Suzhou's greatest tourist attractions by far are its eight UNESCO World Cultural Heritage gardens (nine, if you count the Retreat and Reflection Garden in nearby Tongli Town). The most frequently visited are the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Master of Fishing Nets Garden, both of which are often crammed with tour groups faithfully following their pennant-bearing group leaders on whirlwind routes and listening to mind-numbing recitations of carefully remembered facts and figures. Next in line are the Lingering Garden and the Lion Forest (aka Lion Grove) Garden.
Each of these four gardens has its particular merits, but I personally prefer the more contemplation-inducing quietude of some of the city's less-visited garden locations. The smart tourist can even check out a couple of other garden sites that are not among the "official" sites and yet are free, completely accessible public spaces. In the following paragraphs, I offer some brief comments on the city's four most-visited gardens, suggest my preferred alternatives, and reveal a few of the city's hidden garden and park sites you can visit for free.
The Big Four
Humble Administrator's Garden -- Undoubtedly the most heavily trafficked of Suzhou's gardens, also physically the largest (which I believe actually diminishes your appreciation for these sites), Zhuozheng Yuan is famous for its lotus pond, "borrowed view" of the North Temple Pagoda, boat-like memorial hall, and three islands which imitate the mystical islands of the gods.
Lingering Garden -- Another very large and busy garden, most renowned for its Taihu stones -- particularly its twenty-foot-tall Cloud-Capped Peak, partnered with the Auspicious Cloud Peak and the Hill-Cloud Peak stones to either side. Liu Yuan is routinely regarded as one of China's four greatest gardens, along with the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Summer Palace in Beijing, and the Imperial Summer Resort in Chengde.
Lion Forest Garden - Formerly owned by the ancestral family of I.M. Pei, Lion Forest Garden presents Suzhou's most complex and prolific demonstration of the art of rockery construction. Complete with winding stone paths and caverns, stone formations shaped as lions, and Taihu stone formations surrounding a central pond housing a stone boat and traversed by a low-lying zigzag bridge, Shizi Lin Yuan fascinates if one can ignore its teeming multitudes of visitors.
Master of Fishing Nets Garden - The smallest of the Big Four, Wanshi Yuan is also one of the busiest, constantly filled with tour groups and serving now almost as a cultural museum, replete with evening tour hours and abbreviated performance demonstrations. A good way to experience "Suzhou culture light," but otherwise not particularly recommended.
The Lesser Five
Surging Waves Pavilion - My personal favorite, located off of Renmin Lu and directly across from the Confucius Temple. A rarity for having its water feature external to the grounds, Canglang Ting is designed around a garden-spanning mountain topped by its eponymous pavilion. Expansive, filled with gorgeously varied lattice windows and covered hallways (including one that runs exterior to the garden, along the fronting lake and lotus pond), a featuring courtyards, bamboo groves, moon gates, and a memorial hall dedicated to the Five Hundred Worthies of Suzhou, this garden is lightly visited but full of charming surprises.
Garden of Harmony (or Pleasance) - The only one of Suzhou's major gardens not designed as World Cultural Heritage, this site was built in the late 1800s and intentionally borrows features from Suzhou's more famous, earlier-built gardens. Water-centered, with winding hallways, a zigzag bridge, and plentiful rockeries and pavilions, Yi Yuan offers a miraculously peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle immediately outside its walls, just off the intersection of Renmin Lu and Ganjiang Lu in the very commercial heart of the old city.
Garden of Cultivation (or Herb Garden) - Yipu Yuan is the smallest of Suzhou's famed gardens, and also its most difficult to find amid its warren of tiny alleys and lanes. Compact but gently focused around its central pond, this of all Suzhou's gardens is where you will find neighborhood people enjoying the refreshing quiet of a once-private enclave for a wealthy family now transformed into a public space.
Garden of Couple's Retreat - Well away from Suzhou's beaten path yet not far from Pingjiang Lu, this garden's design is unique among the city's World Cultural Heritage sites. Complete with a romantic backstory regarding its development, Ou Yuan provides the classically sought sense of mountainous terrain without the over-the-top feeling of the Lion Forest Garden's famed rockeries.
Mountain Villa of Embracing Beauty -- Not really much of a garden any more, the Mountain Villa is esteemed for Ge Yuliang's (1764 -1830) complex rock formations sheltering the streams from an underground Flying Snow Spring. Most interesting at the Huanxiu Shanzhuang is the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute's workshop and combination museum and gift shop, where visitors can see and buy examples of Suzhou's internationally known silk embroidery work.
The (Almost) Unknown Four
Suzhou Children's Hospital - A small but charming little garden complete with pavilion, waterfall, and a concrete boat is located in the open grounds behind the Suzhou Children's Hospital on Jingde Lu, almost directly across the street from the Mountain Villa of Embracing Beauty. There are also several buildings featuring Western-style architecture alongside the hospital's garden area.
Suzhou Library, Main Branch - Situated between and behind the main branch of the Suzhou Library and its accompanying Childrens' Library building, a small and surprisingly quiet garden sits mostly unoccupied. A lovely spot for a brief rest or to sit and read a book.
Suzhou Workers' Cultural Palace - This park and cultural center is not a garden per se, but it offers a modest pond with one of the most scenic combinations of water, pavilion, willow trees, and humongous Taihu stones I have seen anywhere in the city. Pictures around the pond scenery are ones you will utterly appreciate later; mine date back to 2003, and I still love looking at them. Located in the southern part of the ancient city, just south of the Surging Waves Pavilion, with entrances off of Renmin Lu or around the corner off of Zhuhui Lu.
West Temple Garden - This Buddhist Temple offers lovely, garden-like grounds, perfect for casual strolling or feeding the fish and turtles from the pavilion located in the center of the temple's pond. Known locally as Xi Yuan (West Garden) the temple is located off Fengqiao Lu, just west of the Lingering Garden.
Also Recommended
While not gardens in the classical Suzhou sense, here are a few other city locales for lovely, park-like strolls (Please note that there are entrance fees to Panmen Gate and Fengqiao Scenic Area):
-- The willow-lined park at Xumen Gate, running along the former moat on the ancient city's western border, including the pedestrian-only Xumen Bridge and the statue of Wu Zixu on the plaza. Be sure to cross the bridge and visit the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall in the plaza on the other side. You will not regret it, especially if the rear building focusing on Suzhou's ancient history is open for visiting.
-- Osmanthus (Guihua) Park, located at the southeasternmost corner of the ancient city, off of Zhuhui Lu.
-- Panmen Gate Park, located at the southeasternmost corner of the ancient city, also off of Zhuhui Lu.
-- Fengqiao Scenic Area, a small island located alongside Hanshan Temple and Maple Bridge in the ancient city's immediate western suburbs, bordering on the Suzhou New District. Accessible via Fengqiao Lu or Jinmen Lu.
-- Yunhe Park, a large and quiet park grounds situated on the edge of the Grand Canal at the boundary of the city with the Suzhou New District and directly across Shishan Lu from the Suzhou Sports Center and Stadium complex. Don't let the roller-blading track at Shishan Lu dissuade you -- just walk beyond it and into the park proper.
-- A stroll along the pavilion- and statuary-lined southern boundary of the former city moat between Nanyuan Nan Lu and Renmin Lu.
