The pronunciation for this city is Sue-Joe (like the names). Su Zhou and Hang Zhou are brother and sister cities. Both beautiful in their own ways and the two cities are very close to one another, even though they are technically in different provinces. Due to their close proximity to one another it is advisable to visit both cities in the same trip. Su Zhou is a bit smaller than Hang Zhou and doesn’t have an area such as a West Lake. However, there are parts of Su Zhou that are similar to a river town, where travelers can take a gondola through parts of the city.
When is the best time to go to Su Zhou?
Su Zhou is a beautiful city that is best visited in the mid to late spring. The flower gardens of Su Zhou are known to be the most beautiful in all of China. Once the flowers start to blossom the city of Su Zhou will come alive with travelers flocking to the gardens to admire the bloom.
Humble Administrator’s Garden 拙政园 （zhuō zhèng yuán）(Can’t Miss)👍
This is the garden of all gardens in Su Zhou. If you can only go to one place in Su Zhou make sure this is the place that you go to. This is a large garden that has several different kinds of plants and flowers ranging from roses to bonsai trees. There are small ponds filled with koi fish inside the gardens.
My advice is to get there early before the crowds so that you can enjoy the serenity of the gardens without having to deal with too many people. The gardens will close at around 5:30 so don’t put off going to the gardens until the end of the day thinking that it’ll help to avoid the crowds.
How to get there?
The Humble Administrative Garden is in the center of the city of Su Zhou. So, take your pick of either bus or cab.
On a side note the cabs in Su Zhou are dirt cheap in comparison to bigger cities like Shanghai and Beijing. You could honestly take a cab every time you wanted to go somewhere without having to worry about breaking your travel budget.
Garden of the Master of the Nets 网师园 （wáng shī yuán）👍 (highly recommended)
This is one of those under the radar places that is spectacular. The price of an admission ticket was dirt cheap (around 10RMB in 2015) and it was a very beautiful and peaceful place to visit. The Garden of the Master of the Nets also has a deep historical significance. It is said that this is the place where several famous Chinese artists stayed while painting some of the most famous works of art in Chinese history. For example, the artist Xu Bei Hong (徐悲鸿）who painted the running horses is said to have stayed in this villa.
The Gardens of the Master of the Nets is essentially an old villa that housed artists and several other influential people throughout history. It has now been turned into a tourist site. In the center or what would be the courtyard of the villa there is a pond filled with koi fish. There are also gardens, rooms, a library and other areas where one would unwind and relax.
How to get there?
The Garden of the Master of the Nets is located within the city and it is not hard to find, for the cab driver at least. However, once you get out of the cab you will have to enter the site through the back alley, where there will be a lot of vendors selling you souvenirs. You can also take the bus to get there, however, cabs are pretty cheap in Su Zhou. So, there is not much of a cost issue.
International Kev 