Shanghai tour with Suzhou

Welcome to Shanghai! Upon arrival, you will easily find your local tour guide holding up your name sign and waiting for you. Then we will transfer you to the hotel. And you will start your China visa free tour! Since you have come to Shanghai, let me give you a brief introduction to this city. Located in eastern China, Shanghai is the international center for economy, finance, trade, shipping, and technological innovation in China. It has a total area of 6,340.5 square kilometers and a permanent resident population of 24.87 million. During this Shanghai visa free tour, you will not only feel the rapid development of this international metropolis but also feel the charm of ancient Shanghai. Have a good rest in your room for the coming journey.

After breakfast, we will first take you to Jing’an Temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in Shanghai. Legend has it that its history can be traced back to 247. Located in the Jing’an District of Shanghai, Jing’an Temple has a total construction area of 22,000 square meters. In addition, the whole layout of this temple is that the front part of it is a temple, and the back part of it is a tower. And the main buildings of this temple are the Main Shrine Hall, the Heavenly Kings Hall, and the Three Saints Hall. In the Main Shrine Hall, the Jing’an Silver Buddha is enshrined. This Buddha is 8.8 meters high, and both the body of the Buddha and the lotus seat are made of silver, which costed 15 tons of silver. You can imagine how magnificent this Buddha statue is.

Then we will visit Yu Garden (closed on Mondays), a typical garden in south China. Yu Garden was originally a representative private garden built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Now it covers an area of about 20,000 square meters. When you stroll in this garden, you will see various buildings, such as Sansui Hall, Wanhua Tower and Hexu Hall. And you will also see the dragon walls, which are designed with vivid dragons on the top of the walls. In addition to the buildings and dragon walls, the rockeries, ponds, plants, etc. are also the highlights of Yu Garden.

After lunch, we will take you to Oriental Pearl TV Tower, one of the most famous landmarks of Shanghai. Located on the bank of the Huangpu River, the Oriental Pearl Tower has a total height of 468 meters and a total construction area of 100,000 square meters. There are 5 sightseeing floors in this building. The most popular ones are the upper spheriform sightseeing hall and lower spheriform sightseeing hall. The lower spheriform sightseeing hall is 90 meters high and has a diameter of 50 meters. The upper spheriform sightseeing hall has a height of 272.5 meters and a diameter of 45 meters. And it is one of the best places for tourists to overlook the scenery of Shanghai. It must be great to stand on such a high building and enjoy the scenery.

Then we will go to Nanjing Road, one of the most famous commercial streets in Shanghai. It is the earliest commercial street in Shanghai and now is famous as “the first street in China”. It has more than 700 shops on both sides of the street, which will fully meet your shopping demands. When you walk on the street, you will find the Grand Theater, the first theater in Asia. In this theater, countless good films have been showed. Besides, it is the first theater in Asia to use an air-conditioning system, and it is also one of the top eight premiere theaters designated by Hollywood in the world at that time.

Next, we will take you to the Bund. As one of the most famous landmarks of Shanghai, it is a must-visit attraction when you come to this city. The total length of it is 1.5 kilometers. And when you walk along the Bund, you will see 52 classical buildings with different styles, which are known as the Bund World Architecture Exhibition Group. The reason for seeing so many buildings of different styles is that the Bund was once a part of concession. When people from Britain, France and other western countries came here, they built buildings with different characteristics, such as Gothic and Baroque.

Yu Garden

Nanjing road

After breakfast, we will take you to Suzhou. It is about 100 kilometers west of Shanghai and it will take us about 2 hours to drive there. So, you can have a rest on the way. Upon arrival, we will first visit Humble Administrator’s Garden. It is the largest classical garden in Suzhou, covering an area of 52,000 square meters. The whole garden is themed with water. Inside the garden, exquisite halls and pavilions as well as various flowers and trees will be seen. The Humble Administrator’s Garden is divided into three parts: the east, the middle, and the west. The east garden is famous for its broad vision. The middle garden is the essence of the whole garden. The west garden is popular for its characteristic buildings.

After lunch, we will take a Canal Boat to visit the Suzhou canal. Sitting on the boat, you will see various ancient buildings on both sides of the canal, which will make you fully enjoy the softness and exquisiteness of Suzhou, a thousand-year-old city. In addition, we will pass 10 ancient Suzhou city gates, including Panmen, Xumen, Jinmen, Lumen, and 20 bridges of different styles along the way.

Then we will take you to Tiger Hill. Located in the northwest corner of the ancient city of Suzhou, Tiger Hill has a history of more than 2,500 years. The whole scenic area is about 1 square kilometer. When you come here, the Tiger Hill Pagoda is the one that you cannot miss. The tower is 47.7 meters high. When you admire this pagoda, you will find that it is a leaning pagoda, which inclines toward the northeast. For such a situation, it is also called “China’s Leaning Tower of Pisa”. After visiting Tiger Hill, we will drive back to Shanghai.

Humble Administrators Garden

Tiger Hill

After breakfast, we will first go to Zhujiajiao Water Town. It is about 50 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, and it will take us about 1 hour to drive there. Zhujiajiao Water Town is one of the four famous historical and cultural towns in Shanghai, with a total area of 136.85 square kilometers. Dianshan Lake in this town is the only freshwater lake in Shanghai, covering an area of 62 square kilometers. And when you come here, you cannot miss the ancient Taian Bridge(‘Tai’ means ‘peace’ and ‘an’ means ‘safety’). Local people believe that this bridge is an auspicious construction, which can guarantee the stability of the town and the happiness of the people here. When you come here, you might as well stand on this bridge for a while for a good luck.

After lunch, we will take you to Shanghai Museum (closed on Mondays). Built in 1952, the Shanghai Museum has a total construction area of 39,200 square meters. And it is 29.5 meters high, with two floors underground and five floors above ground. There are nearly 1 million pieces of cultural relics in this museum, including 120,000 fine cultural relics. This museum is especially famous for its exhibits, like bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy, and paintings. So it is also praised as a large-scale ancient Chinese art museum.

Zhujiajiao Water Town

Shanghai Museum

After breakfast, we will take you to Xintiandi. Located in the center of Shanghai, Xintiandi is a commercial area integrating catering, commerce, entertainment, and culture. And it is famous for the Shikumen buildings on both sides of the streets. This kind of building retains the traditional stone door frame and black solid wooden door. Seen from the outside, they are traditional old-Shanghai-style buildings, which may make you feel you were in the 1920s. However, when you walk into these buildings, you will find the interior decoration is very modern. Besides, these Shikumen buildings have been developed with new functions. People can have some delicious foods, have a cup of coffee or watch a wonderful show in these Shikumen buildings.

Then you will visit Tianzifang Market. It is a street full of artistic atmosphere and there are many creative shops, galleries and photography exhibitions on both sides of it. In addition, you will also see many coffee shops. So, you can imagine what a wonderful thing it would be when you drink a cup of coffee in a cafe while admiring the scenery on this street. After visiting the last two attractions, we will transfer you to the airport. And your trip to Shanghai will come to an end. We wish you a safe journey and look forward to our next meeting!

Tianzifang

Tianzifang

Author: Yufan Zhang

Proofreader: Yan Liu