Boat cruise on West Lake, visit Flower Pond Park, and explore Guo Garden. Afternoon tea tasting at Meijiawu Plantation.

Begin your Jiangnan journey with a morning boat cruise on UNESCO-listed West Lake, where you’ll understand why Marco Polo called Hangzhou “the finest city in the world.” Glide past iconic sights like Three Pools Mirroring the Moon and Broken Bridge while your guide explains the lake’s 1,000-year history. After disembarking, visit Flower Pond Park to feed the legendary golden carp, then explore Guo Garden’s exquisite rockeries and pavilions. The afternoon takes you to Meijiawu Tea Plantation in the Longjing hills, where you’ll participate in a traditional tea ceremony and learn why Dragon Well tea was once reserved for emperors. Watch tea masters demonstrate the pan-firing technique that gives the leaves their distinctive flat shape. As the sun sets, wander along the lake’s Su Causeway, where weeping willows frame picturesque views that inspired countless poets and painters. This first day perfectly introduces Hangzhou’s harmonious blend of nature and culture that you’ll experience throughout your journey.

Morning at Lingyin Temple, then walk the Bamboo-Lined Path at Yunqi. Climb Six Harmonies Pagoda for Qiantang River views. Evening on Hefang Street.

Start your day at Lingyin Temple (Temple of Soul’s Retreat), one of China’s most important Buddhist sites dating back to 328 AD. Marvel at the temple’s golden statues and the surrounding Feilai Feng grottoes with their 470 ancient stone carvings. Then experience tranquility on the Bamboo-Lined Path at Yunqi, a secluded trail where dappled sunlight filters through towering bamboo stalks – this is where locals come to escape the city’s hustle. After lunch, climb the 60-meter tall Six Harmonies Pagoda for panoramic views of the Qiantang River and its famous tidal bore. Your evening unfolds along Hefang Street, a restored Song Dynasty-style pedestrian street buzzing with traditional crafts. Watch artisans make silk umbrellas, carve chopsticks, and shape dough figurines, then sample local snacks like beggar’s chicken and West Lake vinegar fish. The day showcases Hangzhou’s spiritual heritage and living traditions that continue to thrive amid modern development.

Day trip to Wuzhen: Explore Hundred Beds Museum, Folk Custom Museum, and Hongyuan Dye House. Evening shadow puppet show.

Journey back in time at Wuzhen, one of China’s best-preserved water towns located about 1.5 hours from Hangzhou. Begin at the fascinating Hundred Beds Museum displaying ornate antique beds from Ming and Qing dynasties, then visit the Folk Custom Museum to see traditional wedding ceremonies recreated with life-sized figures. At Sanbai Wine Workshop, learn how rice wine has been brewed here for centuries and sample the sweet, potent liquor. Don’t miss Hongyuan Thai Dye House, where artisans still use ancient techniques to create the iconic blue calico fabric. As evening falls, take a gondola ride along the candlelit canals before watching a mesmerizing shadow puppet show, a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. The puppeteers manipulate leather figures behind backlit screens while performing stories from Chinese folklore with live musical accompaniment. Wuzhen’s lantern-lit lanes and wooden bridges over still waterways offer the quintessential Jiangnan water town experience, preserved exactly as it appeared hundreds of years ago.

Train to Suzhou. Visit Suzhou Garden Museum, Lion Grove Garden, and Master of the Nets Garden. Stroll Pingjiang Road and Shantang Street.

Board a morning high-speed train (1.5 hours) to Suzhou, the “Venice of the East” renowned for its scholar gardens. Start at Suzhou Garden Museum to understand the philosophy behind these UNESCO-listed landscapes where every rock and pavilion placement carries meaning. At Lion Grove Garden, admire the labyrinthine rock formations meant to represent a lion’s mane and test your navigation skills in this “stone forest.” After lunch on Pingjiang Road (a 800-year-old street lined with teahouses and silk shops), visit the compact but perfect Master of the Nets Garden, considered the pinnacle of Chinese garden design with its moon gates, scholar’s study, and carefully framed views. End your day with a twilight cruise along Shantang Street’s canal, passing under stone bridges as traditional Suzhou opera melodies float from waterside theaters. Today reveals why Suzhou’s gardens represent the ultimate harmony between human creativity and nature – each element meticulously placed to create poetic landscapes that change with every step and season.

Explore Panmen Scenic Area’s city gates, visit Hanshan Temple, and end at Tiger Hill, home to the legendary “Leaning Pagoda.”

Your final morning begins at Panmen Scenic Area, where you’ll walk through China’s only surviving water-and-land city gate system from 514 BC. Climb the majestic Ruiguang Pagoda for views of the Grand Canal, then continue to Hanshan Temple (Cold Mountain Temple), immortalized in Tang Dynasty poetry for its midnight bell ceremony. The highlight comes at Tiger Hill, where legends say a white tiger guarded the tomb of Suzhou’s founding king. Marvel at the 1,000-year-old leaning Cloud Rock Pagoda (China’s answer to Pisa) and explore the Sword Testing Stone and other sites where history blends with myth. Your guide will share stories of ancient scholars who came here seeking inspiration, much as you’ve done on this journey through China’s most refined landscapes. As your tour concludes, you’ll understand why Suzhou and Hangzhou have been paired as “paradise on earth” for centuries – one with its liquid poetry of lakes and canals, the other with its stone-and-water gardens that distill nature’s essence into miniature worlds of harmony.