Suzhou travel guide: Explore the city through all four seasons and discover seasonal food and scenery

Visiting Suzhou across the four seasons reveals a different charm each time—you could explore it all year and never get bored. In spring, peach and cherry blossoms in Humble Administrator's Garden bloom against white walls and black tiles, looking like a colored ink painting. Along Pingjiang Road, sculling boats drift slowly by while the air fills with the sweet scent of qingtuan rice cakes and fermented rice pancakes. Head out to Lake Tai, where golden rapeseed flowers stretch to the horizon, and sip fresh tea until you feel completely relaxed. In summer, lotus flowers fill the ponds at Humble Administrator's Garden. Sit by the water, catch the breeze, and let your restlessness fade. A bowl of three-shrimp noodles, gorgon fruit and white fungus soup, or Suzhou-style mung bean soup chases the heat away. At night, take a painted boat along the moat, then duck into a teahouse for a pingtan storytelling performance. Autumn is neither too hot nor too cold, and the whole city smells of osmanthus. Ginkgo leaves turn yellow and maples turn red. Hairy crabs are plump, while osmanthus cakes and fresh pork mooncakes draw long lines. It's the best time to enjoy Suzhou's food: try a steaming pot of Cangshu lamb with lamb jelly and chili sauce to warm up from the inside out. Spend the day soaking up the sun at a teahouse, or find a quiet corner in the less-crowded Yipu Garden to zone out and listen to the bells of Hanshan Temple.