Hangzhou to Suzhou by boat.

I understand my wife and I can take a boat from Hangzhou to Suzhou on the Grand Canal. We%26#39;ll be there at the end of March. How comfortable are the accommodations on the boat? Is it clean? Are meals available? Is the trip worthwhile? How do we make reservations?

Thanks.

Hangzhou to Suzhou by boat.

Anybody have an answer to this question?

Hangzhou to Suzhou by boat.

Maybe I should just go do this trip so that I can answer this question...

I read a post when you said the boat goes the other way - leaving around 5pm, so I presume it must go back as well.

Ellyse, It would be essential research for you to do this trip. I%26#39;m surprised you haven%26#39;t yet ;-0

I went down to the dock in Hangzhou to get information but there was nobody there. The boats look very old %26amp; dilapidated. The only friend I know who did the trip was disappointed. Most of the trip is at night. I read on this or another forum that the service was ceasing.

thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagepost.cfm鈥?/a> has a couple of old reviews (not very detailed) if anyone%26#39;s interested.

Here%26#39;s also a review from another traveller who emailed to me 1 year ago: ';The boat ride on the emperor鈥檚 channel was quite an adventure. There were some American girls who decided to go back to take the train to Hangzhou, because they didn鈥檛 trust the boat!!!. But it was good though! we had a small cabin with clean drapes on a hard bed, we had a great dinner (fried fish very delicious!). The way of manoeuvring the boat was pretty exciting 鈥?it was like taxi driving in Shanghai! Passing long towboats without really seeing the oncoming traffic because there where only tiny little lights鈥? But coming into Hangzhou early in the morning seeing all those people doing their exercises 鈥?great!';

That%26#39;s a really long URL above, so be sure to copy all of it correctly; the very last part should end with ';messid=11316286';.

It seems that the overnight boat to Suzhou from Hangzhou does not run anymore. At least that%26#39;s what I think is the case after searching for the pier in a wet Hangzhou today! The people who run the local water bus also said that it didn%26#39;t run.

Okay, it%26#39;s now April 2008. I%26#39;ll be in Hangzhou in July and thought to go by Grand Canal to Suzhou. Any more updeates? Thanks!

AFAIK, it%26#39;s no longer running due to lack of demand.