How to Visit Tongli Town (Tips, Photos & Map)

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ABC of Tongli Town

The Tongli Ancient Town has a history of over 1000 years, a typical water town in the Yangzte River area. The ancient town is scenic enough to be surrounded by waters. The town is cut into 7 islands by 15 canals which are linked by 45 bridges. It is reputed as "the Venice of the East".

In 1997 and 2000, eight of the finest gardens in Suzhou along with the ancient water town of Tongli were selected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site to represent the art of Suzhou-style classical gardening.

Location of Tongli Ancient Town

If you plan Suzhou tour, don't miss a side trip to Tongli.  Tongli Town (同里）is one of the famous ancient water towns in the Yangtze River Delta, which are specifically scattered around the large river and crisscross the triangle area of Suzhou, Huzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

Under the administration of Wujiang District in Suzhou, Tongli Town is located 30km to the southeast of the downtown Suzhou, one and half hour from Hangzhou and one and half hour from Shanghai by road.

How to Get to Tongli Town

When you visit Suzhou, Shanghai or Hangzhou, you may have a side trip to Tongli Town. Of course, having an excursion from Suzhou to Tongli is the most convenient by bus, subway or by taxi.

For me, the best way to travel from Suzhou to Tongli is to take subway. You can take subway line 4 from Suzhou Railway Station and get off at the last station of Tongli ( 同里).  The subway ride takes about 50 minutes.

Suzhou to Tongli Water Town

Shanghai to Tongli Town

Hangzhou to Tongli Ancient Town

Virtual Tour of Tongli Water Town

Just follow us to have a virtual tour of Tongli Ancient Town. A bunch of the ancient buildings in Ming and Qing dynasties are well-preserved and open to the public including Retreat and Refection Garden, Pearl Pagoda, Chongben Hall, Genhle Hall, Chen Qubing's former residence, Wang Shaoao's Memorial Museum and Songshiwu Garden.

The ancient water town is mainly composed of canals, roads, bridges, residences and gardens where you will be lost in the beautiful view.

You can take the clean energy vehicles at 5 yuan for an easy ride taking you to the entrance from the ticketing office.

Each ticket allows visitors to have access to the 10 major pay attractions within the Tongli Town.

If you want to learn more about the town’s history and anecdotes behind, you can hire a local English-speaking tour guide rated RMB 120 per group.

I didn't use the green energy vehicle in the scenery and I loved to have the half an hour stroll to get to the main entrance to Tongli Ancient Town. On the way, you can easily spot some road signs leading you to the old town.

About half an hour walk from the ticketing office takes me to the street leading to the decorated archway entrance to the ancient town. The street is lined with shops selling local products and restaurants offering the local snacks and dishes.

An old bridge straddles a canal with a decorated archway. The local residents live a slow life, fishing, drinking, reading and the list could be much longer. 

These canal houses feature the traditional houses - white walls and black tiles.

You won’t be lost since there are a slew of signboards en route reminding you of your next right direction.

The canal cuts through the canal houses in the town.

You'll see many arch stone bridge spanning the canals in the town.

Bridges, trees, canals, boats and happy holidaymakers constitute a pretty picture of the old town.

A cup of tea keeps life pressure away. The narrow old faded lane tells you the history.

Tip:  Hassle-free Jiangsu Guided Tours

If you don’t want to do a self-guided tour and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,  here are some options for organized tours to Jiangsu Province:

Further Readings