Yu Garden guide
Separate the garden from the bazaar
“Yuyuan” can mean the ticketed classical Yu Garden or the open commercial lanes around the Zigzag Bridge and Huxinting Teahouse. They sit together but do not share one admission system. Enter the garden during its opening hours for rockeries, halls, lattice windows and water courts. The bazaar and old streets do not require a garden ticket.
These photographs show the surrounding bazaar, not the interior of the ticketed garden.
Garden by day, bazaar after dark
The garden dates to the Ming dynasty. Its compact plan uses walls, halls, ponds and rockeries to hide and reveal each space in sequence. Last entry is usually at 16:00, so the bazaar's evening hours do not apply to the garden.
After leaving, continue around the Zigzag Bridge, Ninghui Pavilion and the old shopping lanes. Lantern displays change with festivals and seasons; the decorations pictured here are not permanent.
A practical route
Visit the garden in the morning → eat nearby → walk through the City God Temple area and old streets. If evening lights are the priority, return to the bazaar later but finish the garden before last entry.
