Question: How can I travel from Shanghai to Suzhou and Kunshan? Which of the two cities should I go first? Will it be possible for me to stay in Suzhou and make day trips to Kunshan?
Answer: Suzhou is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province. It is about 90 km (55 ml) northeast of Shanghai. Kunshan is a county-level city administered by Shuzhou city. Kunshan is located between Shanghai and Suzhou. In other words, when you travel from Shanghai, you reach Kunshan first and then Suzhou. Kunshan is a little closer to Suzhou than to Shanghai - 40 km to Suzhou and 50 km to Shanghai. You can travel from Shanghai to Kunshan by bus or train, and the trip takes just half an hour or so. Of the two airports of Shanghai, Hongqiao Airport and Pudong Airport, Hongqiao Airport is closer to Kunshan (45 km or so); Pudong Airport doubles the distance.
Given the relatively short distance between Suzhou and Kunshan, it is possible for you to stay in Suzhou and make day trips to Kunshan. If you have to make quite a few such trips, however, you might as well choose to stay in Kunshan for a few days. Kunshan is smaller than Suzhou, but you should be able to find many possibilities of acceptable accommodation there, both expensive and not so expensive hotels.