Sa/Su at 11am
Duration 3.5 hours
350 RMB / $55 USD per adult
180 RMB / $28 USD per child
Approx. 3km walking
The Essentials:
Imagine a city that has been wealthy for thousands of years – what would their street food look like? On this tour, you’ll walk through lush gardens and 800-year old monasteries while stopping to enjoy Suzhou’s incredibly rich food and culture, in true Suzhou fashion.
Stops
2 cultural stops, 4 sit-down, safe-to-eat restaurants and 1 coffee house.
Group Size
Small groups of 2-8 people per tour.
Start & End Location
This tour starts at Beisita Subway Station in Suzhou. An email will be sent with detailed meeting location details immediately after booking. The tour ends at our last stop, a 10 minute walk to Yangyuxiang Subway Station.
Dietary Requirements
This tour is vegetarian friendly, but please note substitutions are not available for every dish. Please let us know prior to your tour date as same day requests cannot be guaranteed. This tour is not recommended for gluten free, dairy free, vegan or other special diets. Message us prior to booking if you have any questions.
WeChat ID: Lostplate
Suzhou has over 2,500 years of rich history, becoming a capital of wealth, and the culture that comes with it, resulting in an amazing social landscape. Vast gardens centuries old, well-funded monasteries, and luxurious dishes appear in humble eateries. We’re talking about communities where a typical morning involves a tea session, flawless noodle soups, and then the Suzhounese opera.
In its vast and winding alleyways, Suzhou is full to the brim with hidden treasures, stories, and things to eat. Join us on our tour that’s a feast for the eyes and the stomach and learn about this community of tradition and innovation, and partake in this lifestyle that will last millennia more.
Eat seasonal Suzhou noodles which hold the world record for having over 500 toppings, and find out why locals enjoy this food with their favorite pastime – the Opera.
Try neighborhood favorites like savory soy milk, Suzhou-style spring rolls and donuts, and Tang-dynasty fried sesame balls.
Tour some of the best sights Suzhou’s communities have to offer, such as towering 800-year-old pagodas and secret Ming-dynasty gardens.
Enjoy a thousand-layer tofu dumpling stuffed with shredded pork and bamboo shoots at a restaurant dedicated to revitalizing old-Suzhou snack cuisine.
Eat at a famous Bubble Wonton joint, frequented by celebrities and neighbors alike, enjoying the tiny bubble-like wontons in an incredibly rich broth – you’ve never had anything like it!
End the tour at an indie Chinese cafe with a tea or coffee, and experience Suzhou’s burgeoning cafe culture amidst this traditional ancient neighborhood.
In addition to trying some of the best eats in the neighborhood, you'll also have the chance to learn about the history of this community and get to meet some of the people who make the best biang biang noodles (so named for the loud way they slam onto the table) and Eight Treasures congee, which was a staple of travelers along the Silk Road thanks to its easy-to-haul ingredients like nuts, spices and seeds.
A third of our customers were referred by a previous guest. Were you one of them?!
We are not a tasting tour, we provide much more than a full meal’s worth of food so we recommend you come prepared to eat.
Like all our tours, come hungry, leave stuffed. You’ll be eating about 8 or 9 dishes across 4 food stops. Some courses are quite big, like a whole bowl of noodles, others are smaller – but never too small! It’s our professional recommendation to have a very small breakfast before the tour to “open up” your stomach, and please pace yourself throughout the tour. At the end of the tour there’s a drink provided at the coffee house.
Our tours have been designed to accommodate as many diets as possible while still remaining stupid delicious. This tour can accommodate vegetarian diets but please let us know prior to your tour date as same day requests cannot be guaranteed. This tour is not recommended for gluten free, dairy free, vegan or other special diets.
When booking online, you’ll have the opportunity to let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or special requests. Please use this field to let us know about your requests and we will follow up if there are any problems or questions.
This tour covers about 3 km or 1.8 miles by foot, so we recommend leaving the heels at home. This distance is split up between 4-5 stops, so it’s roughly a 5-10 minute walk between each stop and a great chance to digest a bit before the next stop. We also find that exploring by foot is the best way to see the sights of Suzhou and learn about its canals, culture, and history. Even things like gateways, arches, and the way doors face in certain neighborhoods tell stories, and really contribute to you experiencing the real Suzhou.
Our child pricing is valid for ages 4 through 15. Children ages 3 and under are free.
The tour starts at 11am at Beisita Subway Station, which services line 4 in Suzhou. This is one stop away from the Suzhou Railway Station. You’ll get the exact address, directions, and transportation details immediately after booking.
The tour ends at our last stop, a 10 minute walk to Yangyuxiang Subway Station.
Our minimum is 2 and maximum is 8. There’s no flag to follow, or megaphone, or tacky uniforms. It’s small enough to be intimate, but big enough to get away with trying several dishes at each stop. You’ll get plenty of face-time with the experts. Bottom line is, you’ll follow the guide through a super-local experience and make friends along the way.
This tour lasts about 3.5 hours and ends in a bar, it’s not uncommon for guests to stay and keep the drinks going afterward.
All of our tours are rain-or-shine, so we suggest you dress for the weather. In rare cases of extreme weather, your guide will cancel the tour and provide a full refund.
Yes we do! If you would like to book a special tour for your organization or group, just contact us and we’ll take care of you.
We have many happy customers who do more than one of our tours in Beijing and across China! We have designed our tours to focus only on food from each city. This means that each dish, story, and vibe is unique to each tour and there aren’t any repeats.
Most people are very surprised how much the cuisine changes as they travel throughout China, and our tours are a good way to discover those differences. We encourage you to pick the tours that best fit your itinerary and we offer a 10% discount if booking more than one tour.
We sure do! If you decide to do more than one tour with us we are happy to offer you a 10% discount off your total amount. It doesn’t matter if the tour is in the same city or a different city, we want to keep feeding you as long as you let us. Our online booking system will automatically deduct the discount from your total if booking online at the same time. If you decide to add more tours later, your original confirmation email will include a promo code to use on those bookings. Also, children ages 4-15 receive a discount on all tours (3 & under are free).
Bookings cancelled 2 days (48 hours) or more before your tour are fully refundable (100% refund). Bookings cancelled within 48 hours notice are not refundable. Cancellations must be communicated by email to info@lostplate.com or by phone. If you would like to reschedule your tour with less than 48 hours notice, we will need to charge 50% of your total since we are unable to fill your spots at short notice.
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