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Tongli Water Town

Written by Matteo Updated Mar. 25, 2025

Tongli is an aged town located a short drive from Suzhou, which is about an hour's drive outside of Shanghai. Tongli is over 1000 years old and has only recently been changed into a tourist attraction. The town is characterized by stone bridges and well-preserved ancient architecture including private gardens, temples, and houses. 

15 small river lanes crisscrossed the town, over which spans around 49 stone bridges in a variety of styles. Bridges are important parts of the town. The most famous bridges among the 49 bridges in Tongli are the three bridges called Taiping (peace), Jili (luck), and Changqing (celebration) bridges, which have been important landmarks of the place and are regarded as sacred architecture by the locals.

Whenever there is an important occasion, such as a wedding, people would like to walk through the three bridges, which are supposed to bring peace, fortune, and happiness to their lives.

Buildings well preserved from the Ming and Qing Dynasties standing by the rivers fill the town. The traditional gardens are well worth seeing. The Tuisi Garden is a good example. The garden was constructed between 1885 and 1887 by an imperial official. In the garden, pavilions, terraces, halls, rockeries, ponds, and other elements of the garden were harmoniously integrated together.

Open Hours and Tickets

There is no entrance fee needed for Tongli Water Town, but if you want to visit the attractions in the town, you need to pay a ticket priced at CNY100, which covers the single-entry entrance fee to nine attractions in the town.

The open hours for attractions in Tongli are between 7:30 and 17:30. The town is still open after 17:30, but most attractions are closed, except the Tuisi Garden, which is also open between 18:45 and 20:30. But you need to pay CNY50 for a night tour to the garden, no matter you have bought the CNY100 entrance tickets or not.

Attractions in Tongli Water Town

The Tongli Water Town is abundant in gardens, bridges, and ancient buildings. If you only have one day in Tongli, you can spend all your time in one garden, two halls, and three bridges.

Tuisi Garden (One Garden)

Time for Visit: 40 Minutes

If you do not have enough time to visit both Tongli Water Town and the gardens in the city of Suzhou, the Tuisi Garden is a good place to learn the culture of ancient gardens. It is the only out-of-Suzhou garden listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO. The bridges, corridors, pools, and plants in the Tuisi Garden are never second to the gardens in Suzhou City.

Chongben and Jiayin Halls (Two Halls)

Time for Visit: 30 Minutes for each hall

The two halls were respectively owned by two rich merchants. The original owner of Jiaying Hall designed the hall according to the principles of Chinese Fengshui. He believed the large courtyard with a high roof could bring him enormous wealth. The Chongben Hall is renowned for its brick and wood carvings, which show you the scenes in ancient Chinese dramas.

Taiping, Jili, and Changqing Bridges (Three Bridges)

Time for Visit: 30 Minutes for the three bridges

Taiping, Jili, and Changqing respectively mean peace, good luck, and celebration in the  Chinese language. The three bridges are next to each other. Local people like to pray for fortune or good health by going through the three bridges and chorusing Taiping, Jili, and Changqing.

Weather and Climate

Tongli is in the subtropical zone with the four seasons distinctively separated. April-July is the best season when the climate is the most comfortable and the scenery is the most beautiful with sprouting plants and blooming flowers. 

A winter visit can give people a different experience when the town blanketed by snow is like a traditional Chinese painting.

Transportation

Tongli Water Town is in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. You can take public transport from Suzhou city center to get there. It's also easy to reach the town from nearby cities like Shanghai and Nanjing.

By Bullet Train

Take the bullet train to Suzhou and then take a 45-minute bus from Suzhou bus station will take you to Tongli. The bus from Suzhou to Tongli Water Town operates every day from 7:15 to 17:15 and the bus ticket is CNY8.

By Air

If you need to fly from another city, drop off at Shanghai Pudong Airport or Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.

There are many buses to Suzhou available at Shanghai Pudong Airport: the buses depart from the airport at 10:40, 11:20, 11:50, 12:50, 13:50, 14:40, 15:20, 16:10, 16:50, 17:50, 18:50, 19:40 with the price of CNY82.

Shuttle bus from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport to Suzhou is from 10: 00 to 19: 00 every hour, one train per hour with the cost of CNY50. You can also choose to go to Shanghai and rent a car to get there.

By Railway

Take a train to Tongli normally from Suzhou Railway station, if departure from Shanghai, the bullet trains departure every half an hour, only half an hour can get to Suzhou, if departure from Nanjing, it will take one and an half hour by bullet train, tourist departure from Hangzhou will take two and an half hour to get to Suzhou, but very few bullet trains departure from Hangzhou to Suzhou, we suggest to take a bus from Hangzhou bus station will save your time.

By Highway

The shuttle bus with air - conditioning from Nanjing to Suzhou will takes 3 hours, 70 buses a day to get there.

Suzhou Railway Station Square has buses waiting for tourists to Tongli, which is very convenient, the bus ticket will cost CNY8 and almost takes one hour.

How to Go to Tongli Water Town from Shanghai

It takes only 2 hours to travel to Tongli Water Town by bus from Shanghai. You can take buses from Shanghai to Tongli at the Eighty Thousand People Stadium (No.666, Tianyaoqiao Road), Hongkou Stadium (No.444, Dongjiangwan Road), Shanghai Long-Distance Bus Station (No.1662, Zhongxi Road) or Qingpu Bus Station (No. 2043, Yinggang Road).

Please note the bus timetables and prices are changeable during local festivals or national holidays, you can only check out the up-to-date schedule at the bus stations. The return buses from Tongli to Shanghai usually depart around 16:00.

How to Go to Tongli Water Town from Suzhou

The First type is bus tickets CNY8, normally you can see a white and yellow bus, the car says "Suzhou tourism transportation " in Chinese, and the travel time is about an hour.

The second type is bus ticket CNY8, which will go through the highway. Will cost about 40 minutes, but it is the slower bus that will pick up tourists from different appointments.

Third type: Bus tickets CNY8, it is a six-seat van, the disadvantage is departure at least of 4 people.

Tips: If you want more tours of the east part of China after Tongli, we suggest taking a tour to Shanghai by bus from Tongli station or taking a tour to Suzhou by bus.

What to Eat

Never miss the chance to taste fresh aquatic plants and fish. Most of the food is sweet. famous snacks include smoked fish, dried bean curd, cakes made of glutinous rice,e and spring rolls (fried stuffed rolls).

Fried eels with sauce, sticky rice pudding with vegetables, and gorgon fruit cake are must-eats in Tongli Water Town. They are delicious for your health.

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