Weekend trip from Shanghai to Thousand Islands

A great weekend trip from Shanghai is to the Thousand Islands in Chunan (淳安）, Zhejiang Province.

Day 1

• We drove straight from Shanghai, it took us about 4 hours.
• Alternatively you can take high speed train from Shanghai to Hangzhou East(1h) then take bus from Hangzhou East for a bit over 2hrs to get to Thousand Island Lake. There are also direct bus for 4-5hrs from Shanghai if you don't mind.
• It costed 150rmb to get in the scenic area, but it's cheaper in the winter only 120rmb
• We took the ferry boat for 45rmb each - However, you only get to go on 3 islands and the guides kept finding ways to get you to pay more for seat upgrades and activities. Meanwhile, I don't know if there's any other way you can see the islands
• Then we took a bike trip around the lake - this is definitely the highlight of the trip! You can rent single bikes for 80rmb (3hrs) or double bikes for 180rmb (3hrs). They are available to rent everywhere

DAY 2

• The second day we also went to visit the Forrest near by. Book your tickets online at least 3hrs in advance or you pay almost double at the door (62rmb). It's just nice to do some forrest bathing, the paid activities inside are not that exciting
• We drove there, you can also just take taxis for about 50rmb - 30min from the scenic area or where you'd be staying
• Then we went to visit an ancient town called Qincun Village (芹村）There is a bus from the Thousand Island bus station to Qincun. The village has 700yrs of history, a lot of sights of tradition can still be spotted.