Luxury hotels in Hangzhou

Hangzhou guide

Hangzhou: West Lake at dawn

The lake that inspired Chinese poets, Longjing tea in the hills and the Lingyin Temple.

West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the heart of Hangzhou and one of the most celebrated landscapes in China. Walk or cycle the Su and Bai causeways at dawn, before the crowds, and take a boat to the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon.

In the hills above the lake, the villages of Longjing grow the famous Dragon Well green tea, picked in spring, and the Lingyin Temple, with its Buddhist carvings in the cliffs, is one of China's most important. Spring and autumn are the loveliest seasons.

Longjing tea villages

The hills west of West Lake are covered with the terraces of Longjing, Dragon Well, China's most famous green tea, and a visit to the villages of Longjing and Meijiawu is Hangzhou's most cited experience after the lake. Families roast the leaves by hand in large woks.

The harvest before the Qingming festival, in early April, produces the most prized tea. The China National Tea Museum is nearby, and a walk through the tea fields to the Nine Creeks and Eighteen Gullies trail is lovely in spring and autumn.

Lingyin Temple and Feilai Feng

Lingyin Temple, the Temple of the Soul's Retreat, founded in 328, is one of the largest and wealthiest Buddhist temples in China and the most cited sight in Hangzhou after West Lake. Its halls hold a great gilded Buddha carved from camphor wood.

On the way in, the limestone peak of Feilai Feng, the Peak That Flew from Afar, is carved with more than 300 Buddhist sculptures from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries, including a laughing Buddha. Weekday mornings are the quietest time to visit.