One of the biggest challenges for short-term visitors to Suzhou is figuring out which of the many possible historical, cultural, and shopping sites to see. Thankfully, Suzhou's very human scale makes it easy to skip around to different parts of the city and nearby suburbs, so the choices become mostly matters of personal taste and interest. Nevertheless, it certainly helps to have a detailed city map that shows the locations of Suzhou's gardens, pagodas, museums, and the like in order to see them in geographic relation to one another and how they can be grouped to best make use of your available visiting time. As just one example, notice how many sites can be seen in the vicinity of the North Temple Pagoda (a climb to the top for a view over the city being a must-do in itself): the Silk Museum and Famous Celebrities Museums to the immediate northwest, the new I.M.Pei-designed Suzhou Museum, Prince Zhong's Palace, and Humble Administrator's Garden to the immediate east.
Brendan Kellogg, who has been planning a visit to Suzhou, was kind enough to share with me his customized Google Map of the city and permitted me to expand on it with as many interesting sites from Beautiful Su (and otherwise) as I have been able to think of for the city and surrounding area. I will undoubtedly add some more Stick Pins over time, but for now, our joint map contains quite a significant number of places you might wish to see in your travels to Suzhou. Just click on the link "customized Google Map" above or click here to see and expand the map.
Please also feel free to comment and suggest other sites for inclusion.
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