Half-Day Private Zhujiajiao Water Town Tour with Boat Ride from Shanghai
5
LIKELY TO SELL OUT*
Half-Day Private Zhujiajiao Water Town Tour with Boat Ride from Shanghai
By Shanghai Driver Guide
What is Travelers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
About
China can be overwhelming, especially when the language is unfamiliar—which makes a private guide less of an indulgence than it is elsewhere. Explore the charming water town of Zhujiajiao the easy way, with a driver-guide who can tend to all your personal needs. You’ll enjoy a boat ride, a guided tour, and a visit to local shops. Convenient hotel pickup and drop-off make for a seamless experience.
Lowest price guaranteeReserve now & pay laterFree cancellation
Ages 0-99
Duration: 5h
Start time: Check availability
Mobile ticket
Live guide: English
More
Highlights
- Explore the pretty water town of Zhujiajiao with a private guide
- Relax with private, door-to-door transportation from your hotel or the port
- Enjoy a canal boat ride, a guided tour, and a shopping trip
- Rely on your guide to avoid language-barrier hassles
- Bottled water
- A professional driver guide
- Hotel/port pickup and drop-off
- Round-trip private transfer
- Entry/Admission - Zhujiajiao Ancient Town
- Entry/Admission - Zhujiajiao Kezhi Garden
- Entry/Admission - Fangsheng Bridge
- Entry/Admission - Daqing Post Office
What's not included- Lunch
- Gratuities
- After pickup from your hotel or port, your driver and guide will take you to the 400-year-old water town of Zhujiajiao. Your private guide will accompany you around the town, exploring its charming bridges and canals. Start with a boat ride to get into the pace of life, then stroll through ancient alleyways to admire landmarks like the Fangsheng Bridge, first built around 300 years ago, and Zhujiajiao Kezhi Garden. After you’ve taken plenty of photographs, your guide will recommend a restaurant for lunch (at your own expense). After your meal, visit some local shops with your guide on hand to help translate prices. Your tour ends with drop-off back at your hotel or the port.
- Start:Multiple pickup locations offered.Pickup details
- You will be picked up from your hotel lobby or Cruise Terminal with a sign of your name by our guide.
Hotel pickup offeredDuring checkout you will be able to select from the list of included hotels.Port pickup offeredDuring checkout you will be able to select from the list of included ports.- Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal
End:This activity ends back at the meeting point. - Infant seats available
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
If you have questions about accessibility, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 28669P1- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Please wear comfortable walking shoes
- Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time upon booking
- Most travelers can participate
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
- For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.
- If you have questions about this tour or need help making your booking, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 28669P1
From
$140.00
per adult (price varies by group size)
Select date and travelers
Similar experiences
Itinerary
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
About the operator
Don’t take it from us – here’s what people have to say about this operator:
- TMLee20140 contributionsLovely trip!Lovely cruise & walkabout with Mary. Couldn’t have made it through d cruise throngs of people without her. Nice night lights of City Temple 城隍庙 & exploration of the happening night life at Xintiandi 新天地。Written October 24, 2024
- mikefA5520MI0 contributionsA must do in ShanghaiI was blown away by this tour. My guide, Roy, was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. He made this one of the best tours I’ve ever been on.Written October 15, 2024
- Terri G0 contributionsVIP is the way to go!VIP is the way to go! This experience is a beautiful view of Shanghai at night. The boat was extremely crowded, but since we booked a private VIP experience with Tom, our guide, it seemed like we almost had the boat to ourselves. It was a little rainy, but Tom was prepared with umbrellas. Great experience - the skyline of Shanghai at night is one of a kind.Written October 13, 2024
- virginiepY6265QZ0 contributionsGreat experience for first timersThis was such a great experience - Mary was my guide and since it was just me on the tour, it felt like I was hanging with a friend who was showing me around yet sharing great historical references. Mary was super nice and very helpful, it was extremely hot that day but she made it very enjoyable - highly recommendWritten July 5, 2024
- Abventures0 contributionsExcellent tour!This tour was excellent! Our driver, Tom, was prompt, spoke excellent English, and shared a wealth of information. The gardens in Suzhou were beautiful, lunch was delicious, and the water town was amazing! Highly recommend!Written July 3, 2024
- Npk920 contributionsAn amazing evening cruise plus a few extras!This private VIP evening cruise on the Huangpu River in Shanghai was amazing! Thank goodness the weather was clear enough to see that glittering Shanghai skyline during the cruise. Easily one of the best city skylines we’ve ever seen and we loved watching every second of it during the cruise. Mary was our tour guide and she did a great job making sure we were taken care of the whole evening, the seats we had during the evening cruise were indeed VIP. After the boat cruise, Mary took us to see the Yuyuan Garden at night which was amazing to see with all the lights illuminated and also the Former French Concession which had some lively vibes at night. The whole tour lasted about 4 hours or so. Special thanks once again to Mary for being our guide that night and also Mr Tang for being our driver and keeping us safe! Highly recommended tour when you’re in Shanghai! - NolanWritten June 16, 2024
- Stanojm00 contributionsEnjoyable eveningThe tour was well organize and evening Shanghai lights were amazing. This is must see and would recommend this evening show of lights. Our tour guide Roy was fantastic in explaining all details about the city and happy to answer all our question.Written May 31, 2024
- dinosaurt0 contributionsBadly organisedBadly planned. And no offer of a partial refund. Tom or his employee made us wait for over an hour for boat tickets. WHY DID HE NOT GET TICKETS EARLIER? Why make us wait with 10000s of people in the parking lot ??? We offered to go to the other place first and come back later for the boat cruise. He refused. And then we went to the Chinese market when the lights switched off. Do not recommend.Written May 24, 2024
- coconutugly0 contributionsAll of china was at the dock. So we wasted 1 hour.We were collected on time, no problem here. The only hitch was that no tickets were bought for the cruise so we had to wait a whole hour (or close to it) in an ugly parking lot. By the time we finished the late cruise we had exactly 3 mins to drive to some temple to see the lights. I think we got there at 21:57 and the lights went off at 22:00. This was an expensive evening to just basically see one thing. The cruise though was wonderful, and they do buy a VIP ticket so that you don’t sit with trillions of people. However , the sailing times of the cruises should be taken into consideration and tickets bought earlier, so that you can board immediately.Written April 29, 2024
- mariagV2915YX0 contributionsWonderful cruise !Excellent tour ! Our tour guide, Tom, was great and very informative. We had a wonderful evening. The cruise gives you a unique view of the modern and old Shanghai. Don’t miss it!Written April 5, 2024
- NorthStar627733282520 contributionsGreat experience in SuzhouThe tour guide Roy is very nice, responsible and on time, he explained all the history story of different sightseeing spots for us and made us understand the city more. We went during CNY and everywhere was crowded. Our guide tried his very best to make all our itinerary on time and we had a great experience in Suzhou.Written February 17, 2024
- johnwH3156WR0 contributionsPerfect Shanghai EveningEverything was perfect, from scheduling to being picked up at our hotel. Not only does Tom know his stuff, he curated a perfect evening. It gave us an overview of what to check out latter with more time. It was also nice to have someone readily available to take pictures that were not selfies.Written December 24, 2023
- LemuelLee180 contributionsSuzhou and ZhouZhuang Private TourTom was amazing, he was knowledgeable articulate and attentive. As a combined driver and tour guide he was perfect. I would highly recommend for anyone visiting Shanghai!Written December 20, 2023
- Stefie f0 contributionsWelcome to Shanghai night lifeOur tour guide Roy has show us a vip cruise thru the Huangpu river , a historic site of the bund , the Shanghai tower , the oriental pearl , the financial hub at night , briefs the historic of the current and past … after the cruise , we went down to the Yu garden , the old and new town of Shanghai , the bustling of site the French concession area , the Christmas market , the financial building site at night . A short relax but a fruitful and knowledgeable tour.Written December 17, 2023
- giuliluconi0 contributionsGood tourTom is very good and very nice! You can see the main highlights of the city at night. Recommended!!!Written November 11, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinions of Tripadvisor members and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
5.0
91 reviews
Excellent
83
Very good
8
Average
0
Poor
0
Terrible
0
edwardjdebiw
3 contributions
Oct 2021
Our tour guide Tom was was very friendly, and knowledgeable about the area and its history. He also had plenty of insight about the area of Shanghai where we were staying I.e…restaurants, attractions etc.. I would highly recommend this tour to anybody. Thanks Tom!
Written October 3, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Tanyamy S
1 contribution
My family and I went to Shanghai during the new year time. I contacted Tom for booking. He is really kind to me. I desired the car to pick me up at the airport and then go to Zhujiajiao. Although the way from airport to zhujiajiao is farther than from the downtown. Tom gave us the same price as the trip from downtown. On the tour day, David was our guide. He and the driver came to airport on time. David can speak English fluently and he explained the historical knowledge about Zhujiajiao excellently. My family had the great fun and happy for this tour.
Written January 8, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Richard B
103 contributions
Oct 2019
There is a long ride to get to the location (and a long ride back). We had plenty of time to visit the city, have a nice lunch, and shop in the local stores. Our guide was great and modified the trip as we wanted. Recommend if you have time and want to see "the old ways"
Written October 27, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rowena W
Littleton, CO94 contributions
Sep 2019
If you are interested in visiting this ancient water town, I recommend this private tour. Tom arrived at our hotel on time. We had been in Shanghai a day-and-a-half and saw some of the sites there on our own, but it was good to learn more about the history of specific Shanghai buildings on our way out to Zhujiajiao. We went on a weekday and it was very quiet. Lots of shops and restaurants. We went through a traditional Chinese home. Tom explained the significance of the way the rooms and furniture are laid out (feng shui). The gardens and bridges here are lovely. Went through the historic post office and museum. Even walked through the neighborhood to get a good sense of how the people live. We've been to Venice and this town definitely should be described as "a Venice of the East." On the drive there and back from Shanghai, Tom told us about life in Shanghai today. Very informative. And he gave us tips on a great soup dumpling restaurant near our hotel and where we could purchase moon cakes (we were there the week before the Mid-Autumn Festival and moon cakes are pretty popular at that time). Thanks Tom. We enjoyed the drive and tour.
Written September 22, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Carabarde
San Anselmo, CA31 contributions
Even though this is a touristy thing to do I would highly recommend it. The town is really beautiful and exactly what you imagine an old Shanghai water town to be. Just like the movies. We have a 10 and 13 year old and They loved it. I grew up in Hong Kong and travel in Asia a lot and thoroughly enjoyed my day here. Our tour guide Vicky was great. She lived in a water town growing up and had a lot of first hand knowledge.
Written April 14, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
geoffp475
Brisbane, Australia351 contributions
Mar 2019 • Couples
As we do not like doing tours with lots of people, we opted for a private tour with Shanghai Driver Guide … we chose them because of their exceptionally high rating with Trip Advisor and we are SO GLAD that we did.
We were collected punctually from our hotel in Pudong New Area by our guide Vicky (& driver) @ 9-00am & headed off towards Zhujiajiao Water Town. As they are professional, they had already done their homework in relation to the traffic and thereby advised us that the trip would take a bit longer owing to the traffic congestion …. hey, we were on holidays so it was not an issue for us!
Vicky speaks excellent English and she pointed out all the specific items of interest along the way and included historical significance where appropriate for us.
We spent a total of two and a half hours at the Water Town (which exceeded our expectations!) & again Vicky was so meticulous in the explanations and the detail that she provided to us. Their tour also included access to an old mansion and extensive beautiful garden, the old post office and a new Tibetan display (these attractions you would normally pay a separate entrance fee, but they were part of our package).
With Vicky's guidance, we sampled some local cuisine and it was quite nice … and very, very cheap ( my lunch cost $2). A canal boat ride was also part of the package and you must do this as it is an integral part of the water town features.
We give this tour the highest possible recommendation as it is brilliant!
We were collected punctually from our hotel in Pudong New Area by our guide Vicky (& driver) @ 9-00am & headed off towards Zhujiajiao Water Town. As they are professional, they had already done their homework in relation to the traffic and thereby advised us that the trip would take a bit longer owing to the traffic congestion …. hey, we were on holidays so it was not an issue for us!
Vicky speaks excellent English and she pointed out all the specific items of interest along the way and included historical significance where appropriate for us.
We spent a total of two and a half hours at the Water Town (which exceeded our expectations!) & again Vicky was so meticulous in the explanations and the detail that she provided to us. Their tour also included access to an old mansion and extensive beautiful garden, the old post office and a new Tibetan display (these attractions you would normally pay a separate entrance fee, but they were part of our package).
With Vicky's guidance, we sampled some local cuisine and it was quite nice … and very, very cheap ( my lunch cost $2). A canal boat ride was also part of the package and you must do this as it is an integral part of the water town features.
We give this tour the highest possible recommendation as it is brilliant!
Written March 28, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
impossiblefunky
Westland, MI12 contributions
Nov 2017 • Couples
When you're in Shanghai you can forget that there's a world outside of the city that seems to never end. Zhujiajiao maintains the quaint -- though quickly disappearing -- charm of a small village.
Tom picked my wife and I up from our place in Pudong and got us to Zhujiajiao in a cool 80 minutes. He is a terrific guide, walked and talked us through the highlights of the tour including the little postal museum and the Ma family gardens. We got to the village around 11:30 AM and left a little after 2, managing to beat the crowds.
I'll value my memories of Zhujiajiao for years to come.
Tom picked my wife and I up from our place in Pudong and got us to Zhujiajiao in a cool 80 minutes. He is a terrific guide, walked and talked us through the highlights of the tour including the little postal museum and the Ma family gardens. We got to the village around 11:30 AM and left a little after 2, managing to beat the crowds.
I'll value my memories of Zhujiajiao for years to come.
Written November 7, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Bobit Ebarle
2 contributions
Dec 2019
Tom had to attend to his daughter's event that day so he sent Vicky as our tour guide instead. Zhujiajiao is an endearing town! I went with 4 friends and we found it to be truly interesting, especially the bodies of water which we traversed via boat rides.
But what made the trip a really experience was our tour guide, Vicky. She shared a ton of history about the place, about Shanghai, and how people lived then. You'll learn about how much of Shanghai before was made of water towns, the gender hierarchies, the importance of agriculture in the minds of the people, the vital role that post offices played, and so much more! And she even got us a secret menu item from the restaurant!
It was great to learn from Vicky and we could only hope that, through our exchanges, she also learned about our culture as well. I would definitely recommend this tour to those who want an out-of-the-city tour and most especially to those who want to see and learn about how people in Shanghai lived before!
But what made the trip a really experience was our tour guide, Vicky. She shared a ton of history about the place, about Shanghai, and how people lived then. You'll learn about how much of Shanghai before was made of water towns, the gender hierarchies, the importance of agriculture in the minds of the people, the vital role that post offices played, and so much more! And she even got us a secret menu item from the restaurant!
It was great to learn from Vicky and we could only hope that, through our exchanges, she also learned about our culture as well. I would definitely recommend this tour to those who want an out-of-the-city tour and most especially to those who want to see and learn about how people in Shanghai lived before!
Written December 10, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MHT80
Singapore, Singapore53 contributions
Nov 2019 • Solo
Very professional. Well organized. On time. Very informative. Beautiful place to visit outside of Shanghai for half a day. David the guide was fantastic and Tom the tour operator was very professional.
Written November 17, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christina M
San Diego, CA289 contributions
Nov 2019
Highly recommend visiting Zhujiajiao if you want to see how the Chinese people lived in the past. Our guide, Tom, was polite, helpful, and very knowledgeable. Tom was able to provide the background on everything we were seeing - e.g., the fung shui elements in the gardens, the traditional tea service for business meetings, how the Chinese postal system worked in its early years, etc. His knowledge really helped enrich our visit.
The door-to-door service was so convenient and Tom was prepared with all the admittance tickets that we needed to enter Zhujiajiao, visit the gardens, go on a boat ride, etc. He also recommended good spots to grab a bite (and places to avoid). It would have taken us much more time to arrange everything ourselves.
The door-to-door service was so convenient and Tom was prepared with all the admittance tickets that we needed to enter Zhujiajiao, visit the gardens, go on a boat ride, etc. He also recommended good spots to grab a bite (and places to avoid). It would have taken us much more time to arrange everything ourselves.
Written November 12, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This tour is advertised as from £49.69 per person but when I try to book it, it comes in at £115.52 per person. Is there any way of contacting the company direct to find out why this is and whether it is really correct?
Written October 4, 2019
Hi, I am hoping to do a half day tour to just the water town and be back by 2pm - is this possible?
Written August 5, 2019
Not that long we did not time it but I would say it was about 15 minutes. It was a very smooth trip and if you do not like boats you can walk over the bridge and use the lanes to walk to the main area
Written June 27, 2019
We are a group of 10 adults and 1 child, but we are able to ook max 9 adults. What is the solution ?
Written April 28, 2019
Yes U can book it by contacting Tom @ Shanghai Private Driver by SMS on
+86 150 2198 6304
Regards - Geoff
Written April 29, 2019
Haylea N
Houston, Texas
The listing says that this tour is $60.00/adult but it is ringing up $140.00/adult. Am I missing something?
Written April 18, 2019
Hi Haylea,
We had the same issue as well … we paid $200 each but we were the only 2 on the trip so it was a very private tour with Vicky and driver.
We can only assume that if you have a certain number of people then maybe you can get the price down to a much lower figure. Perhaps send your question to 'Shanghai Private Driver Tour'.
Regards - Geoff
Written April 19, 2019
Haylea N
Houston, Texas
The listing says that this tour is $60.00/adult but it is ringing up $140.00/adult. Am I missing something?
Written April 18, 2019
Hello, I’m only going to be in Shanghai for a few hours so I was wondering if I could be picked up & dropped off at the airport? Also if the tour starts at 10am will I be back for my 4pm flight?
Written April 10, 2019
Hi there,
I strongly doubt that U would have enough time to do it. For example, it took us an hour & a half travel time each way from near the Shanghai CBD(ie Pudong New Area).
They won't take U to the airport as that is nearly another hour further out from the CBD in the opposite direction to the Water Town.
Written April 10, 2019
Hi!
We're three adults currently in Shanghai looking into this tour. Are you available on Tuesday (April 2)? and how much will the total cost be?
Written March 31, 2019
We have taken a private taxi from hotel. It's about 1:30 hrs drive one way. We started from Bund area at 3 pm and came back around 9pm. It cost us 1000 RMB. It's a nice place to visit but not very great.
Written April 1, 2019
We were on a cruise so were back at the port for 4 pm
Written March 23, 2019
Hello, is the Zhujiajiao Water Town within the district of Shanghai that is covered by the 144hr visa free transit ?
Written March 18, 2019
Showing results 1-10 of 17
Buy it with
Top rated
*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.