Twenty minutes on the train
and you are somewhere else entirely

If you studied Chinese literature, the name Lu Xun (鲁迅) will be familiar — modern China's most important writer was born and raised in Shaoxing, and the city has preserved his former home, his old school, and the settings of his short stories as a canal-side old town you can walk for half a day.

But Shaoxing is about more than books. This is the home of China's oldest yellow rice wine (黄酒 huangjiu); try it in a canal-side shop with a dish of boiled broad beans — the very snack a Lu Xun character orders in one of his stories. If you have time, take a bus out to Anchang old town (安昌) beyond the city: quieter, less visited, and in winter you will still see locals hanging cured sausages along the canal. This is the more real Shaoxing, away from the tourist quarter.

Shaoxing's biggest advantage is simply how close it is — the high-speed train from Hangzhou East to Shaoxing North takes just 18–25 minutes, for a fare so low it barely registers. It works comfortably as a half-day or a relaxed full day.

If the name Xitang sounds familiar, it is because Tom Cruise filmed Mission: Impossible III here in late 2005 — the chase scenes along the canals and over the Songzilaifeng Bridge (送子来凤桥) put Xitang on the international map. The real thing is more beautiful than the film makes it look.

What sets Xitang apart from the other water towns is its covered canal walkway (烟雨长廊), almost a kilometre of roofed colonnade running along the water — sheltered in rain, shaded in sun, with locals sipping tea and playing cards at the riverside stalls beneath it. In the evening, red lanterns light up the whole stretch and the canal turns gold. This is the best time of day: hire a boat to drift through the canals after dark, or simply walk and eat local snacks like soy-braised pork and bamboo-leaf rice dumplings.

Xitang is easier to reach than you might expect — take the high-speed train from Hangzhou East to Jiashan South (嘉善南), about 35 minutes, then a 20-minute bus into town. A direct coach from Hangzhou's Jiubao bus station also works.

If you have ever seen a photograph of a classical Chinese garden — still water reflecting a curved grey roofline, old trees framing a moon gate, a carved stone bridge made for contemplation rather than crossing — it was almost certainly taken in Suzhou. The city has sixty-nine classical gardens on record, nine of them UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The largest and most celebrated is the Humble Administrator's Garden (拙政园 Zhuozheng Yuan), built in 1513: ponds, pavilions, bamboo groves and deliberately winding paths designed to reveal themselves slowly. Two to three hours is the minimum to do it justice.

If you like history, add Tiger Hill (虎丘), a small hill crowned by a thousand-year-old leaning pagoda (it tilts like a Chinese Pisa) and steeped in the legend of an ancient king's buried sword. Then walk Pingjiang Road (平江路), a canal-side street whose layout has not changed since the Song dynasty, with tea houses, silk shops and snack stalls lining both banks.

One honest note: Hangzhou to Suzhou is further than many people assume — the train takes about 1.5 hours (the fastest around 1 hour 20 minutes), and some services route via Shanghai. Leave early to get a full day.

If there is a single image most people carry in their heads when they picture a Chinese water town — black-timbered buildings closing overhead into a narrow corridor, a canal the colour of jade beneath, lantern light shattering on the water at night — that image comes from Wuzhen. The town is not a reconstruction; the architecture is genuine, and tourism here is managed more thoughtfully than almost anywhere else in China.

Wuzhen divides into two zones. Xizha (西栅, the western section) is the larger and better-developed for visitors: guesthouses, restaurants, a theatre and a textile museum spread through the lanes. It stays open at night, and walking the canal paths by lantern light alone is one of the more beautiful things you will see in China; entry is ¥150. Dongzha (东栅, the eastern section) is older and smaller, with locals still living there, and feels more like everyday life; entry is ¥110. A combined ticket for both is ¥190, valid for a single day.

One honest caveat: there is no direct train to Wuzhen. The simplest route is a bus from a Hangzhou bus station (Jiubao, or near Hangzhou Railway Station), about 1.5 hours for roughly 60 km, or a hired car. If you want to see the canal at night, stay one night — day visitors miss the best part.

If you have done enough water towns and gardens and want a change to open nature, Qiandao Lake is the answer — a vast reservoir created by a dam in the 1950s, which turned hilltops into more than a thousand small islands scattered across emerald-green water. The water here is so clean it supplies one of China's best-known bottled water brands.

The main activity is a boat cruise among the islands — tour boats stop at islets such as Bird Island, Snake Island and Lock Island, the last home to the world's largest lock sculpture. If you would rather be active, cycling around the lake follows a beautiful waterside route, especially early in the morning when mist still hangs over the surface.

Worth knowing: this is further than the other trips on the list. There are two routes — a direct coach from Hangzhou (about 2–2.5 hours), or a train to Qiandaohu station (40–60 minutes) followed by a 30-minute taxi to the dock. Because of the distance, leave early, or stay one night for a full day on the water.