Shanghai first, because it is where you land and where you leave. Then Hangzhou for the lake, then Suzhou for the gardens — Suzhou last because it sits twenty-odd minutes from Shanghai, so the run back to the airport is short. Every hop here is a train, and none of them needs booking more than a day out.
At a glance
- Day 1The Bund → Yu Garden → Nanjing Road
- Day 2Wukang Road → Tianzifang — or the Lujiazui towers
- Day 3Train to Hangzhou → West Lake circuit → Su Causeway
- Day 4Lingyin Temple → Longjing tea villages → Hefang Street
- Day 5Humble Administrator’s Garden → Suzhou Museum → Pingjiang Road → Shantang Street
Day 1
The waterfront, and the garden inside a bazaar
The Bund → Yu Garden → Nanjing Road
The Bund is a mile of 1920s bank and shipping houses facing the Pudong towers, free and never closed. Before eight in the morning it is nearly empty. Yu Garden is a Ming garden of rockeries walled inside a bazaar that costs nothing to wander; the garden itself is ¥30–40 depending on season, closes on Mondays, and is calmest right at opening. Nanjing Road runs west from the Bund to People’s Square — walk it once as the link between the two, then get off it.
Day 2
Plane trees, or a very tall building
Wukang Road → Tianzifang — or the Lujiazui towers
Wukang Road is the best block of the former French Concession: plane trees, 1920s villas, and Hudec’s wedge-shaped Wukang Mansion at the Huaihai Road corner, finished in 1924. The mansion is flats, so you look at it from outside. Tianzifang is a block of 1930s shikumen lane houses turned into small shops and studios — free, open late, an hour is enough, and weekends are the worst of it. If the weather turns, take the metro across to Lujiazui instead: the observation deck on the 118th floor of Shanghai Tower is around ¥180 with timed entry.
Day 3
The lake, all the way round
Train to Hangzhou → West Lake circuit → Su Causeway
About 45 minutes from Shanghai Hongqiao. West Lake is free, unfenced and open at any hour, which is the whole point — nobody checks a ticket and the circuit is about ten and a half kilometres. Go at dawn or in the last hour of light, because the middle of the day is the worst of it. Su Causeway runs about 2.8 kilometres north to south and takes an hour on foot; bicycles have been turned back at the entrances since 2018, so both causeways are walking only.
Day 4
A working temple, and tea in the hills behind it
Lingyin Temple → Longjing tea villages → Hefang Street
Lingyin is a working temple with a cliff of carved Buddhas beside it, and it has been free since 1 December 2025 — both the scenic-area ticket and the temple’s incense ticket were dropped. The tea terraces start in the hills directly behind it, and the 1314 bus from the lake costs ¥2; Meijiawu is the quieter of the two villages. Finish at Hefang Street under Wushan hill, where the street snacks are and most of the shops sell the same souvenirs.
Day 5
The garden the others were copied from
Humble Administrator’s Garden → Suzhou Museum → Pingjiang Road → Shantang Street
The Humble Administrator’s is five hectares of Ming garden and the one to book before you arrive: there is no ticket window any more, sales are online only one to seven days ahead, in the name on the passport you bring. Next door, the Suzhou Museum is I. M. Pei’s last building, free, closed Mondays, last admission four o’clock. Then Pingjiang Road, a mile of stone lane beside its own canal, and on to Shantang Street for the evening — seven li of canal cut in 825, lanterns on the water after dark.
Eat like you mean it
- Nanxiang xiaolongbao and shengjian bunsSoup dumplings eaten off a spoon in one careful bite; shengjian are thicker and fried crisp on the bottom. The Yu Garden original has had a queue since the 1900s.
- West Lake vinegar fish and Dongpo porkThe vinegar fish divides people, locals included. Dongpo pork is a cube of belly braised until it holds its shape and gives way to a spoon.
- Pian’er chuan noodlesNoodles in broth with pork, bamboo shoots and pickled greens. The everyday Hangzhou lunch — cheap, filling, and not on many tourist menus.
- Suzhou-style noodles and squirrel mandarin fishFor the noodles you choose three things separately: red broth or white, the noodles, and the topping.
Where to stay
- Shanghai: the Bund or People’s SquareFirst-timers who want to walk to the waterfront before breakfast.
- Shanghai: the former French ConcessionPlane trees, villas, and a quieter evening than the Bund side.
- Hangzhou: near the lakeYou want to be on the circuit at dawn, which is the only time it is empty.
Before you go
- The Humble Administrator’s Garden has no ticket window — online only, one to seven days ahead, in the name on your passport.
- Mondays close the Suzhou Museum and Yu Garden. Do not put either on a Monday.
- Bicycles have been turned back at the West Lake causeways since 2018; both are walking only.
- Lingyin Temple has been free since 1 December 2025 — you no longer need the scenic-area ticket.
- Suzhou is twenty-odd minutes from Shanghai, which is why it sits last: the run back to the airport is short.
One honest thing — Two bookings cannot be made at a gate: the Humble Administrator’s Garden sells online only, one to seven days ahead in the name on your passport, and the Suzhou Museum is free but capped and closed Mondays. One gap worth naming: Wuzhen, the canal town that most five-day Jiangnan itineraries put between Suzhou and Hangzhou, is not one of this site’s cities. Tongli and Zhouzhuang, closer to Suzhou and covered on the Suzhou page, are the nearest equivalent here.
