Day Trips from Shanghai

How to get there

• High-speed trains leave Shanghai and Hongqiao stations roughly every ten minutes from early morning to late evening.
• Buy the return ticket when you arrive - evening trains sell out on weekends. See our Train Ticket Booking Guide for booking with a foreign passport.
• Arrive by 09:30 to beat the crowds at the main gardens.

What to do

• Humble Administrator's Garden (拙政园) - the most famous classical garden in China, a masterpiece of water, rock and borrowed views. Admission ¥80. Book a slot on the official WeChat platform the evening before; same-day slots go quickly in peak season.
• Lingering Garden (留园) - smaller, quieter, and to many visitors the more beautiful of the two. Admission ¥55. If you only do one garden, consider this one.
• Pingjiang Road (平江路) - a thousand-year-old canal street of whitewashed houses, teahouses and shops. Free, flat and easy. Best in the late afternoon light.
• Suzhou Museum - designed by I. M. Pei, who was born in Suzhou. Free, but book a time slot in advance through the official account.

How to get there

• Trains depart Hongqiao station for Hangzhou East, roughly every 15 minutes. Journey time 45 minutes to an hour.
• From Hangzhou East, the Metro reaches West Lake in about 20 minutes.
• Book return tickets when you arrive; evening trains fill up.

What to do

• West Lake (西湖) - free to walk, 15 km around. The best single route: start at Leifeng Pagoda and walk the southern shore along Su Causeway to the Broken Bridge. Two to three hours, flat and gorgeous.
• Lingyin Temple (灵隐寺) - one of China's great Buddhist temples, set among hillside grottoes with hundreds of carved figures. Admission ¥75.
• Longjing Village (龙井村) - tea fields on the west side of the lake. Ride a shared bike up the hill, drink a cup of Longjing at a farmhouse, and watch the pickers. Slow is the point.
• Hefang Street (河坊街) - the restored old shopping street, best for a quick taste of Hangzhou snacks on the way back to the station.

How to get there

• Metro Line 17 to Zhujiajiao station, then a ten-minute walk to the canals. No train ticket, no advance booking, no passport needed.
• From People's Square, allow about an hour door to door.

What to do

• Walk the two main canals, cross the Fangsheng Bridge (放生桥), the largest stone arch bridge in the Yangtze delta, and wander the lanes away from the main drag - that is where the old town actually lives.
• Take a hand-poled boat ride (¥60-80 per boat) for the classic view from the water.
• Drink tea by the canal. The town is free to enter; the small museums inside charge a few yuan each.

How to get there and what to do

• Metro Line 9 to Qibao station, then a five-minute walk. The town clusters around a temple and two canals.
• The draw is the street food: glutinous rice cakes, soup dumplings, candied hawthorn, fried dough sticks. Come hungry, eat your way down the main street.
• Two hours is genuinely enough. Pair it with a slow morning elsewhere rather than making a full day of it.

Tongli and Zhouzhuang (同里 · 周庄)

The famous pair of Jiangnan water towns, larger and more atmospheric than Zhujiajiao, and correspondingly busier. Tongli is reachable by high-speed rail to Suzhou then a short bus or taxi; Zhouzhuang by bus or organised transport from Shanghai. Both charge admission (~¥100). If you have already seen Zhujiajiao, skip them; if you have not, they are worth one.

Shanghai Disneyland

The most unusual day trip is the one you do not leave the city for. Reached by Metro Line 11, it is a full day at roughly ¥399+ for a standard one-day ticket. Worth it only if a theme-park day is your idea of a good time; Shanghai Disney is genuinely well run and less crowded than its Asian neighbours.

Trains

• Buy tickets on the official 12306 platform or Trip.com. Foreign passports work on both - full steps in our Train Booking Guide.
• Use your passport at the gates, not your booking number. Allow 20 minutes at the station before departure.
• Weekend evening returns sell out. Buy the return as soon as you arrive.

Money and payment

• Alipay covers tickets, food and the occasional farmhouse tea stop. Keep ¥200-300 cash for the smallest vendors.
• Some water-town tickets are cash-only at the gate; Alipay works for almost everything else.

Getting there on time

• From central Shanghai, allow 30 minutes by Metro to Hongqiao station and 20 minutes to Shanghai station.
• Bring water in summer and a coat in winter - gardens and lakefronts have no shelter.

• Three days in the city: Shanghai in 3 Days pairs a day trip with the old city and the Concession.
• First weekend: Your First Weekend in Shanghai if you only have two nights.
• Where to sleep: see Where to Stay in Shanghai for the area-by-area breakdown.

What are the best day trips from Shanghai?

Suzhou for classical gardens (30 minutes by high-speed rail), Hangzhou for West Lake and tea fields (45 minutes by rail), and Zhujiajiao for a canal town that needs no train ticket (one hour on Metro Line 17). Qibao is a smaller water town only 30 minutes away on Line 9.

Is Suzhou or Hangzhou better for a day trip?

Suzhou if you want classical gardens and a compact, walkable old town - it is also closer, 30 minutes by rail. Hangzhou if you want open water and hills: West Lake's 15 km loop, Longjing tea fields and Lingyin Temple are best enjoyed at a slower pace. Both are excellent; Suzhou fits a day more comfortably.

How do I get to Zhujiajiao from Shanghai?

Take Metro Line 17 to Zhujiajiao station - about one hour from the city centre - then walk ten minutes to the canals. The town itself is free to enter and needs no advance booking. Morning arrival beats the afternoon tour groups.

Are the water towns near Shanghai worth visiting?

Yes, if you choose one. Zhujiajiao is the easiest and the most genuinely old. Tongli and Zhouzhuang, reachable by high-speed rail or bus, are larger and more atmospheric but busier. Qibao is a compact taste of the same thing and the most convenient. Do not visit two in one trip - they blur together.