This itinerary assumes the context already laid out on the Hangzhou hub — namely that West Lake itself is a free, unticketed park, and that nearly everything named around it isn’t. What follows is the stop-by-stop plan: three days, sequenced by geography rather than by importance, so you aren’t crossing the city twice in one afternoon to catch something you already passed near the day before.
Most current Hangzhou guides converge on three to four days as the practical minimum for West Lake plus Lingyin Temple, the Longjing tea hills, and one canal or wetland stop. Two days works if you drop the tea village entirely, but it turns the trip into a checklist rather than a place.
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Days-needed consensus cross-checked across chinadiscovery.com, trip.com, and chinaculturetour.com itinerary pages.
The shape below: Day 1 stays inside walking-and-boat distance of the lake itself. Day 2 pushes west into the hills for Lingyin Temple and the Longjing tea terraces, then doubles back south for an evening show. Day 3 goes north to the Grand Canal, west to Xixi Wetland, and closes back at the lake for dusk.
Since December 1, 2025, the entire Lingyin Temple–Feilai Feng scenic area is free to enter, but entry now requires a real-name, timed-slot reservation made through the official “Hangzhou Lingyin Feilai Peak” mini-program on WeChat or Alipay. New slots release once daily at 08:00 for the next seven days out — there is no same-day booking. If you land in Hangzhou and try to book Lingyin for that afternoon, or even the next morning without having reserved the day before, you may simply be unable to get in on the day this itinerary has it scheduled. Book the slot as soon as your dates are fixed, ideally before you arrive.
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Free-entry and reservation policy confirmed via the November 19, 2025 rollout announcement reported independently by Xinhua (news.cn), Hangzhou’s municipal news outlet (hangzhou.com.cn), and Ningbo news (cnnb.com.cn).
Day 1: West Lake’s Core Loop, On Foot and By Boat
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1
West Lake shoreline and the Su Causeway
Start at the eastern shore near Hubin, a few minutes’ walk from Metro Line 1’s Longxiangqiao or Dingan Road stations. The lake, its shoreline paths, and the two causeways (Su and Bai) are free and open at all hours — there’s no gate. The Su Causeway loop itself runs 2.8 km across six bridges and is the closest thing Hangzhou has to a free, self-guided orientation walk.
- Admission
- Free
- Hours
- Open access, no closing time
- Distance
- 2.8 km loop, six bridges
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Access and causeway measurements from trip.com and chinadiscovery.com West Lake listings.
- Board a leisure or painted pleasure boat at a marked dock near Hubin — avoid unlicensed rowboats and touts working the same docks
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2
Xiaoyingzhou (Three Pools Mirroring the Moon)
The classic lake-island stop, reached only by boat. A leisure boat runs ¥55 per person; a painted pleasure boat runs ¥70 — both include admission to the island. Stick to official ticket booths: unlicensed hand-rowed boats cluster near the same docks and can charge well above the going rate with no fixed price, a pattern documented widely enough that it’s worth stating plainly rather than discovering on the water.
- Admission
- ¥55–70 (boat + island)
- Hours
- Boats run 8:00–17:00, seasonal variation
- Last boat
- 16:00 to the island, 17:00 return
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours including the crossing
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Boat fares and hours from trip.com and chinadiscovery.com, consistent across listings.
- Boat back to shore, then walk or short taxi 15–20 minutes south along the shoreline to Leifeng Pagoda
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3
Leifeng Pagoda
Worth stating upfront: the pagoda standing today is a 2002 reconstruction, with a glass elevator and a modern interior, built over the archaeological remains of the original, which collapsed in 1924. It’s still worth the ticket for the lake views and the White Snake legend connection — “Leifeng Pagoda in the Sunset” is one of the classic Ten Scenes of West Lake, which means golden hour here is also the most crowded hour.
- Admission
- ¥40 adult; ¥20 for students 7–18 and seniors 70+
- Hours
- 8:00–20:00 (Apr–Oct); 8:00–17:30 (Nov–Mar)
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Admission tiers and hours from chinadiscovery.com and triphobo.com, consistent figures.
- Walk or short taxi 15–20 minutes north to Hefang Street; time this for evening light
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4
Hefang Street, then dinner nearby
Hefang Street is free, technically open around the clock, but it’s built for an 18:00–22:00 evening walk — the lighting and the crowd energy are the point. Treat it as a photo-and-snack crawl rather than a proper meal: food here is commercialized and pricier than elsewhere in the city, with hard-sell vendors on “traditional” crafts. For an actual sit-down dinner, Zhiweiguan — a Hangzhou-cuisine institution dating to 1913, serving local snacks alongside mains — is a more reliable choice nearby, at roughly ¥60–120 per person.
- Admission
- Free
- Best time
- 18:00–22:00
- Time needed
- 1.5–2.5 hours, plus dinner
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Hefang Street character and Zhiweiguan pricing from Tripadvisor listings and Hangzhou dining guides, cross-checked.
Day 2: Book Lingyin First, Then Climb Into the Tea Hills
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1
Lingyin Temple and the Feilai Feng grottoes
Assuming you booked ahead per the callout above, arrive at your reserved slot. Entry to Lingyin Temple, Yongfu Temple, Taoguang Temple, and the Feilai Feng rock carvings is free as of December 1, 2025 — both the old ¥45 gate ticket and the ¥30 “incense ticket” for the temple halls were abolished. The Feilai Feng grottoes hold an estimated 340–470 Buddhist statues and reliefs carved between the 10th and 14th centuries; donation and incense touts still work inside despite the free-entry policy, worth ignoring.
- Admission
- Free (reservation required)
- Hours
- 7:30–17:30, last entry 17:00
- Getting there
- Bus 7 or Y2/Y4-class tourist lines, ~15–20 min from West Lake
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Hours and grotto figures per the official November 2025 rollout announcement; some third-party sites still list the pre-change 8:00–17:00 window, which is out of date.
- Bus 27 runs the corridor from near Lingyin (via Hangzhou Botanical Garden) to Longjing Village, ~40 minutes, ¥5; taxi runs ¥60–75, 20–30 minutes
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2
Longjing Tea Village
The village itself is free to walk. Sit at any tea house for a tasting, roughly ¥20–80 per cup depending on grade. The China National Tea Museum’s Longjing branch, on the same bus route, is also free and worth a short detour if you have time; Meijiawu, a neighboring tea village reachable by a different bus line, is a quieter alternative if Longjing feels crowded.
The tea-ceremony scam is documented, specific, and worth taking seriouslyFriendly strangers or self-described “students” inviting you to a private tea ceremony or tasting is one of the best-documented tourist scams in China, and Longjing is exactly the kind of tea-growing area where it operates. The pattern ends in a wildly inflated bill. Don’t follow unsolicited invitations to a tea house, confirm the price before you drink rather than after, and be skeptical of anyone offering “Emperor’s Grade” tea at a steep discount.
- Admission
- Free to walk the village
- Tea tasting
- ¥20–80 per cup
- Getting there
- Bus 27, ~40 min, ¥5; or taxi, ¥60–75
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Bus 27 route and stop sequence confirmed against Hangzhou’s own municipal transit page (wgly.hangzhou.gov.cn); tea scam pattern documented by china-mike.com among other scam-watch sources.
- Taxi from the Longjing hills to Zhijiang Road, roughly 25–35 minutes; from central Hangzhou, Metro Line 4 to Shuichengqiao (Exit B) then bus 308 also reaches Songcheng
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3
Songcheng — the evening show, not necessarily the park
Reviews here split sharply. The flagship evening show — acrobatics, live horses, a stage-flooding sequence, and retellings of the White Snake legend, the Butterfly Lovers, and General Yue Fei’s defense against the Jin — is genuinely well produced and consistently praised. The surrounding theme-park zone draws real “tourist trap” criticism: gimmicky, crowded with domestic tour groups, and stocked with manufactured recreations of things visible free elsewhere in the city. If you’re short on time, skip the park and catch a show. Bring your passport and arrive at least 30 minutes early — it’s exchanged for the physical ticket at the gate.
- Standard ticket
- ¥320 (park + show)
- Show times
- 14:00 and 19:20 daily, ~2 hours
- Park hours
- 9:30–21:00
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Gate pricing from current Chinese-language Songcheng ticketing pages; some English-language OTA listings (Viator and similar) quote roughly $100/¥720 for a show-plus-hotel-pickup package — a different, bundled product, not a higher standalone gate price.
Day 3: Canal North, Wetland West, Lake at Dusk
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1
China Grand Canal Museum and Gongchen Bridge
Free, and closed Mondays — plan around that if your three days include one. The museum sits in the Gongchenqiao area next to Gongchen Bridge, the classic canal photo point; several smaller free museums nearby (fan, umbrella, sword and scissors) round out the block. A meaningful share of the exhibits are Chinese-language only, so treat the museum itself as solid rather than a blockbuster if you don’t read Chinese — the real draw is the canal-side walk and the bridge at dusk, which argues for saving that part for the evening rather than the morning.
- Admission
- Free
- Hours
- Tue–Sun 9:00–16:30, closed Mondays
- Getting there
- Metro to the Gongchen Bridge area, ~30–40 min from West Lake
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours for the museum alone; half a day with the canal walk
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Hours and admission from current listings for the China Grand Canal Museum, cross-checked against Hangzhou tourism guides.
- Taxi or metro-plus-transfer across town to Xixi Wetland Park, roughly 30–40 minutes
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2
Xixi National Wetland Park
Commonly marketed as “West Lake without the crowds,” which is true on weekdays and less true on spring and autumn weekends, when the park draws its own real crowds. Book online in advance for the cheaper gate rate; some entry points require a reservation, up to seven days ahead, capped at five people per booking. One source cites a daily core-area capacity of 24,000 — not independently corroborated elsewhere, so treat it as indicative rather than confirmed, and check current booking requirements before a weekend visit.
- Admission
- ¥65 online / ¥80 at the gate
- Hours
- 7:30–18:30 (Apr–Oct); 8:00–17:30 (Oct–Mar)
- Reservation
- Some entrances require booking up to 7 days ahead
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Gate pricing and hours from trip.com and chinadiscovery.com Xixi Wetland listings; capacity figure flagged as unconfirmed in one source only.
- Taxi or bus back toward the lake, roughly 20–30 minutes, timed to arrive before sunset
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3
West Lake at dusk
Travel writers and locals consistently describe West Lake at dawn or dusk — before the day-trip buses from Shanghai arrive, or after they’ve left — as the best version of the lake, something a same-day visitor structurally can’t see. There’s no ticket for this: walk the Broken Bridge or the Su Causeway as the light drops, and if you want a proper last dinner, Louwailou on Gushan (Solitary Hill), the 150-plus-year-old home of West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce, is on the shore at roughly ¥150–200 per person.
- Admission
- Free
- Best time
- Just before sunset through early evening
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours, plus dinner
Checked 28 Aug 2026 Dawn/dusk framing is a recurring claim across multiple Hangzhou travel guides rather than a single hard figure; Louwailou pricing and history from Tripadvisor and Hangzhou dining listings.
A fourth day is worth adding only if it’s Six Harmonies Pagoda and the Qiantang riverside — not Qiandao Lake, which runs roughly 140 minutes each way by car and eats close to five hours round-trip before you’ve seen anything. That version, with the actual transfer math, is laid out in the 4-day itinerary. Water towns like Wuzhen and hill retreats like Moganshan don’t fit into a fourth day either — both reward an overnight stay more than a day trip, for reasons specific to each place; see day trips from Hangzhou for that comparison.
What Three Days Actually Costs
| Day | Admission & tickets | Named meal | Day subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Boat to the island ¥55 + Leifeng Pagoda ¥40 | Dinner at Zhiweiguan ¥60–120 | ¥155–¥215 |
| Day 2 | Lingyin free (reservation only) + Longjing tea ¥20–80 + Songcheng ¥320 | — | ¥340–¥400 |
| Day 3 | Grand Canal Museum free + Xixi Wetland ¥65 (online) | Dinner at Louwailou ¥150–200 | ¥215–¥265 |
| Total | ¥710–¥880 |
That total only counts the specific, sourced admissions and named restaurants above — it doesn’t include breakfast, casual lunches, or snacks, because those vary too widely across the trip to price reliably from the sources this guide draws on. Budget roughly an extra ¥40–80 per person for each casual meal not listed here.
Common Mistakes on This Route
- Trying to book Lingyin Temple same-day. It doesn’t exist as an option — slots release once daily at 08:00 for the next seven days, so reserve before you need it.
- Assuming West Lake is entirely free, including the boats. The lake and its two causeways are free; the boat ride, Leifeng Pagoda, and Songcheng are not.
- Accepting an invitation to a private tea ceremony from a stranger in Longjing village — confirm the price before you drink, not after.
- Comparing Songcheng’s ¥320 gate ticket to a roughly $100 Western OTA listing and concluding the attraction is overpriced. The OTA price bundles hotel transport; it’s a different product, not a markup.
- Showing up to the Grand Canal Museum on a Monday. It’s closed.
- Renting a rowboat from an unlicensed tout near the Hubin docks instead of an official ticket booth — official rates are fixed, off-book rides aren’t.
Where you base yourself changes some of this math — a hotel near Hubin cuts Day 1’s walking distances to nearly zero, while a cheaper room near Hangzhou East trades that convenience for an easy exit to the train station; the trade-offs are laid out in where to stay in Hangzhou. The meals priced in the table above are only the named, sourced ones — for the fuller range of Hangzhou’s signature dishes and where to find them, see what to eat in Hangzhou. And if this itinerary is one stop on a longer trip rather than the whole of it, the Shanghai run is short enough to bolt on at either end — see Hangzhou to Shanghai by train for the actual fares and frequency.
Summarised from public traveller discussion, not from a visit. We have not travelled this route ourselves — see how we check.