China Travel Forum

[Margaret]

I am going to be in Shanghai for one night two days and I'm then carrying on to India. I am thinking of spending one day touring Shanghai and thinking about taking a daytrip to one of the places above. I want to go somewhere that is more traditional than Shanghai. If someone could recommend which of these places I should go to. I would really appreciate it.

[Edward]

If you can spare only one day, I think Suzhou is the best choice.
Hangzhou's a bit far from Shanghai, to/from cost 4 hours by express train. It's a very beautiful city worths 2 or 3 days visiting.
Zhouzhuang is extremely crowded and noisy and she's the last place I'd recommend to friends.
Tongli, compared with Zhouzhuang, is much quite though there're also many tourists in the day time. Hire a small boat sailing through the waterway from Zhouzhuang to Tongli is a wonderful experience. But bus to Tongli from downtown Shanghai wll also cost about 2 hours. Not convenient.
I think Suzhou is the right Choice. Express to Suzhou costs no more than 1 hour. You can spend a whole day enjoying the classic gardens. Those gardens contains great Chinese culture heritages.