Погода: Сучжоу, ноябрь

Regulars give late November here as about 16C in the day and under 10C in the evening, cold and windy but reasonably dry, with the genuinely hard winds holding off until late December. Our row averages 18.4C over 10.3C, reading as 17C and 8C in a 17.8 kph wind, with 59.8mm across 7.3 days. They rate October the better month on two counts - warmer and historically cleaner air - and our AQI of 110 does not argue. On autumn colour they are honest: the city does not do it well, mid-November is the best of it, and Suzhou or the botanical gardens are where to look. The record: humidity 75 percent and 6.4 hours of sun inside 10.6 of daylight.

Forum posters describe April in Suzhou as often cloudy or rainy, with typical temperatures between 13-20C, though posters are consistent that there's no distinct 'rain season' here the way some regions have - rain is a regular but not overwhelming feature of the month. Posters consistently rate mid-to-late April through May as just about perfect weather-wise, with April/May and September/October generally named as the most comfortable overall stretches to visit the wider Jiangsu region. Posters flag April and May as peak tourism season, meaning real crowds and higher prices alongside the good weather. Posters describe early April specifically as bringing magnolia and some cherry blossoms into bloom. Posters generally rate April as a good, if increasingly crowded, time to visit Suzhou, occasional rain a minor trade-off for the pleasant temperatures and spring blooms.

Forum posters call October a clear step up from the still-hot early September stretch in the Shanghai/Suzhou area, with visitors reporting ideal sunny conditions, though some rain is still possible depending on the week. One timing note worth knowing: mid-October is generally considered too early for peak autumn foliage - the best color typically runs November into early December - so October garden visits lean more on the classical Suzhou gardens' architecture, rockwork and water features than on fall leaves. The bigger practical concern posters raise for October specifically isn't weather at all but crowds, since it's one of the most popular domestic travel months in China.