Royal Garden Inn — Hotel in Suzhou City

I booked this hotel online and chose it due to its location to the old part of Suzhou. It is in walking distance to some great sites, the metro, visitor information and shopping downtown. ||||The first thing one should know is that no taxi is able to take you directly to this hotel as it is located on one of the canals. The taxi will only take you so far (Shangtang road) and then you have to take a short walk through the very small streets and across a bridge. A great place if you have very light luggage. I came here for the weekend from Nanjing so found this was quite suitable. ||||Reception staff were very helpful and spoke reasonable English. The hotel had no English maps or tour guides. However a short walk away there is a visitor information centre which can help, which I would recommend. ||||I had an upstairs room overlooking the canal and although the room was small I found it very comfortable. At night it does get noisy from the restaurants and people walking by below however this quietened down around 11pm. One thing I did enjoy was there was very little noise from traffic overnight therefore very quiet and peaceful. The bathroom was very clean and towels of reasonable standard. The bed was the typical hard Chinese style and very low to the ground. The hotel provided free water, a kettle and tea which was complimentary. ||||The only thing I found most inconvenient is that this hotel did not provide a breakfast and the location for the morning did not have any other options to go out for breakfast. Although a ten to fifteen minute walk away towards to Shangtang road does give you options for a Chinese breakfast. Be prepared to test your language skills and be adventurous with the food here however worth the effort. ||||The hotel does have wifi in the lobby areas but can be variable in strength. The reception staff were very helpful as one day the wifi was non existent and they took me to another place where I could access this. ||||Overall a good place to experience a short stay with light luggage. Be prepared for a morning walk to breakfast bars and restaurants close by for lunchtime or...

This hotel is right in the middle of the heritage spot. Each day, probably 100,000 tourists walk past your room. It's fun, it's vibrant.||||The hotel is just a very short walk from exit #3 of the Shan Tang St subway station, just one stop south of the Railway Station. Make a U-turn when you pop out of the exit. The main road is GuangJi Road, turn left for south and from the bridge (where there should be thousands of tourists) you can see the hotel on the right bank of the river.||||We had a room facing the river. Boatloads of tourists will be snapping at you if you stand at the balcony.||||The night scene is even more fabulous with all the special lighting. Thankfully, the lights go off at 9pm and the hordes disappear.||||The hotel is very central. The bus stop outside has more than 10 routes to many places. But you need to know Chinese to read the route tables.||||The hotel is physically ok but for the faucet in the wash basin. It is too near the edge of the basin that it is impossible to wash your hands or face. Ours had no hot water although there were two incoming feeds.||||Warning to some: the bathroom/toilet has only glass walls and no lockable doors.||||The hotel staff is terrible!! They smoke in the lobby, sending the smell to all the rooms. The girl checking me out was eating her noodles at the same time. They can offer no help, not even where...

This hotel is right in the middle of the heritage spot. Each day, probably 100,000 tourists walk past your room. It's fun, it's vibrant.||||The hotel is just a very short walk from exit #3 of the Shan Tang St subway station, just one stop south of the Railway Station. Make a U-turn when you pop out of the exit. The main road is GuangJi Road, turn left for south and from the bridge (where there should be thousands of tourists) you can see the hotel on the right bank of the river.||||We had a room facing the river. Boatloads of tourists will be snapping at you if you stand at the balcony.||||The night scene is even more fabulous with all the special lighting. Thankfully, the lights go off at 9pm and the hordes disappear.||||The hotel is very central. The bus stop outside has more than 10 routes to many places. But you need to know Chinese to read the route tables.||||The hotel is physically ok but for the faucet in the wash basin. It is too near the edge of the basin that it is impossible to wash your hands or face. Ours had no hot water although there were two incoming feeds.||||Warning to some: the bathroom/toilet has only glass walls and no lockable doors.||||The hotel staff is terrible!! They smoke in the lobby, sending the smell to all the rooms. The girl checking me out was eating her noodles at the same time. They can offer no help, not even where...