Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour

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 a local coffee house about 20 minutes walk from the start location.

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.

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About This Tour:

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.

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour About Tour
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What You'll Do:

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour Suzhou Noodles

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.

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour Sesame Ball Snacks

Try neighborhood favorites like savory soy milk, Suzhou-style spring rolls and donuts, and Tang-dynasty fried sesame balls.

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour Temple

Tour some of the best sights Suzhou’s communities have to offer, such as towering 800-year-old pagodas and secret Ming-dynasty gardens.

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour Tofu Dumpling

Enjoy a thousand-layer tofu dumpling stuffed with shredded pork and bamboo shoots at a restaurant dedicated to revitalizing old-Suzhou snack cuisine.

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour Buuble Wontons

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!

Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour Coffee

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.

Featured In:

One of the Best Things to do in Xian

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.

Watch:

YouTube

Take a close look at our Xian Evening Food Tour and what you’ll experience in our own Lost Plate produced video.

YouTube

With over 1M views, this fun video by I Roam Alone gives you a unique overview of our Xian Evening Food Tour!

Customer Reviews:

5/5

“Great tour to get to know very local places and food you wouldn’t find on your own. Kate was an awesome guide and could explain each and every detail. I can highly recommend this tour!”

Juliad646

May 2021

5/5

“What an experience to discover Suzhou! Joy took us on an adventure, helping us discover parts of the ancient city we would never find ourselves. Her knowledge and understanding of the area was incredible and we loved every second of it. You simply can’t find these places to eat on your own as a tourist. This is my second Lost Plate tour after an equally amazing experience in Shanghai. I’m so glad I chose to do both!”

Cara

October 2020

5/5

“Just got back from the Suzhou Food tour completely stuffed and in a food coma. We visited at least 6 places trying different noodles, dumplings, soya milk and fried bread and finishing the tour with a coffee. In between restaurants we meandered through alleyways and streets absorbing the local life. I really enjoyed the food and tried out ones that I wouldn’t normally order. Lost Plate was really accommodating to peoples’ dietary requirements. Come hungry and pace yourself, you cannot finish all the food during the tour for sure!”

Lia

July 2020

5/5

“I hoped that, as it was my last day in Suzhou after living there for nearly a year, it would be a memorable experience. I wasn’t disappointed… Agnes and Emily were very attentive hosts and made sure everyone had everything they needed. The food was fantastic and quite varied, a lot of work had obviously been put into selecting top quality yet authentic restaurants. The coffee shop at the end was quite a find too – a fitting end to an excellent tour and my stay in Suzhou. In fact I’ve promised to take my Chinese friend in Xi’an on the Xi’an tour when I next pay her a visit. TLDR, just do it – you won’t regret it, even if you think you know Suzhou food.”

Voyage627397

June 2020

COVID Travel & Safety in China:

  • China is Open for Tourism: Effective March 2023, Chinese embassies around the world began re-issuing tourist visas for entry into China. Existing, valid, and unexpired visas, regardless of issue date, are also valid – as is visa-free transit in select cities. There are no quarantine or vaccination requirements in China.
  • Flexible Cancellation Policy: We have always offered one of the most flexible cancellation policies in the industry and that hasn’t changed. You are able to reschedule your tour or receive a 100% refund for all cancellations made at least 48 hours before the tour start time. Your reservations with Lost Plate are worry-free.
  • Symptom-Free: We ask that any guide or guest showing symptoms such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath, not join the tour out of respect for other guests and our vendors.
  • Masks: Masks are not required during the tour, but you will occasionally see locals wearing one in public. Free free to wear a mask if you prefer.

Frequently Asked Questions:

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 a coffee house which is approx. a 20 minute walk back to the start location. Your guide will point you in the right direction for wherever you need to go next, or you are welcome to stay at the cafe as long as you like!

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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Suzhou Alleyway Food Tour

5/5

$55 USD/person

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