Suzhou on the cheap (and vegetarian!)
Two weeks ago, a couple of my workmates came to Suzhou to spend the weekend with us. I asked what they wanted to visit in the city, they only said “old things”. Well, we have a bunch of those in Suzhou! So I tailor-made an itinerary for them and I consciously avoided the main tourist attractions in Suzhou, like the Tiger Hill and the Humble Administrator’s garden. Why? Because they have ridiculously expensive entrance tickets. To give you an idea, in low season, the ticket to the Forbidden City in Beijing is 40 RMB. For the Humble Administrator’s garden it is 70. Are they crazy or not? Also, because my workmates are vegan, I found several vegetarian restaurants where we could go eat and then looked for cheap, nice places we could visit nearby. We saved a lot on entrance tickets and spent it all on food!
These are the places we visited:
Qu garden (曲园). Address: 人民路马医科巷43号 (close to subway stop Leqiao). Price: free!
I had never heard about this garden before but I found it online. It was the house of some government official from the Qing dynasty. It is a small garden, but you can see all the characteristics that the big gardens also have, albeit in a smaller size: the red wooden pavilions, the rock “mountain” with a maze, the fish pond, the calligraphy… And, I repeat, for free. And without crowds. The only visitors in the garden were a young mom with her son sitting in the garden and a bunch of old ladies rehearsing their singing in one of the pavilions. I think it’s great that they can use this garden as a meeting place for their community!
(Note: there is a bigger garden very close to this one but that is not free. It’s called Yi garden (怡园) and the ticket is 40 RMB. I have never been, but according to a friend it’s not worth it).
From Qu garden you can walk around the alleys, which are basically Suzhou’s version of Beijing’s hutongs. If you peek through the open doors you will see that many entrances have a long corridor leading to several apartments. If it’s sunny you will also probably see people eating outside or playing cards. And loads of hanging clothes, of course.
If you walk north from the Qu garden, after a while you will reach the end of the alleys and a big street called Jingde. There you can visit the city god temple.
City God Temple (城隍庙). Address: 景德路94号. Price: free!
Again, I had never been here. It is bigger than it looks from the outside. I think it is a taoist temple as there were taoist monks inside. The temple has several courtyards and pavilions with many statues of gods.
These must be the ones you have to pray if you want to have a son.
After the temple we walked back to the subway stop and went to Pingjiang Rd.
Pingjiang Lu (平江路). Address: 平江路 (the closest subway stop is Xiangmen). Price: free!
This is one of the two famous old streets in Suzhou, and, as such, it’s usually crowded. However, you can still find some charm in the side alleys (or some grandma washing her clothes in the canal) so I like bringing visits here. Many couples also choose this place to take their pre-wedding pictures. We also chose to come here because there is a Tibetan-vegetarian restaurant (address at the end of the post).
Old lady washing her clothes in the canal.
After lunch we walked towards the Beisi Pagoda (北寺塔). It is very close to where C.’s parents live but I have never been there. This time it couldn’t be, either, as they close at 3 pm and we couldn’t get in. Isn’t 3 pm kind of early to close a tourist attraction? Even for China…
Beisi Pagoda from the outside.
For dinner we went to my favourite vegetarian restaurant in Suzhou, a Taiwanese place we go sometimes. I used to live very close to it but now I’m further away so I can’t go during lunch break. (Details below). We thought about going to Wave Livehouse to see some band but we were pretty dead.
Surging Waves pavilion (沧浪亭). Address: 沧浪亭3号 (crossing with 人民路44号, in front of the Temple of Confucious). Price: 15 RMB.
On Sunday it rained. Boooh! But we still had to do something, so we went to the Surging Waves pavilion. It is one of the classical gardens that are listed by Unesco in Suzhou. It’s my favourite of the famous gardens because it’s the cheapest one. It’s quite big and has a decent sized rock mountain in the middle, many pavilions, bamboo gardens and a covered corridor going all around the place.
After lunch in a Lanzhou noodles place whose boss was kind enough to prepare vegetarian dishes, we went to have a foot massage as my workmates had never tried one. The masseurs had a great time making fun of the 3 foreigners plus the Chinese who also looks foreigner.
Shantang Street (山塘街). Subway line 2 has a stop right there, called Shantang St. Price: free!
This is the other famous old street in Suzhou. Very revamped (it even has a Starbucks and a Family Mart with their facades imitating the traditional wooden doors) but still very pretty at night, when they turn on all the red lanterns. First time visitors always love it. If you want to get some souvenir, I suggest you have your face done in a paper cut, it’s quite unique. My workmates did it and the paper cut master had a hard time getting their foreign faces right. He said they used to charge more for foreigners, until a Chinese speaking laowai protested. But it is true that in the time it took him to do my friends, the other master did 4 or 5 Chinese people.
Even though we didn’t visit any of the super famous sights, my friends were very happy with their Suzhou visit. You should check these places out if you haven’t been!
C. and I in Shantang Street.
Addresses of the sites and restaurants we went to:
Bookworm (bar, restaurant, library, gigs): Shiquan St. 十全街 滚绣坊 77 （十全街和平桥值街的路口）
Qu garden (曲园): 人民路马医科巷43号
City God Temple (城隍庙): 景德路94号
Pingjiang Lu: 平江路
Tibetan vegetarian restaurant in Pingjiang Lu (嘎尔庄园●藏式素食料理): 平江路242号. 70-80 RMB per person.
Beisi pagoda (北寺塔): 人民路1918号 (crossing with 西北街).
Taiwanese vegetarian restaurant Lotus Veg Café (水中莲有机餐饮): 工业园区 中新大道西8号 (the same street where Starbucks, La Pasta, Jack’s, Wawa Wewe, Heidi’s and all those restaurants are).
Wave Livehouse (underground music, Chinese bands): 白塔东路26号容创意产业园B幢
Surging Waves pavilion (沧浪亭): 沧浪亭3号 (crossing with 人民路44号, in front of the Temple of Confucious).
Shantang Jie 山塘街: subway line 2 has a stop right there.
All these sights for free! Well done!
Some tourists spots are not what I call value for money eg the Shard Tower in London (I’ve never been).
Adult (16+)
£25.95
Adult Day & Night (16+)
(Both visits must be on the same day) £35.95
Child Day & Night (4-15)
(Both visits must be on the same day) £29.95
It pays to be selective when visiting a tourist spot. I paid EUR 6 for a two hours walking tour in Athens on Boxing Day. A friend and I went on a free four hours walking tour of Berlin but we gave a good tip as a token of appreciation.
Wow, The Shard is pretty expensive!! I remember I paid 14 pounds to get in St. Paul’s cathedral and I already thought it was very expensive.
Free walking tour, that is nice!
Free, free, free, free and free! Nice!
That’s really stupid, a garden charging more than arguably the most famous tourist attraction of the entire China. An imperial palace with near infinity number of mini palaces and courtyards on top of that. I wonder if they did their due diligence and compared their prices.
CL lured me to this blog post and I love it. I have good memories of Suzhou such as that Qu Garden’s mansion, the lovely soft bean curd with shallots and sauce besides buying their cheapest silk boxers to sleep. The silk was so soft and I felt naked during sleep.
I guess they didn’t compare, maybe they are set by each provincial government? Anyway, even though that garden is really huge and there are many things to see, it’s just too much. And in high season it is 90 RMB… crazy!
BTW in Barcelona you’ll see that some places are also ridiculously expensive, I think I mentioned it when I wrote about our trip.
I realized that too. Two places I will definitely pay for: Sagrada Familia and Camp Nou. The others, I would probably just enjoy them on the outside for free…
CL (RealGunners) lured me here and I like your blog!
I have fondest memories of Suzhou and Xian amongst the many towns I have visited.
Suzhou is lovely for its canals and traditional shops. I love that Yu Gardens and mansion too.
Wishing you a Happy & Healthier New Year 2016!
Hi Twilight Man! Thanks a lot! Happy new year to you too! And sorry for the delay, your comments were marked as spam and I just saw them :(
It’s cool to see different places besides the famous attractions. Shantang Street looks quite decent. I agree – 70RMB is really expensive for a Chinese garden, even if it is a UNESCO site. I mean, there are several famous gardens that make up the UNESCO site so if every one had similar ticket prices, that would be quite pricey to visit them all, haha.
That is the most expensive one, I guess because it is the biggest and most famous. The others are between 15 and 50 I think.
OK, those are more reasonably priced. I’ve only been to one- the Lion Grove Garden – which I went to as part of group tour.
All free. Amazing! I like free attractions too, but sadly sometimes others around me scoff at that…oh well, who cares :D I’m guessing it’s 70RMB per person for that garden. Maybe they put on some special performance for you or there really is some relic treasure for you to see…but still, it would take a lot of convincing for me to go to that.
I had to google what a papercut is…it does look fancy and intricate :D “the Chinese who also looks foreigner.” Really? I have never come across such a person :D
Well, I was referring to C. because many Chinese people think he is not Chinese. I’m not sure if it’s because he looks non-Chinese or because he goes with me so they assume he is a foreigner too! More than once Chinese people have tried to talk to him in Korean, haha.
The papercut with your face is something like this: https://www.instagram.com/p/qqKsK6Ked3/
Really? I think C looks very Chinese…then again, to some people, some Asians look like other Asians :D Papercuts are so beautiful, the one you have looks so cute :D
Fellow vegans in China. Aren’t they a rarity?! I like free or not so expensive attractions too. Sometimes like you say, the more expensive ones aren’t worth it and it’s all hype. Plus the cheaper/free ones you can usually find some peace and quiet. Love the look of your favourite garden!
I’m not sure if there are many vegans in China. I think there are more vegetarians, especially old people. But many young people eat too much meat…
I always enjoy a free attraction, haha. True, the most famous ones are always crowded…
The Surging Waves Pavilion is beautiful. Even in the rain. Which means they will probably start charging money to visit it soon, right?
Haha, they do charge money now, but only 15 RMB (around 2 USD?). It is the cheapest of the famous gardens!
Some places are always ridiculous expensive. In Xi’an I always tried to find small “unknown” places which were either for free or for a very small fee. Only went to the terracotta Warriors because it was a must see and I must say it was not worth the money :p
Oh yes, I think we’ve already mentioned this before, haha, I also thought the terracotta warriors were overrated…
Lovely Post. I do love the photos of the Chinese laundry hanging up – I took similar photos when I went to a couple of the water towns near Suzhou. Fabulous photos too in your post.
Hehe, I also have a lots of pictures of hanging clothes. I find them so photogenic! I even wrote a post about it, hehe.
Not sure if I have seen your other post. Will search it now on your blog. Thanks for letting me know.
It’s here: https://martalivesinchina.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/drying-your-laundry-on-the-street/
You are so kind. I just went through your blog and found it but glad I did as I read so many other fabulous stories. I love your blog.
Ha ha, thanks a lot, Sue. You also know China can inspire many funny stories ;)
Love the pic of you and C. xxoo
Thanks Lani! Happy new year! :)
Nice photos. I’ll have to go check out the surging waves garden next time family is in town.
I’ve always wondered what clothes washed in the nasty canal water smell like after they’re dried. I think I’d rather wear old stinky clothes….
Yeah I don’t want to get close and smell those clothes, hahaha. Or maybe we are wrong and the water is super clean, it is green because of the natural algae and stuff… :P
Wow!!! Marta you never cease to amaze me. You did a fantastic job. I command you for that. I also noticed that C does not look Chinese (no offence please) but i love the picture of the two of you.
Haha, no offense taken. Many Chinese people greet him in Korean!! He himself sometimes says he is from Xinjiang, because he has a big nose.
Dang you should be a Suzhou tour guide. That looked like the real deal.
Vegetarian food in China is actually REALLY amazing! I would go there in a heartbeat if they had one in the states!
Your photos look so lovely! I can’t believe that people still wash their clothes in the river… (so filthy!).
And the photo of you and C is to die for. Adorable!
He he! Let me know if you plan to visit Suzhou, I will make a tailored itinerary for you :P
I am a vegan and would totally have loved being on your tour of Suzhou! The few times I’ve been there I’ve never had a chance to go to a vegetarian restaurant. Man, it would be fun to explore Suzhou with you!
Come and spend the weekend with us whenever you have time! You are very welcome, and we have a guest room :D
Love it! I laughed about your friends wanting to see old stuff and your favorite garden being the cheapest one. Sounds just like me. And blue sky in those pics! The window cut outs in the complex you went to on the second day look incredible.