Shanghai Essence and Water Village VIP Day Tour

On the morning of your tour, your guide will be waiting for you in the lobby at around 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM (unless you arrange a different time), holding a placard with the China Highlights logo and your name on it. Show our confirmation letter and you will be guided to our vehicle.

Our vehicles are "business class" with a China Highlights logo. You will be waiting at the hotel entrance. Our vehicles have a GPS system so that drivers can foresee the traffic situation and decide which way to go to stay away from traffic jams. We will do our best to help you spend your precious time in interesting places.

Our comfortable car will transfer you and your guide to the 200-year-old 'water village', regarded as the best representative example of Yangtze River Delta lifestyle and architecture. (The journey is about 1 hour.)

Good to know:

• If you plan to leave Shanghai after your day tour, please check out from your hotel before departure. Normally it will take 10 to 20 minutes for hotel staff to complete the procedure. You may leave your luggage in our vehicle, and you can be transferred to the airport or train station straight after the tour to make best use of your time.

• The hotel pick-up and drop-off area should be within the middle ring road of Shanghai. For further distance there might be an extra cost for the transfer. Your travel advisor will give you a notification about this.

In centuries past Zhujiajiao (/joo-jyaa-jyaoww/) was a trading area: the many canals were used to ferry products along in little boats and barges. Boats are still very much part of the charm of the place. Small boats are ubiquitous there, functioning as a nice way to get a view of the town and experience local life. See our cruise guide on Zhujiajiao.

You will be taking a gondola with our guide on the waterway to view the face of old town from a different angle at your pace. Your group will be 4 to 6 people, offering good flexibility. If you want some more time for taking photos, or you have more questions about the history and architecture, just let your guide know.

China Highlights has set up a Refreshments Kiosk at Zhujiajiao Water Village. China Highlights customers will receive free drinking water, beers, and maps at the service site.

Three Carefully-Selected Sights:

Your tour guide will help you explore three carefully-selected places along the waterway, recommended by our local experts, while other group tours only ride the waterway in a routine way.

• Kezhi (/ker-jrr/) Garden at the northern edge of the old district on Xijing Street is a garden dating back to 1912. "Kezhi" means 'Study Plants', and the garden was a place to see and learn about plants. You can get some excellent pictures, for example of bright yellow rapeseed flowers, in Kezhi Garden.
• The area consists of a main hall, a garden, and an artificial hill. The outstanding feature of the garden is a five-story building with a pavilion on its roof — the tallest structure in old Zhujiajiao.
• Qing Dynasty Post Office: On Xihu (/sshee-hoo/ 'West Lake') Street there is a post office built in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), said to be the best preserved of its era in China. There are many exhibits: among them old letters written on bamboo and antique post cards of old Shanghai.
• Fangsheng Bridge is one of the main attractions among the 36 ancient stone bridges, some only one yard wide. It was built in 1812, and is said to be the largest stone arch bridge in Shanghai, resting on five arches, about 70 meters long, and 5.8 meters tall.

Stop at a China Highlights designated restaurant by the side of the waterway, and have some nicely-made local food on the second floor, where you can view the best part of the water village.

We will take you to a nice local restaurant in the water village for a more enjoyable lunch (other groups go to less-scenic restaurants in Shanghai).

The menu has been carefully selected by our product manager based on the tastes of customers from different corners in the world to ensure an agreeable gourmet experience. We would be very pleased to hear from you, and make a special arrangements, if you have any particular requests for food.

The restaurant has an excellent waterway view. Open the window and you will have a nice view of the weeping willow trees swaying in the wind, gondolas gliding along the waterway, and local life in the village.

In the afternoon, travel 1 hour by car to the World Financial Center and go up to the 100th floor for spectacular views of the city.

It is the world's tenth tallest building (492 m), and the fifth tallest in Mainland China [2016]. The 100th floor has a viewing gallery 55 meters long — the third highest observation deck in China, after the Canton Tower and Shenzhen IFC, and fourth highest in the world (the Burj Khalifa's is highest) [2016].

As one of the most popular attractions in Shanghai, the World Financial Center receives many tourists every day. Usually people have to stand in a queue for at least half an hour! Your tour guide will buy the tickets on-line in advance so that you will NOT need to stand in a boring long queue.

In order to save your time and improve your experience, our product team have researched the best time of day to be 1:30 in the afternoon for 3 reasons: less people, brighter sunlight, and better views, especially on poorer air quality days.

Next we will drive you to the top scenic spot in Shanghai — the Bund. It is a fantastic promenade along the Huangpu River. Across the riverside street you will see some of the most unique and wonderful buildings of colonial Shanghai.

To avoid a "just-a-glance" superficial experience, when we walk on the Bund, our expert guide will present an In-depth introduction. On a map we label the 17 most-representative buildings and document the architecture of Shanghai. What you will get is not only a few photos of the new buildings, but also the history and historic images of its colonial past.

We will transfer you to your hotel at the end of the tour, or, if you need to catch a flight or a train after the tour, we are more than happy to help you arrange it. Please let us know.

Going back to your hotel in Shanghai will normally take about 20 to 30 minutes. Likewise for a Shanghai train station. Going to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport directly normally takes about 1½ hours, while 2 hours is needed for going to Pudong Airport from the Bund.

You will need to be at the airport 1½ hours before a domestic flight, or 2½ hours before you're an international flight. Tell us about your departure time when booking, and remind our guide, and we will make arrangements accordingly.

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