Day Trip: Zhujiajiao Water Town
A 1,700-year-old canal town, an hour from Qizhong — closer than Hangzhou or Suzhou
Zhujiajiao has been a working settlement for over 1,700 years, and a real commercial hub since the Ming and Qing dynasties, when boats carried grain and goods along its canals and the town grew to more than a thousand shops. Nine centuries-old streets still wind along the water, with Ming and Qing-era buildings standing right at the canal's edge and 36 stone bridges connecting them — the closest thing Shanghai has to the classic "Venice of the East" water-town image, and considerably closer to the city than the more famous water towns further into Jiangsu.
Fangsheng Bridge is the reason most people come. Built in 1571 with funds raised by a monk from Cimen Temple, then rebuilt in 1812, it's a 71-metre, five-arch stone bridge — the largest of its kind in Shanghai — carved with dragons and guardian lions. Its name means "releasing life," a reference to the temple's old practice of releasing rescued fish and turtles into the water here. Climb to the top for the single best view in town: canals and old rooflines running out in both directions.
Kezhi Garden, on North Street, is the other real anchor. Built in 1912, it's the largest private manor-garden in the town and one of the largest in southern China, deliberately blending Chinese and Western design across three distinct sections — a residential quarter, a rockery, and a formal garden — with a five-story pavilion that's the tallest structure in Zhujiajiao.
Getting there is straightforward and genuinely closer than the other two day trips in this pack: Metro Line 17 runs directly to Zhujiajiao station (about 1.5 hours from central Shanghai, with a further 20-30 minute walk or short local bus to the old town gate), or a taxi/Didi covers the roughly 48km in about an hour for ¥130-220. Either way, it's a shorter trip than Hangzhou or Suzhou, making it the realistic pick if you only have one free day between match sessions rather than a full day to dedicate to a trip out of the city.
Why it's special
Every other day trip in this pack — Hangzhou's West Lake, Suzhou's classical gardens — asks for close to a full day once you account for travel time. Zhujiajiao is the one genuine "half-day, still worth it" option: close enough to fit around a match day rather than replace one, and different enough in character (a real working canal town, not a manicured garden or a lake) that it's not simply a smaller version of the other two.
Insider tips
- 1
Go before 10am if you can — tour groups fill the old town from around 11am onward, and the same streets that feel calm and genuinely photogenic early get dense and slow-moving by midday.
- 2
Skip paying for individual attraction tickets — an ¥80 combo pass covers Kezhi Garden plus five other paid sites (including Yuanjin Buddhist Temple and the City God Temple), a real saving over buying entries one at a time.
Practical info
- Hours
- Old town is open access, no gate hours; individual attractions (Kezhi Garden) typically 8:30am-5pm.
- Cost
- Free to enter the old town and cross Fangsheng Bridge; Kezhi Garden and some individual sites charge separate admission, typically ¥30-60.
- Access
- No booking needed — walk-up access to the old town and Fangsheng Bridge.
- Book
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- Getting there
- Metro Line 17 to Zhujiajiao station (~1.5hrs from central Shanghai) + 20-30 min walk/local bus, or taxi/Didi (~1hr, ¥130-220).
- Address
- Zhujiajiao Ancient Town, Qingpu District, Shanghai
- Website
- www.zhujiajiao.com/en/
What to avoid
Don't treat Zhujiajiao as a smaller Suzhou or a substitute for Hangzhou — it's a genuinely different kind of place (a working canal town vs. a classical garden or a lake), not a lesser version of either.
