Suzhou

Suzhou is an historic city about 30 mins on the train from Shanghai, known as the “Venice of the East” for its ancient canals and waterways in the city. It was founded over 2,500 years ago and is famous for being a UNESCO World Heritage site and also for it’s traditional silk production. There are many classical gardens to visit, traditional architecture to check out, and quite a unique blend of history and modern sights to explore.

Hotel

Anshe Hotel

The Garden Hotel was getting positive reviews everywhere I looked, and I was just about to book it when I changed my mind and went for the Anshe Hotel as it was closer to the canals. The building is in a slight courtyard layout, and our room looked out onto the courtyard, but also onto reception so there was little privacy. The location was perfect, there was an alleyway at the back of our hotel that led directly to the canal, and we were a short walk from some of the tourist markets. We were only here for one night so it was perfect.

Food & Drink

  • Random Street Food
  • Bakery
  • Bar Eirekey
  • Cocktail at Bar Eirekey
  • Xujiamen fermented rice cake
  • Bar Eirekey

Bar Eirekey: Bar 1661 in Dublin announced they were opening a sister bar in China so I decided to check it out. It was outside Suzhou, so we got a 15 minute taxi to it. They had a fantastic menu which included the classic Belfast Coffee but also some great cocktails featuring local ingredients. The bar was empty for a Friday night, but the nightlife in Suzhou seems very non-existent.

Butterful and Creamorous: A very luxurious bakery in a high end shopping district, we stopped here as it was lashing rain and I picked up a pistachio bretzel, but also a Charlotte Tilbury coconut cream cake (absolutely no idea why Charlotte Tilbury has a line of cakes in China). The food was super rich, but the cream cake played a blinder when I got home from finding a secret whiskey bar in a building site in the alleyway beside my hotel.

Xujiamen: On my stroll through Suzhou, Lucy sent me here to get her breakfast. It was a small shop selling fermented rice cakes with a variety of fillings – as I couldn’t stomach having anything with intestines, I opted for the mushroom filling which was lovely but so greasy.

The Sights

  • The Couples Retreat Garden
  • The Couples Retreat Garden
  • Lindun road
  • Pingjiang Road
  • Pingjiang Road
  • Lion Grove
  • Lion Grove
  • Lion Grove
  • Lion Grove
  • The North Pagoda
  • The North Pagoda
  • Walking the street
  • Walking the streets
  • City Walls

Pingjiang Road: This was close to our hotel, and was a beautiful well preserved street from the Song Dynasty lined with stunning bridges and old shops. It was a great street to walk up and explore the bridges over the canal, with all the boats passing below.

The Couples Retreat Garden: This garden is from the Qing Dynasty, and is now a UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage site.

Ancient City Wall: When we left the garden we crossed the canal and walked down through the park along the Waicheng River, which leads you to part of the old city walls.

Lion’s Grove Garden: I visited here early in the morning and queues were already starting to form. It was stunning to walk through the gardens and get to explore the grounds.

The North Pagoda: The pagoda is under construction at the moment, however you can get into the grounds to check it out from a distance. It was super imposing but brought a sense of calmness to the locality.

Guanqian Street: This is a shopping street close to our hotel full of chain coffee shops and souvenir shops. It was a nice experience at night to walk through the streets when everyone was out and it was all lit up. Xuanmiao Temple is also midway on the street.

Walking the Streets: I agreed to meet Lucy at Shantang Street so I decided to walk the 45 mins from the Pagoda to Shantang street. This was one of my highlights as I got to experience residents going about their daily business. It was an area that was limited in tourism due to its location between two distant spots – most people would get a didi (taxi) or take the metro.

Shantang Street: 100% would not recommend. I saw this on a couple of travel blogs so decided to pay it a visit, it’s tourist central and not a nice experience with how many people are around.

Gate to the East: This is over in the commercial area of Suzhou and is to represent the gateway to the east and the entrance to Suzhou. We went to a shopping mall close to here and came out of the metro directly underneath the building.

There were a couple of things I had on my list to see, but unfortunately didn’t get the chance to. I debated going back later in the week to check them out:

  • Garden of Cultivation: One of many world heritage sights in Suzhou.
  • Humble Administrators Garden: The queue by the time I got there was crazy and due to the train to Hangzhou I didn’t get the chance to visit
  • Suzhou Museum: Located in the grounds of the Humble Administrators Gardens, the architecture of the museum is meant to be stunning.
  • Silk Museum: Located close to the North Pagoda, the silk museum walks you through silk production, which Suzhou is known for.
  • Tiger Hill: A little bit further outside the city is Tiger Hill and is home to the millennium-old Tiger Hill Pagoda (Yunyan Pagoda), and an octagonal structure that serves as Suzhou’s symbol and is known as “the Second Leaning Tower on earth” due to tilt.

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