Top Suzhou Hotels

If you like chinese gardens you have to visit Suzhou. There are 15 fantastic gardens to see. The most well known is the humble Administrator Garden. It is big so you need a couple of hours. A small and intimate garden is The Garden of the Master of Nets. In downtown you will find a lot of markets and shopping centers. The small shops around The Temple of Mystery offer good prices on silk.

My friend and I came from Shanghai to Suzhou by bike. Our husbands and children arrived the day after and we had a great time in the hotel although it kept raining the whole day. The next day we returned home on our bikes while our families visited the silkfactory. It was fun!

We visited Tiger Hill first. You can buy a multi entry ticket from here for 5 attraction, good value for 77yuan. After the humble administators garden (just past the exit), are a range of restaurants etc. The tea house is highly recommended. The price of the teas look expensive, but you are then served with many platefuls of snacks, a great experience!

Be careful of tour guide recommendations for factory tours, sometimes these places are 2-3x more expensive and the guide gets a commission. Never eat at a factory tour restaurant, the food is bad and way overpriced.

The locaion is excellent being at walking distance to the "Orchard Road" of Suzhou. The restaurants and cafe were decent places for food and entertaining of guests. The nightly live singing was a welcome change after a hard day''s work.

Wonderful city. This was the second time we had visited in six months. The people are very friendly. It is a good stopping off point for Shanghai airport.

Suzhou was possibly the best city visited on my working visit to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Wuxi, offering a real feel of the real China of the past. <BR><BR> Much of interest is easily available to the tourist and the Sheraton Towers is well-located to make the most of one''s time.

If you are taking train back to Shanghai, make sure that the train will have confirmed seats. I took one that we all packed standing, I paid $15 local money, and that is the best ticket, well it only took about 40 minutes. And make sure you don''t need to go to toilet.

I actually like Suzhou more than Hangzhou. Love the Chinese gardens. Every turn offers a nice surprise. Buses are very convenient in Suzhou, once you get a good idea of the major bus lines - some fun from north to south, and others east to west. Sightseeing buses 1, 2, 5 going to the major attractions - watch for a red Chinese character called "You" in front of the numbers. Those buses also have the various stops listed on a panel near the exit doors, but all texts are in Chinese.

Suzhou was easy to get around with many beautiful sights. My traveling partner and I took taxis or walked everywhere. The hotel staff was very helpfull with instructing drivers, obtaining addresses, etc. Everything of interest is in the major China guide books. Finding good restaurants in Suzhou outside of the hotel was, however, very difficult and frustrating. Both Fodor's and Lonely Planet China guides are not up to date and their reccomendations for restaurants were disappointing.