Vienna International Hotel Suzhou University Town

I stayed here for a week before finding an apartment in the local area, and this was my first location to stay in Suzhou. I was fresh from Australia, and having poor Mandarin makes life more difficult here. While the staff didn't speak much English, they were very helpful and I was able to continue to just add 'one more night' every day before I found an apartment. I had the most basic room on the list but it was huge, beautiful, a big bathroom with a tub, and had a filtered water tap too, which meant I wasn't buying drinking water every day. I didn't see any restaurant at the hotel, but the breakfast buffet is good (although mainly Chinese food as you'd expect) and it's included in the price of the room. Once or twice they didn't give me a breakfast coupon or I lost it, and I just went to the desk to ask for another one. I got it with no questions asked 👌 Location is good, it's close to Yuexi Station (越溪站) for good subway access, there's a Starbucks next to the station across the road, and this hotel is actually on the block with SM Mall. There's also Shihu Lake (石湖) a walking distance away, which is a very nice relaxing walk. At SM mall you can find clothing stores, a supermarket downstairs, plenty of restaurants, a cinema, bakeries, cafes etc. It's also really dead there to be honest, so you'll never feel like it's over crowded inside the mall. There are tonnes of more street food style restaurants in the surrounding area if you're feeling adventurous, but if it's your first time eating in China, I'd recommend eating at one of the indoor place in the mall on level 2 or 3.