During my 16 day vacation in China I plan to spend 3 nights in Suzhou and 3 nights in Hangzhou. This will be between Oct. 18-24, when we leave China for home from HGH.

In these 2 cities, which area is good to be based in for a tourist? While in Suzhou I plan to go by train one day to Tongli and one day to Nanjing, so proximity to the train station may be important (or not). The hotels in the IHC group don't appear to have very good tourist locations nor do the Starwood ones.

Would these be a good cities to try and find a B&B hotel or boutique hotel? I'm trying to stay around $100-125 a night with breakfast and a club/executive floor room.

Xie xie in advance for all suggestions.
Susie