Deal price: 1 night, old-town inn room (5 inns to choose from) — ¥499 (≈$69, was ¥1,195) · Breakfast for 2 · 2 Chaole City tickets with unlimited re-entry during your stay · 2 Tide-Watching Scenic Park tickets · Heritage craft experience · Immersive “Tide Music” role-play game · Valid November 1, 2026 – January 31, 2027 · ⏰ refundable if unreserved · Book by 18:00 the day before

Yanguan, on the Qiantang River in Haining, is the town of the famous tidal bore — the “first line tide” written up in the classic essay Watching the Tide — and the birthplace of writers Wang Guowei, Xu Zhimo and Jin Yong. Chaole City is a 3,000-mu theme town rebuilt from the old city, themed around tide-watching and music, run by the same group behind Wuzhen and Yixing Yao Lake Town. Staying guests get unlimited re-entry to the town during their stay, plus a free shuttle, free luggage storage and a welcome snack, and can walk to the Confucius temple school, Wang Guowei’s former home, Jin Yong Academy and the old city wall.

The room is your pick of five inns inside the town — Jiangyuanzi Inn, Baoren Apartment, Pingchu Inn, Pipa Inn or Jingguan Apartment — each with its own style, from riverside rooms to courtyard houses. The deal also includes a hands-on heritage craft (bamboo weaving, rattan weaving or seal incense, one per room card) and the “Tide Music” immersive real-scenery role-play game that kids in particular love. The two-night version of the same package is ¥599 (≈$83, was ¥1,195).

Practical notes: check-in from 14:00, check-out by 12:00. Book by 18:00 the day before; rooms are first-come, first-served, and unreserved vouchers can be refunded. Tide tip: the biggest bores come around the 18th day of the eighth lunar month, but large tides also run on the 1st–5th and 15th–20th days of each lunar month — check the tide timetable before you go. Address: Chaole City Theme Inn, 33 Beida Street, Yanguan, Haining, Jiaxing, Zhejiang (the ¥499 tier’s designated inn is Baoren Apartment, 18 Beida Street).

Packages

1 night, old-town inn room (5 inns to choose from) + breakfast for 2 + 2 Chaole City tickets + 2 tide-watching park tickets + heritage craft + role-play game — ¥499 (≈$69, was ¥1,195; valid to January 31, 2027)
2 nights, old-town inn room (5 inns to choose from) + breakfast for 2 + 2 Chaole City tickets + 2 tide-watching park tickets + heritage craft + role-play game — ¥599 (≈$83, was ¥1,195; valid to January 31, 2027)

What guests say

The merchant page carries 6 guest reviews. Two representative ones, translated (both about this town’s inns):

“A wonderful trip! We’d booked Shuiyin Inn but the merchant upgraded us to Baoren Apartment, an inn inside Chaole City with a riverside room — the first photo is the white geese on the water I shot from the window this morning. The package also included tide-watching park tickets and the town shuttle, and we lucked into a first-line tide around 16:00 yesterday. Breakfast is served on the second floor of a Hong Kong-style restaurant and tastes great. The whole town is quiet and natural, a Jiangnan old town not yet fully commercial, with the Confucius temple and Jin Yong Academy — well worth a visit!” — 5 stars

“The Shui rooms are much bigger than the other inns, and there’s a bathtub… breakfast is generous too. The best thing in Chaole City is the role-play game — the kids ran wild. The Qiantang tide wasn’t at its best month and looked smaller, but there are plenty of cultural sights to learn from.” — 5 stars