Private Day Tour: Zhujiajiao Water Town with Shanghai Local Shopping Outing

Jenny and her tour guides - Grace and Melody were amazing in Shanghai and Beijing respectively. I travelled with senior citizens with limited mobility and with vegetarian dietary preferences. They were both very flexible and helpful, sourcing wheelchairs, tweaking the itinerary, looking for accessibility options and so on. They made our trip go from good to great. Highly recommend especially if travelling with family and if it’s your first time in China.

The water town of Zhujiajiao is an incredible collection of little shops and food stalls. Our guide, Apple, was fabulous.

One hour drive outside the city is this beautiful water town with unique shops. Water taxi is fun with a beautiful view from the water. Our guide Apple was great

We thoroughly enjoyed half day Zhujiajiao Water Town experience near Shanghai. We learnt a lot about the history and origins of the town from Wing our tour guide, and loved the walk through the traditional streets. There were plenty of authentic souvenirs on offer and we ended up buying some hand embroided art and some tea to bring home. The river boat cruise was very relaxing, and we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the oldest restaurant in town. Overall is was a great way to spend a morning while on holiday in Shanghai!

Today we had two focuses…the Zhujiajiao Water Town and Shanghai Local Food...we opted to change the shopping for local food and had the experience of a lifetime. We were picked up at our hotel right on time by our host Cathy and our professional driver. We start by exploring the ancient Qing dynasty water town of Zhujiajiao. It was established about 1,700 years ago. It features 36 stone bridges as numerous rivers line Zhujiajiao. Many ancient buildings still line the riverbanks with shops nestled into the historic buildings. We walked the stone streets lined with bustling food vendors and all forms of merchandise. We took a gondola ride along the canals as this was a perfect way to experience how local residents traveled for hundreds of years. We several local foods from the many shops including sticky rice dumpling (zong zi) and steamed pork wrapped in bamboo leaves (zha rou) as well as traditional stinky tofu. We then visited the City God Temple which originated as the Jinshan God Temple and was converted into a City God Temple in 1403, during the Yongle era of the Ming dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, the temple grew, and its popularity led many businesses being set up in the area, turning the surrounding streets into a busy marketplace. During the Cultural Revolution, the temple was closed down and for many years, the main hall was used as a jewelry shop. We then set out to Old Shanghai and the Yuyuan Garden. This garden dates back to 1559 during the Ming Dynasty. A classic Chinese Garden rich in history…halls, statues, rock structures, water features as well as the famous Grand Rockery and Exquisite Jade Rocks. Then the Old City Temple of Shanghai and some time for Shanghai Street Food…Shanghai Xiaolongbao, fried dumplings, Xinjiang skewers, and Shanghai noodles. Then the Jade Buddha Temple which was founded in 1882 with two jade Buddha statues imported to Shanghai from Burma by sea. These were a sitting Buddha (1.95 meters tall, 3 tons), and a smaller reclining Buddha representing the Buddha's death. The temple now contains a much larger reclining Buddha made of marble, donated from Singapore. Before calling it a day we walked the Bund which is an area along the Huangpu River separating new Shanghai from the old. An absolutely packed day with Cathy but we were incredibly relaxed. The experience was incredible from start (booking) to finish. Highly recommend!!

We had such a Great day with our tour guide, she was very attentive & understanding. She was very good with the kids too! Her Personality is just Perfect for a Tour Guide, Very Bubbly, Knowledgeable, Educated, Kind & Calm. We Enjoyed all the time we’ve spent with her. The Driver who picked us up both way, from and to terminal & airport were also very punctual! Well done! Awesome Experience in Shanghai, wouldn’t be able to do it without your help,

I would like to say I booked with Jenny tours For a 12 hour two water towns in one day and day two a 9 hour tour of the city highlights. Celine was the perfect tour guild. She was extremely pleasant, bubbly and knowledgeable. She has tons of energy and is very creative at working with time on giving you the best of the best experience for your tour. She definitely made the trip what it was and I know we would not have had nearly as much fun in Shanghai without her I totally recommend requesting her. Thank you, Celine Huang Your new friend Edward aka Spider

Apple was amazing. She was very knowledgeable of the area abs spoke great English. The water town was beautiful and shopping was great.

I found Jenny's Shanghai Tour on the web and chose her over other companies because she was extremely easy to communicate with over email. She made me feel comfortable by answering all of my questions promptly. We flew into Shanghai a couple of days earlier than our planned tour with a larger tour company so that we could visit Disneyland and Zhujiajiao (water town) since it was not a part of that tour. I used Jenny's Shanghai Tours to transport us from the airport to Disneyland and then on a private tour the day after we visited Disneyland. Apple was our tour guide and met us at the airport and took us to Disneyland. She was full of useful information on our drive to our hotel. The day after we went to Disney, they were right on time to take us on an amazing private tour of the water town along with the Bund shopping area, marriage market and Yu Gardens in Shanghai before dropping us off at our hotel on time for our meeting. Apple was extremely knowledgeable and even took us to yummy dumpling lunch. They were able to pack in a lot in a short amount of time. I highly recommend Jenny's Shanghai Tours and felt it was a great value.

The experienoce started before I even made it to China. Jenny will work with you to make sure all your desires come true on your day. All the ideas I shared in messages we were passed into my guide on the day. Very seamless and very professional. When in a city as large as Shanghai, to really experience it, you need a dedicated guide. My guide was Peggy. Peggy is not only an amazing guide with knowledge of the local area and the history of China, she is an amazing person. As I was alone on business I asked Jenny for a chatty guide. I felt like I had spent all day with a friend who was showing me around. It was extremely pleasant and was a day I will always remember. We first visited the water town which took about 45 mins in car (traffic was great). But, in those 45 mins I asked and asked queistions to which Peggy had all the answers. The water town was the main event and we made the afternoon a little more “plan as we go”. We did have a plan, but Peggy was more than happy to change things up to suit my needs for the way I felt when I woke up that day. We went to the jade Buda temple, French concession, Confucious school with tea tasting and for a local lunch in afternoon. Each place we visited I had a detailed explanation on anything I asked, and I generally as a lot of questions! I can’t state enough that if you are interested in history and learning about the local area, and how Chinese people have lived in the past 100+ years this is the trip for you. I had been in Shanghai for 4 days prior to this tour and had notleaned anything in comparison. If you pick Jenny’s and Peggy is available then you are in for a treat. The only bad thing about Jenny’s tours is that they don’t operate in every country, maybe one day! I will book again when I revisit China. If you are reading this Peggy, thanks again! Mike, Zurich