Independent · first-hand · updated October 2026
The Yangtze Delta
长三角
Four cities, all inside a two-hour train ride of each other. Start with the one you are already in.
- Places
- 20
- Routes
- 5
- Last checked
- Oct 2026
Photograph: the Bund promenade at dusk
Where to go
Four cities inside two hours by rail. County towns — Changshu, Yixing, Haining — sit inside their parent city.
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Shanghai
上海 Photograph: the Bund promenade at duskThe hub. Everything else on this site is a train ride from here.
- Places
- 8
- Routes
- 2
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Suzhou
苏州 Photograph: the canal by Pingjiang Road, early morningGardens and canals, and the smaller gardens the guides skip.
- Places
- 5
- Routes
- 1
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Jiaxing
嘉兴 Photograph: the tide bore at YanguanThe Qiantang tide, and water towns without the coach parties.
- Places
- 4
- Routes
- 1
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Hangzhou
杭州 Photograph: Xianghu Lake from the north shoreWest Lake is the postcard. The rest of the city is quieter.
- Places
- 3
- Routes
- 1
Itineraries
One city at a time. The order to walk it in, how long each stop takes, and how you move between them.
Things to do
Four things worth planning a day around.
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Markets and mornings
What a wet market looks like at seven, and what to do with the vegetables you cannot name.
6 places
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Rooftops and views
The places people actually go to look at the city, including the ones that are just a car park.
9 places
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Exhibitions
What is on in Shanghai and Hangzhou now, with opening dates and ticket prices.
Running now
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Buying from the source
Clay teapots in Yixing, silk in Zhenze, spectacles in Danyang.
5 workshops
Free
The Offline Kit
GPX tracks for every route, offline maps that work without a signal, and place cards you can show a driver. One email a month, when we add something.