the lake beyond. It is compact, so an hour covers it well; your guide explains how the designer borrowed the lake itself as part of the garden.

Lunch in the Tea Village

For lunch your guide takes you to a restaurant in the tea area south of the lake rather than a fixed tourist set. Hangzhou cooking to try includes Longjing shrimp stir-fried with the local green tea, West Lake vinegar fish and Dongpo braised pork, with seasonal vegetables; some places let you eat at a tea farmer's home. Order what you like and pay for what you eat, and mention any dietary needs - vegetarian and lighter dishes are easy to arrange and your guide will help with the menu.

Meijiawu Tea Village

In the afternoon you visit Meijiawu, one of the villages in the hills where West Lake Longjing green tea is grown. You sit down with a tea farmer to taste Longjing, and your guide explains the difference between the early pre-Qingming picking and the later leaves, then shows how the tea is hand-roasted in the wok that gives it its flat shape. If you want to try picking or brewing yourself, just say; the village is relaxed and you set how long to stay.

Yunqi Bamboo Path

Not far off is Yunqi Bamboo Path, another of the old West Lake scenes: a shaded lane through a tall bamboo grove with a stream running beside it, cool and quiet even in summer. It is an easy, unhurried walk under the bamboo. Your guide talks about bamboo's place in Chinese art and the legends attached to the grove, with pavilions and clear pools along the way if you feel like stopping.

Hefang Street

To end the day, Hefang Street is Hangzhou's restored old pedestrian street, once the commercial heart of the Southern Song city. The lanes are lined with traditional shopfronts selling crafts, tea, snacks and antiques, and you can stop at the old Hu Qing Yu Tang medicine pharmacy and watch artisans at work. It is a place to browse at your own pace, with your guide pointing out the stalls worth the time.

Back to Your Hotel

Your driver takes you back to your Hangzhou hotel at the end of the day, your bags staying in the car while you walk. Your guide confirms tomorrow's plan and the move on to Suzhou, so you can settle in for the evening.

Day 4 Hangzhou - Suzhou

Suzhou by Train from Hangzhou

This morning you take the bullet train from Hangzhou to Suzhou, roughly two hours. Your guide handles the tickets and platform and meets you at the Suzhou station exit with a 'Your Way Holiday' sign, and your private car starts straight from there. If you would rather change the order of today's stops once you arrive, tell your guide - the day is yours to shape.

The Lingering Garden

The first stop is the Lingering Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, with Suzhou's Humble Administrator's Garden, the Summer Palace and the Mountain Summer Resort, one of China's four great classical gardens. It is famous for how its halls, rockeries, ponds and covered walkways are linked so the view keeps changing as you move through the plot. Your guide walks the layout and explains how one site was made to feel like several gardens, and gives you quiet corners to take it in.

Panmen Gate

Next is Panmen Gate, the old land-and-water city gate built in 514 BC when Suzhou was the capital of the Wu state, and the only surviving ancient gate of the city's walls. It has a road gate and a canal gate side by side, which is how boats and carts once entered together. The Panmen area holds three sights: the gate, the Wu Gate Bridge, and the Ruiguang Pagoda, the oldest pagoda in Suzhou, a brick tower with plain Buddhist carving. Climb the gate for a view across all three while your guide fills in the early history.

A Suzhou Lunch

For lunch your guide takes you to a local restaurant for Suzhou cooking, which balances sweet and savoury and leans on fresh seasonal ingredients. The signature plate is the squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, a filleted and fried fish in a crisp sweet-and-sour sauce, alongside braised Suzhou pork ribs and small steamed or pan-fried dumplings; finish with sugar-coated osmanthus. Tell your guide any dietary needs and they will help you order so you are paying for what you actually eat.

Hanshan Temple

In the afternoon comes Hanshan Temple, the Cold Mountain Temple just outside the old city near Fengqiao. It is known through a Tang Dynasty poem by Zhang Ji, Mooring at Night by Maple Bridge, which made its name across East Asia, and through its bell, rung in a countdown ceremony each New Year's Eve. The halls, stele corridors and Bell Tower are an easy walk in quiet grounds. Your guide explains the poem and the temple's place in Chinese culture, and you can have a bell struck yourself for a small fee if you like.

Pingjiang Road

Then Pingjiang Road, a straight canal-side lane whose layout is more than two thousand years old and one of the best places to see ordinary old Suzhou. Whitewashed houses and stone bridges run along the water, and the side lanes hold teahouses, small shops and cafes. Stop for snacks like shengjianbao pan-fried buns, or just walk it slowly. Your guide shows the quieter stretches, then leaves you free time to browse.

Suzhou No. 1 Silk Factory

The last stop is Suzhou No. 1 Silk Factory, which has produced silk for more than eighty years and works today as a working museum. You watch the whole process - mulberry leaves, silkworms, unwinding the cocoons into thread, and reeling and weaving it into fabric - and can see finished Suzhou silk. Your guide explains each stage and answers questions, and there is no pressure to buy, though silk scarves and fabrics are on sale if you want a souvenir.

Back to Your Hotel

At the end of the day your guide drives you back to your Suzhou hotel and helps you check in. Tomorrow stays in Suzhou before the move on to Wuxi, so your guide will confirm the morning pickup time before you turn in.

Day 5 Suzhou - Wuxi

To Wuxi by Private Car

After breakfast your guide and driver meet you in the Suzhou hotel lobby and drive you to Wuxi in your private car, roughly half an hour on the expressway. Your bags stay in the air-conditioned car and you can ask to stop along the way; the sightseeing starts as soon as you arrive.

Lingshan Grand Buddha

The morning is at Lingshan, in the Mashan hills southwest of Wuxi. Its centrepiece is an 88-metre bronze statue of Sakyamuni, one of the tallest standing Buddha statues in the world, about 17 metres higher than the great Leshan Buddha in Sichuan. The figure stands in an open plaza backed by a hillside, and the approach past the Nine-Dragon Wall and the gardens lets you take in the scale slowly. Your guide explains the statue and the site without hurrying you, and there is time to just stand and look.

Your guide will also talk you through how Lingshan is laid out around the idea of the Five Buddhas in Five Directions, which links this statue to other great Buddhas across China and shapes the whole design. There is a fair amount of walking and some steps across the grounds, so go at your own pace, and your guide can point out quieter viewpoints away from the main queue for photos.

Yuantouzhu (Turtle Head Isle)

After lunch your car crosses to Yuantouzhu, a peninsula on the northwest shore of Taihu Lake whose tip reaches into the water like a turtle raising its head, which is where it gets its name. It is Wuxi's best-known lakeside park, laid out with walkways, old trees, rockeries and traditional pavilions along the shore, with open views across the largest lake in the Jiangnan water country.

If you are here in spring, the cherry blossom along the lakeside is the reason most people visit, when rows of blossom turn the park pink and white for a few weeks; even outside blossom season the lake views and gardens are worth the walk.

The path runs out to the Turtle Head rock and pavilion at the tip, the classic photo point looking back along the peninsula. Your guide sets the pace on the waterfront and leaves you free time before the transfer.

End of Day in Wuxi

At the end of the day your driver takes you to your hotel, either in Wuxi or back to Suzhou depending on which you booked for tonight, and your guide confirms the next morning's plan for the train on to Nanjing.

Day 6 Wuxi - Nanjing

To Nanjing by High-Speed Train

After breakfast your driver takes you to Wuxi's high-speed rail station, and your guide handles the tickets and platform for the train to Nanjing, about an hour and a half. On arrival a local guide meets you at the station exit with a 'Your Way Holiday' sign, and your car for the Nanjing day is waiting outside.

Dr Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

The first stop is the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum on the southern slope of Purple Mountain, burial place of Sun Yat-sen, the physician-turned-revolutionary who ended imperial rule and became the first president of the Republic in 1912. The site runs up a central axis - a marble memorial platform, a pavilion, the sacrificial hall and the tomb chamber at the top - linked by long stone steps. Your guide explains Sun's life and the design, and paces the climb to you, with shaded side paths if you want to rest.

Linggu Temple

Up the same mountain is Linggu Temple, a Buddhist monastery founded in the Eastern Jin and rebuilt under the Ming, when it was said to be one of the largest temples in China and home to over a thousand monks. Today the grounds are as much a quiet wood as a temple, with old camphor and ginkgo trees, halls and the famous beamless brick hall, the Wuliangdian. It is a short walk from the mausoleum, and your guide explains the temple's history and lets you take your time among the trees.

A Nanjing Lunch

For lunch your guide takes you to a local restaurant to try Nanjing cooking. The two things it is known for are Nanjing salted duck, served cold and delicate, and tangbao, thin-skinned soup dumplings; stir-fried vegetables and rice come with them. Order as you like and pay for what you eat, and tell your guide about dietary needs - lighter or vegetarian dishes are easy to arrange.

The Presidential Palace

The afternoon is at the Presidential Palace in the city centre, a compound of halls, courtyards and gardens used in turn as a Ming and Qing governor's seat, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the seat of the republican government. It is now China's largest museum of modern history, mixing Chinese and Western architecture across nearly 30,000 square metres. Your guide walks you through the key halls and the story of the last century, with time in the gardens.

Confucius Temple and the Old Quarter

The last stop is the Confucius Temple, or Fuzimiao, first built in 1034 in the Song Dynasty to honour Confucius. The temple itself is a calm complex of courtyards and carved halls; outside, the surrounding streets are rebuilt in Ming and Qing style and crowded with tea houses, snack stalls and shops running down to the Qinhuai River. Your guide talks through Confucianism's influence and leaves you free to browse or pick up dinner in the lanes.

End of Day in Nanjing

At the close of the day your guide drives you to Nanjing's train station or back to your Nanjing hotel, depending on your plans that night, and confirms tomorrow's move on to Yangzhou before you part.

Day 7 Nanjing - Yangzhou

Nanjing to Yangzhou by Train

In the morning your Nanjing driver meets you in the hotel lobby and takes you to the station, where your guide sorts the tickets for the short train across the river to Yangzhou, under an hour. On arrival a Yangzhou guide is waiting at the exit with a 'Your Way Holiday' sign and your car for the day, so the handoff between cities is already taken care of.

Slender West Lake

The first stop is Slender West Lake, a long, narrow lake on the north edge of old Yangzhou, lined with willows, causeways and pavilions. Its classic views are the Five Pavilion Bridge and the White Pagoda on the water, and the gardens around it are named in poetry for their lotus and osmanthus. Yangzhou grew rich on the canal, and its Qing-era salt merchants laid out these gardens; you can take a boat along the lake if you prefer to see it from the water, and your guide paces the walk and points out the good photo spots.

Daming Temple

Just north of the lake, on a low hill, is Daming Temple, with a history going back to the 5th century. It is tied to the monk Jianzhen, who trained here before his voyages to Japan, and the temple keeps stone carvings, steles and halls among old trees and quiet courtyards. If you want the view you can climb the Qiling Pagoda on the grounds for a look back over the temple and out toward the lake, and your guide explains the temple's place in how Buddhism travelled along the canal.

A Yangzhou Lunch

For lunch your guide takes you to a local restaurant for Yangzhou cooking, part of the delicate Huaiyang tradition. The dishes to order are the famous Yangzhou fried rice, a river fish simply steamed, and Yangzhou soup dumplings, with duck and dim sum-style snacks alongside. You order what you like and pay for what you eat; vegetarian and lighter dishes are easy to arrange and your guide will help with the menu.

China Grand Canal Museum

After lunch comes the China Grand Canal Museum, a large modern museum near the temple about the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, a UNESCO site and the longest man-made waterway in the world at some 1,700 miles. The halls run from old maps, tools and relics to multimedia rooms that walk you through how the canal was dug and why Yangzhou sat at the hinge of north and south. It is a good indoor stop, and your guide picks out the exhibits worth the time.

He Garden

The last sight is He Garden, one of Yangzhou's great classical gardens, built in the early 1800s by a salt merchant and named for the bamboo that grows in it. Its signature is the Four Seasons Rockery, a sequence of rock stacks meant to read as spring, summer, autumn and winter in different stones, set among ponds, pavilions and covered walkways. It is compact and best taken slowly; your guide explains how the garden's owner used rock, light and bamboo the way a painter uses a brush.

Back to Shanghai for the Night

When the day's sights are done your guide drives you to Yangzhou station for the evening train back to Shanghai, where your driver meets you and takes you to your hotel for your last night. Tomorrow is the transfer to the airport for your departure, so the evening is yours to relax or take a final walk along the Bund.

Day 8 Shanghai Departure

Transfer to Shanghai Airport

On your final morning, at a time set around your flight, your driver collects you from your Shanghai hotel and takes you to the airport for your departure from Shanghai. Your bags travel with you door to door, and if you have a few spare hours and would like a last stroll near the Bund before the airport, tell your guide the night before and it can usually be fitted in.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which cities does this 8-day tour cover?

Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing and Yangzhou. You start and finish in Shanghai, and the last day is only the airport transfer, so the tour covers six cities across eight days.

How do we travel between the cities?

By high-speed train, which is how the longer distances stay comfortable. Your guide handles the tickets and the platform, and a private car and local guide meet you at the station in each new city, so you are never left to work out the connections yourself.

Where does the tour start and end?

You are picked up at Shanghai Airport when you arrive on Day 1 and dropped back at Shanghai Airport for your flight home on Day 8. Tell us your flight times and the transfer hours are set around them; other pick-up points in Shanghai can be arranged if your booking calls for it.

Is this a private tour, and can we change things day to day?

It is private throughout: you have your own car, driver and English-speaking guide in each city, so you can adjust the pace, skip a site, or ask your guide to swap in something you would rather see, within what the train times allow.

Is lunch included, and can you handle dietary needs?

Lunch is left open on purpose so your guide can take you to a genuine local restaurant and you pay for what you eat. Vegetarian, halal and lighter meals are easy to arrange in every city - just tell us in advance and your guide will handle it.

Price Per Person in US Dollars

Price Includes 1. Cozy Ride: Enjoy the comfort and spaciousness of our air-conditioned car, offering scenic views. 2. Bilingual Expert Guide: Benefit from a personalized experience with a guide fluent in your language, catering to your needs. 3. Entrance Fees: Access all attractions and activities mentioned in the itinerary without worrying about additional entrance fees. 4. Seamless Transfer: Enhance your experience with convenient hotel or train station pickup and drop-off service. 5. Connect Seamlessly: Stay connected with complimentary onboard WiFi, allowing you to share your experiences in real-time. 6. City-to-City Train Tickets: Include the cost of train or flight tickets between the cities listed in the itinerary, ensuring a smooth and efficient travel experience. 7. Complimentary Water: Receive a complimentary bottle of water for each person, keeping you refreshed throughout your journey. 8. Travel Agency Liability Insurance: Benefit from coverage under our travel agency liability insurance, providing added protection and peace of mind during your trip.

Price Excludes 1. Personal Expenses: This includes phone bills, laundry, additional tours, postage, and any entertainment fees not covered in the itinerary. 2. Meals: While meals are not included, our guide will recommend the best local food spots, giving you the chance to explore and choose based on your preferences. (Average cost per person for a regular meal at local eateries: 40RMB/6USD-80RMB/12USD) 3. Tips: Tips are not mandatory but are recommended for excellent service. If you feel satisfied with the service, you may consider leaving a tip. 4. Insurance: Insurance coverage for personal loss, illness, or damages incurred during your trip is not included. 5. Optional Activities: Any optional activities listed in the itinerary are not included in the tour fees, allowing you to choose and participate based on your preferences. 6. Accommodation: Hotel stays are not included in the package. However, we will gladly recommend reputable and comfortable hotels for your consideration, ensuring a pleasant stay during your trip.