Shanghai Circle Route in 17 Days - Itinerary

After more than a year's planning and avid anticipation, we finally completed our self-guided circular trip of Eastern China.

Our theme this year was a slow tour of a culturally rich region historically known as Jiangnan, or South of the Yangtze River. Starting and ending in Shanghai, our route's deceivingly small radius of 400 km actually took us through five provinces and municipalities over a wide range of cultural landscapes -- majestic mountains, idyllic villages, picturesque waterside towns, beautiful lakes and canals lined with classical gardens, and of course the modern metropolises of the Yangtze Delta. 17 days were barely enough in my opinion; 20 days would have been optimal.

The rough itinerary was:

Day 01: Shanghai
Day 02: Shanghai
Day 03: Shanghai - Quzhou (High-speed Train) - Sanqingshan (Bus)
Day 04: Sanqingshan - Wuyuan (Bus or Taxi)
Day 05: Wuyuan - Hongcun (Bus)
Day 06: Hongcun
Day 07: Hongcun Xidi (Bus)
Day 08: Hongcun - Huangshan (Bus)
Day 09: Huangshan - Hangzhou (Highway Bus)
Day 10: Hangzhou
Day 11: Hangzhou - Wuzhen (High-speed Train then Bus)
Day 12: Wuzhen - Xitang (Shared Taxi)
Day 13: Xitang - Luxu - Lili - Tongli (Taxi)
Day 14: Tongli
Day 15: Tongli - Suzhou (Bus)
Day 16: Suzhou - Yangcheng Lake (Bus + Boat)
Day 17: Suzhou - Shanghai (High-speed Train)

TRANSPORTATION
Transportation has been made easier than ever with the constantly-expanding high-speed rail network and brand new highways radiating out of the Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou triangle. The longest trip from Shanghai to Quzhou is now 3 hours on high-speed trains, and the bus trip from Huangshan Scenic Area to Hangzhou now takes about 3.5 hours on the highway. Other connections are three hours or less.

ACCOMMODATION
As usual we preferred authentic, traditional guesthouses (known locally as Kezhan) when available. Many of these were actually scholars' mansions from Qing Dynasty (17th-20th Century) or even Ming Dynasty (14th-17th Century), now rented out as guest rooms by the 20-plus-th generation descendents. Full western-style bathrooms were a must for us and room prices ranged between RMB 150 to RMB 570 (CAD$24 to 90) depending on the condition of preservation and amenities such as an open patio on the canal.

In cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou, our mid-range hotels at prime central locations cost RMB 200 to 280 (CAD$32 to 44) as of late 2012. Our most expensive night at RMB 790 (CAD$125) was a four-star room at the top of Huangshan mountain, but that's the standard price for staying at the mountain top.

FOOD
Authentic local cuisine is always a major theme on any of our trips, especially a trip to a regional culinary mecca such as Shanghai. My tastebuds awaited this trip with such intense anticipation that we did a lot of restaurant research on local Chinese websites prior to arrival. In fact we deliberately handpicked the season of late autumn as this is the local CRAB CAVIAR season. We ended up having our best lamb ever, our best freshwater fish ever, some of the best unagi (freshwater eel) ever, best eggs ever, best pork ever ... and the list goes on and on. This was a culinary trip to remember and relish for years.