Private Day Trip: Suzhou from Shanghai

Your private driver/guide will collect you from your central Shanghai hotel at 8:30am. Drive in climate-controlled comfort for around an hour and 40 minutes to Suzhou, an ancient canal city that's perhaps most famous for silk and the classical gardens that hold their own UNESCO World Heritage listing.

Your first stop is the Net Master's Garden, the smallest of Suzhou's classical gardens, but one of the most beautiful. First laid out in the twelfth century AD, its artful warren of courtyards create a deceptive illusion of space.

It's just a short drive to the Humble Administrator's Garden, the largest of Suzhou's classical gardens – and very far from humble! The 12.8-acre (5.2-hectare) garden, first built in 1509, is full of a bewitching array of lotus ponds, bamboo groves, elegant bridges, and shady pavilions – perfect for wandering in.

After enjoying a Chinese lunch at a local restaurant (own expense), you'll drive a short way to the Suzhou Silk Museum. Here you can see the entire journey that goes into making a piece of silk, from the silkworm to the loom to a workshop with artisans creating beautiful embroidered pieces, as well as historic pieces of fine silk. Suzhou silk embroidery can take years of hard work to complete and command astronomical prices.

You'll leave Suzhou around 3:20pm, arriving back at your hotel around 5pm.