By Air

Suzhou has its own airport, Suzhou Guangfu International Airport , but it has limited connections - flights only from Guangfu in Guandong Province and Beijing only once every week - so you are most likely to come in through another city.

By Bus

~Through Shanghai
The most common route is via Shanghai — Shanghai Pudong International Airport for the majority of international flights or Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport with mostly domestic flights, which are 120km and 86km away from Suzhou respectively. Shuttle buses run between Suzhou and the airports daily. The whole journey takes about one hour and forty minutes.

Transfer by private car (with driver) costs approximately RMB 400 one way from Pudong airport and takes approximately 2 hours in light traffic. Though, when approaching the bus terminus at PVG you may be offered a one way trip for RMB 300. This can be reduced if the driver finds someone to share with you

~Through Wuxi
Wuxi is a small city close to Suzhou with an airport that could be an alternative for flights within China. It is smaller, and easier to get around, than Shanghai. There is almost no transportation to/from there but Suzhou taxis will go for about ￥120-160. You can also take a taxi from the Wuxi airport into central Wuxi train station (about 50-60RMB), and take a short 25 minute train ride from Wuxi station to Suzhou.

~Through other cities
Other major cities nearby, Hangzhou and Nanjing, also have international airports. Either is conveniently reached via the new fast trains, or by bus. Air Asia's Hangzhou to Kuala Lumpur flight is usually the cheapest route from central China to Southeast Asia;

By train

~From Shanghai
Myriad trains leave from Shanghai for Suzhou daily. The cost for a train is： local without air-con yen13 for an approximately two-hour ride, or yen26 with air-con for an approximately 20 or 40-minute ride. Make sure to ask for the next earliest arrival time since booking the next new high-speed train often means a 2-hour wait in order to save 20 minutes on the travel time, hence arriving an hour or so later than the slightly slower train.

Trains are sometimes sold out and it would be a good idea to buy tickets ahead of time. There are plenty of travel agencies that sell tickets, especially in Shanghai, although you can also buy tickets at the train station, which has several ticket windows that cater to English speakers.

Note: Trains with with the D prefix are the new high speed trains. T trains are not as fast as D, but still faster and more comfortable than everything else.The first column is the train number, the third is the departure time and the fourth is the arrival time in Suzhou. Buying round-trip tickets would not probably save you any money but would save you a lot of trouble.

~From Nanjing
You can also reach Suzhou by high speed (CRH) or normal train from Nanjing. Suzhou trains leave from the main (North) train station, which is on the subway line.

~From Hangzhou
Trains run fairly frequently from Hangzhou.

By Bus

Buses leave regularly from the Shanghai Bus Station adjacent to the railway station for some destination and from the South Bus Station for many buses in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The journey is usually about 2hrs 30mins from Shanghai. Hangzhou is about 2.5 hours by car to/from Suzhou. See Shanghai for more details on additional bus stations.

Taxis

As in most other Chinese cities, are a safe and easy method of travel. If possible try to have your destination written in Chinese on a piece of paper as this will greatly simplify your journey. Always walk past the touts near stations and tourist attractions and get a taxi from the queue. You may get some great mini-lessons in Chinese language from Suzhou's taxi drivers.

Pedicabs

Available on most main streets and always near tourist attractions. Negotiate the price before you get in and don't allow the driver to change it once you arrive at your destination, for example, saying 15 and demanding 50. This is a slow means of travel but it allows you to actually see the city while you go somewhere. Despite what you might expect, pedicabs are often more expensive than taxis- and be warned that 99% of Suzhou pedicab drivers are notorious price-gougers, so bargain hard with these guys. Expect to pay a little more in the summer months since the driver is working hard in the heat to take you there.

Motorcycle Taxis

Found the same places as pedicabs, and come with all of the pedicabs' caveats listed above. Suzhou motorcycle taxis are usually filthy, dangerously driven, and relentlessly uncomfortable (the seats are about 12 cm above the floor) so traumatic to your spine and are not recommended.