江苏省

Why this place

Jiangsu is the province of gardens and canals: Suzhou's classical gardens, Yangzhou's lakeside parks, and the water towns that survive between them. It also holds Nanjing, the capital under six dynasties, and its Grand Canal cities are where the empire's grain and salt trade ran.

What to see

• Suzhou's gardens — the Humble Administrator's, the Lingering Garden and the Master of the Nets
• Nanjing's Ming city wall, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and the Massacre Memorial
• Yangzhou's Slender West Lake and its teahouse breakfast
• The water towns: Tongli, Zhouzhuang and Luzhi
• Wuxi's Lake Tai and the Grand Canal through the city

What to eat

• Huaiyang cuisine — refined, lightly seasoned; Yangzhou fried rice and Wensi tofu
• Suzhou's sweet-savoury cooking, and Yangzhou's morning-tea culture
• Zhenjiang black vinegar

How to plan

A week: Nanjing two, Suzhou two, Yangzhou and Wuxi one each, plus a water town night.

Best time

March–May and September–November; gardens are good in light rain

Practical tips

• The high-speed rail makes Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Nanjing all reachable in under an hour from each other

Cities 13

南京市 Nanjing无锡市 Wuxi徐州市 Xuzhou常州市 Changzhou苏州市 Suzhou南通市 Nantong连云港市 Lianyungang淮安市 Huai'an盐城市 Yancheng扬州市 Yangzhou镇江市 Zhenjiang泰州市 Taizhou宿迁市 Suqian