Tongli Lakeview Hotel

Tongli Lakeview Hotel is a lakeside hotel at No. 8 Chongben Road in Tongli Town, Wujiang District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Tongli is one of the Jiangnan water towns, a UNESCO-listed canal town area known for its stone bridges, waterside lanes and the Retreat and Reflection Garden (Tuisi Garden), and it lies about 20 km south-east of Suzhou city centre. The hotel takes advantage of its position by lakes and gardens, offering lake-view rooms and green grounds that contrast with the busy canal lanes of the town's historic core. Room types listed are Standard Rooms, Lake View Rooms and Suites, and the listed amenities include a restaurant, a pool, wifi, lake views and gardens. There is no spa or fitness centre listed. Dining in the hotel restaurant is complemented by the town's local dishes, which include braised pork in soy sauce, freshwater fish and shrimp from the lakes, and sweet rice-based snacks sold along the canals. Service suits leisure travellers and families making an overnight stay rather than a day trip, which allows them to see the water town in the early morning and evening after the day-tour crowds have left. Rates of roughly ¥450-900 per night (about $67-134) put it in the mid-range for the area. Staying overnight in Tongli also allows time for boat rides on the canals and lakes, walks across the three bridges of the Sanqiao area and visits to the town's old residences. Getting there from Suzhou is possible by bus, taxi or ride-hailing in roughly 40 minutes depending on traffic, and the town is also reachable by road from Shanghai in about an hour and a half. Visitors should expect busy day-trip crowds at weekends and during public holidays, when the calm of a lakeside stay is especially valuable.