West Lake, Hangzhou
西湖 · Xī Hú
The most painted, poeticised and imitated lake in Asia — and a UNESCO listing for its influence on garden design across East Asia.
Photo: Hiart · CC0
Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern Song from 1138, the richest and most sophisticated city in the world at the time, and Marco Polo's 'beyond dispute the finest and noblest in the world'. West Lake is what remains of that. It is not a natural lake — it was a lagoon, silted off from the Qiantang River, and it has been dredged, embanked, planted and curated for over a thousand years, most famously by the poet-governors Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo, who each left a causeway with their name on it.
UNESCO listed it in 2011 not for its scenery alone but for the idea it embodies: the improved natural landscape as a work of art, a template copied in gardens from Japan to Korea. The classic 'Ten Scenes of West Lake' were codified in the Southern Song and each is a specific view at a specific time — Lotus in the Breeze at Crooked Courtyard, Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, which is the image on the ¥1 note.
Walk or cycle the 15 km shoreline, take a boat to the islands, then climb into the tea hills at Longjing behind the lake where the most famous green tea in China is grown on terraces you can walk through. Hangzhou is also Alibaba's home town and one of the most digitally saturated cities on earth, which makes for an odd and interesting contrast.
Why go
- The defining Chinese landscape composition, and free to walk in its entirety
- Longjing tea villages fifteen minutes from the lakeshore
- Lingyin Temple's cliff carvings, among the finest Buddhist sculpture in the south
- 50 minutes from Shanghai by rail; an easy and rewarding two nights
Highlights
Su Causeway
2.8 km of willow-and-peach-lined embankment across the lake, built by the poet Su Dongpo in 1090. Walk it at dawn, before the crowds and with mist on the water.
Leifeng Pagoda
Rebuilt over the ruins of the collapsed original, with the excavated Song foundations visible under glass. The sunset view back across the lake is the classic one.
Lingyin Temple & Feilai Feng
One of China's great Chan monasteries, backed by a limestone hill carved with 340 Buddhist figures from the 10th–14th centuries. Allow half a day.
Longjing tea villages
Meijiawu and Longjing itself: terraced tea hills, farmhouse restaurants, and pre-Qingming tea picked in the first weeks of April.
Three Pools Mirroring the Moon
A small island reached by boat, with three stone pagodas standing in the water. On the ¥1 note, and best at dusk.
Xixi Wetland
A quieter alternative 5 km west — punt-boat channels, persimmon trees and far fewer people.
Photographs
Getting there & practicalities
Getting there
Hangzhou East station: 50 minutes from Shanghai, 1h from Suzhou, 5h from Beijing. Metro Line 1 to Longxiangqiao puts you on the lakeshore. Xiaoshan airport has an inter-city rail link.
Tickets
The lake and both causeways are free. Leifeng Pagoda ¥40; Lingyin Temple ¥45 grounds plus ¥30 for the temple; boats to the islands ¥55.
Opening hours
Lake open always; Lingyin 07:00–18:15; Leifeng 08:00–20:00 in summer.
Best time of day
Dawn on the Su Causeway is the single best hour. Avoid national holidays entirely — the lake path becomes a crush.
What everyone gets wrong
- Rent a bike (Hellobike via Alipay) and ride the full circuit; walking it all takes four hours.
- The 'Impression West Lake' outdoor night show, staged on the water, is directed by Zhang Yimou and genuinely spectacular. Book ahead.
- Buy Longjing tea in the villages, not the lakeside shops, and expect to be offered a tasting.
- Hangzhou in Golden Week (first week of October) is one of the most crowded places in China. Do not.
- Wuzhen is 70 minutes away by bus — the two combine well into a three-day loop from Shanghai.
What to eat
- Dongpo pork — red-braised belly, named for the same poet who built the causeway
- Beggar's chicken, clay-baked and cracked open at the table
- West Lake vinegar fish, which is divisive; and Longjing shrimp, which is not
→Combine it with
Nearby and next
Shanghai 上海
A 1920s waterfront staring across a river at the tallest skyline in Asia, with the best restaurant scene in China in between.
Wuzhen & the Water Towns 乌镇
Stone bridges, black-tiled waterfront houses and a canal grid that has been the Yangtze delta's transport system for 1,300 years.
UNESCO
Suzhou Classical Gardens 苏州园林
Nine gardens on the World Heritage list, each one a whole landscape compressed into a courtyard.