Out of town: water towns, Suzhou, Hangzhou
Shanghai sits in the middle of the Yangtze delta, which means canals, gardens and two of China's most walkable historic cities are all inside a morning's travel. You do not need a car for any of it.
Zhujiajiao — the easy one
A canal town on Metro Line 17, roughly an hour from the centre. Stone bridges, a five-arch bridge over the main channel, boat rides, and lanes of shops. It is the most convenient water town and therefore the busiest — go on a weekday, or arrive before nine.
Beyond the old-town core the land is flat farmland, and bike hire near the entrance makes a half-day loop easy. The last stretch from the metro station to the old town is a walk or a short local bus; allow for it.
Suzhou — gardens, twenty-five minutes away
High-speed trains from Hongqiao take well under an hour. Suzhou is the classical garden city: the Humble Administrator's Garden is the famous one, the Lingering Garden the one people come back for. Between them, walk Pingjiang Road along the canal, and see I. M. Pei's Suzhou Museum if you have the afternoon.
It works as a day trip, but one night is better — gardens are best at opening time.
Hangzhou — the lake
About an hour by high-speed rail. West Lake is the reason to come: a slow circuit on foot, in a boat, or on a hired bike, with the causeways and the pagoda on the hill. Inland, the Longjing tea fields around Meijiawu are a walk and a cup of tea; Lingyin Temple is the big Buddhist complex in the woods above the lake.
Hangzhou deserves a night. The lake at 6am, before the crowds, is the whole point.
Tongli and Zhouzhuang — quieter canals
Both are within about two hours of Shanghai by bus or car and are the standard answer when Zhujiajiao feels like a theme park on a Saturday. Zhouzhuang is the more polished and more famous; Tongli is the calmer of the two.
Moganshan — when you want a hill
Shanghai is flat. Two to three hours' drive south-west into Zhejiang gets you bamboo forest, stone villas left by early twentieth-century residents, and marked trails from easy loops to longer ridge walks. It works as a long day or, better, an overnight with an early start for the mist.
Booking the trains
- Book on 12306 (the official app/website) with your passport number. Ticket offices at the station also work, with a queue.
- Shanghai has several stations and they are far apart — Hongqiao for most western and southern routes, Shanghai Station for the north.
- Arrive 30–40 minutes early; security and ticket checks take time.
- Second class is fine. The difference to first is legroom, not speed.
- Around Chinese New Year, book everything weeks ahead. Regional transport sells out.