Photography, Travel
7 days trip to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Beijing, China
We spent 7 days splitting between Shanghai and Beijing, with a day trip to Suzhou from Shanghai.
SHANGHAI
Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street (南京路步行街)
This popular road has lots of shops and restaurants and is the road toward The Bund. It’s a very very busy street, with lots of tourists here.
The Bund
The waterfront area in Shanghai where you can see the Pearl Tower, it’s a must visit place if you’re visiting Shanghai!
Jia Jia Tang Bao Soup Dumplings at HuangHe Rd (West People’s Square)
One of the most popular place to eat super delicious soup dumplings is at Jia Jia Tan Bao restaurant. They hand make their soup dumplings and I’ll say it’s very very delicious. So a must visit if you’re in Shanghai.
Yuyuan Garden and Bazaar
A popular tourist spot in Shanghai. The bazaar has lots of shopping stores and restaurants. One famous restaurant is the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, serving gigantic soup dumpling where you use a straw to drink the soup inside the dumpling. I think it’s overhyped, the dumpling tastes ok. The Jia Jia Tang Bao restaurant has much better soup dumplings.
The Yuyuan Garden was built from the Ming Dynasty, it’s a nice garden to visit.
Jing’an Temple
The Temple of Peace and Tranquility is a Buddhist temple in Shanghai. It’s a nice little temple in mostly golden color.
SUZHOU
We did a day trip to Suzhou mainly to see the watertown, but I think somehow we didn’t plan well and ended up elsewhere in Suzhou lol. I think the train station at Suzhou is pretty awesome.
Humble Administrator’s Garden
Chinese garden in Suzhou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most famous of the gardens of Suzhou. It’s a nice place to visit.
Pingjiang Road
So I’m not completely sure, but I think it was the Pingjiang street where we went to see the houses along the river. It’s not the watertown we had original planned to see in Suzhou, but it was still a good place to visit. There were small food shops along the long street.
Accommodation: Shanghai Meego Qingwen Hotel
Places visited: The Bund, Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, Yuyuan Garden and Bazaar, Jing’an Temple, Humble Administrator’s Garden and Pingjiang Road in Suzhou.
BEIJING
Tiananmen Square
The first night we arrived in Beijing we went to Tiananmen Square and chilled around a bit there.
Forbidden City palace
The palace was the home to the emperors from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty (about 500 years). It’s such a big place, a must visit if you’re in Beijing.
Summer Palace
I really enjoyed walking around the Summer Palace, it’s such a nice place, also very big. I like it better than the Forbidden City, probably because it has more natural scenery lol. We also visited the place later in the day so it wasn’t so hot.
Great Wall of China at the Mutianyu location
We did a half day trip from Beijing to The Great Wall of China at the Mutianyu location. We hired a driver to take us to the location, it was around 600 yuan for the round trip. After we got there we took another bus to the start of the hiking area to the Great wall.
The scenery was really really nice up there. Really amazing. We walked from spot #8 to #14 and then took the cable car down from #14. Some parts of the Great Wall is actually steep, I had to lower myself to the ground while going up the stairs.
Wangfujing street
A popular shopping street with malls and restaurants. There’s a ton of restaurants here. It’s quite lively here. I would say a good place to visit while in Beijing as well. Our hotel is only a few blocks from this place so it was very easy to get there.
Beijing duck
If you’re in Beijing, you must try the famous Beijing duck. The duck skin is super crispy and tasty. I don’t remember which restaurant we went to, but it was kind of out of the way. We had a hard time finding a taxi back to our hotel at night that day lol.
Accommodation: Citytel
Places visited: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall of China.
Transportation
We took trains to go between Shanghai, Suzhou, and Beijing. While inside the city, we took the train and taxi to get around.
COST OF TRIP
Here’s a breakdown of the cost of our 7 day Shanghai & Beijing trip per person in USD (excluding the international flight). It is based on a 4-person share.
Accommodation: $227
Transportation: $153
Food: $143
Activites:$62
Shopping: $74
Total Cost: $659
See my photos of Shanghai, Suzhou, Forbidden City, Great Wall of China and Summer Palace in Beijing, China.