Suzhou and Luzhi Water Town Private Day Trip from Shanghai

After picking you up by car at your centrally located hotel in Shanghai, you will drive to Suzhou where you will visit the private Garden of the Master of Nets, a masterpiece of Suzhou landscaping art with nearly 1000 years of history. It was built during Song dynasty and has been part of UNESCO cultural world heritage since 1997. After a cup of coffee and taking a moment to breath in the magnificient atmosphere of this garden, you will proceed to Suzhou's best preserved part of its ancient city wall, including the a gate for water and land transport (climbing the city wall at own expense). On our next stop you will explore the reason for most of Suzhou's wealth, the silk. At one of the last silk factories in town established in 1926, you learn everything about this stunning material and it's production. Explore how the silk worms are grown, watch myriads of silk worms feasting on mulberry leaves (only from April to June and September to October), see how the silk is extracted from the cocoon, spun and later knitted into a final product. Afterwards you get to try some of Suzhou's culinary specialty dim sum like rose cake and so-called eyebrow cookies. A 30 min drive later you arrive in the ancient water town of Luzhi, an outstanding example of the use of canals as main roads of transportation. Here you explore the colorful Baosheng Monastery, a local religious center for centuries which hosts one of the last clay stuccos in China, as well as the myriad bridges and backlanes representative of the Southern Chinese water towns. After an exciting day full of culture, history and local delights, your private van will drive you back to your Shanghai hotel.