Atlas of China
Nanjing to Suzhou 南京 – 苏州
Door to door, the high-speed train comes out ahead: about 1 hour, counting about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time for a flight. A standard-class seat is ¥106. The stations are in or near the city centres, which is what tips it.
| Way | Time | Door to door | Fare | A day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-speed trainNanjing South 南京南 → Suzhou North 苏州北 | 44 minG1, fastest | 1 hour | ¥106standard class | 21505:06–22:24 |
| By road215 km | 3 h 10 min | 3 hours |
By train
215 direct high-speed trains a day run from Nanjing South to Suzhou North, between 05:06 and 22:24. The fastest, G1, takes 44 min, and a standard-class seat is ¥106. Coming back, 212 trains a day, the fastest 44 min (G26, 05:05 to 23:39).
Suzhou: No airport of its own: flights use Sunan Shuofang Airport in Wuxi, about 30 km away, and Shanghai is about half an hour by high-speed train.
By air
No nonstop flights.
By road
215 km by road, about 3 h 10 min of driving: routed on OpenStreetMap, with speeds calibrated on measured trips.
Stops on the way
Cities between the two with direct trains from Nanjing and on to Suzhou, so the trip can be broken there.
- Changzhou 常州 110 km from Nanjing · 29 min there, 21 min on
At the other end
Featured places around Suzhou.
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Classical Gardens of Suzhou 苏州园林
Whole landscapes of rock, water and pavilion folded into a city block
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Zhouzhuang 周庄古镇
Jiangnan's most famous water town, famed for its Twin Bridges and merchant halls
Around Nanjing: Purple Mountain & Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Fuzimiao and the Qinhuai River, City Wall of Nanjing.
On the map
Open either city on the illustrated map, or put both in a trip and let the planner lay out the days and the legs between them, with the same tables these numbers come from.
Book
About Nanjing · About Suzhou · Where Nanjing reaches in a day · All routes
Trains are every direct train on 2026-10-28 or 2026-11-11 in the 12306 timetable, with standard-class fares; one weekday, so weekend and holiday services differ, and the fastest train may not run every day. Flights are the airlines' schedules for 2026-10-28, plus routes Wikipedia lists for small airports. Drives are routed on OpenStreetMap roads (extract of 2026-10-21) where the pair was routed, else estimated from the distance. Door-to-door times add about 20 minutes to board a train and 2½ hours of airport time to a flight. How to book is in the guide to trains and 12306; the rail times are open data on the data page.