Atlas of China
Hangzhou 杭州Hángzhōu
Poets' lake, Song emperors' capital and the Grand Canal's southern end
- Type
- City
- Region
- Zhejiang
- Featured places
- 3
- Listed sites
- 751 rated 5A · 38 rated 4A · 38 national heritage
About Hangzhou
Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern Song from 1138 to 1276 and holds three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: West Lake, the Grand Canal, whose end is marked by the stone arches of Gongchen Bridge, and the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, a walled town some 5,000 years old. Beside Lingyin Temple, Buddhist figures carved between the 10th and 14th centuries cover the Feilai Feng Grottoes. Farther out lie the waterways of Xixi National Wetland Park and the island-dotted reservoir of Qiandao Lake.
What to eat in Hangzhou
- West Lake fish in vinegar sauce (西湖醋鱼)
- Dongpo pork (东坡肉)
- Longjing tea shrimp (龙井虾仁)
Featured places in Hangzhou
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West Lake 西湖
The lake that taught China what a perfect landscape should look like
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Qiandao Lake 千岛湖
A drowned mountain valley of 1,078 forested islands, an hour by train from Hangzhou
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Lingyin Temple & Feilai Feng 灵隐寺
A working Chan monastery beside a hillside of 1,000-year-old rock carvings
Listed sites in Hangzhou
75 listed sites are in Hangzhou. These are the 39 rated 5A or 4A; see all 75 in the Zhejiang list.
- Xixi National Wetland Park 西溪湿地 5A scenic area
An urban wetland of about 11.5 km² on the western edge of Hangzhou, a maze of six main watercourses, ponds and fish ponds among thousands of old persimmon trees, long admired by poets and painters. - Chaoshan Scenic Area 超山 4A scenic area
A low hill on the plain north-east of Hangzhou, famous for centuries for its plum trees and made popular by poets and artists in the late Qing and early Republican years. - China National Silk Museum 中国丝绸博物馆 4A scenic area
A national museum of silk and textiles south of West Lake at the foot of Yuhuang Hill, opened in 1992 and rebuilt and enlarged in 2015–16. - Daciyan Scenic Area 大慈岩 4A scenic area · on the map
A rocky mountain in south-west Jiande nicknamed the 'little Jiuhua of western Zhejiang', whose cliffs, caves and trees are read together as the face of a giant natural standing Buddha. - Daming Mountain 大明山 4A scenic area · on the map
A mountain scenic area in Qingliangfeng town on the far western edge of Lin'an, on the border with Anhui, whose cliffs and rock pinnacles are often compared to Huangshan. - Dream Town, Cangqian 梦想小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A start-up and internet-business district opened in 2015 in the core of Cangqian, Yuhang, laid out as a scenic area from the start. - Fuchun Taoyuan 富春桃源 4A scenic area · on the map
A scenic area at Shanglian village in Xukou town, in the hills of south-western Fuyang. - Gaoting Hill 皋亭山 4A scenic area · on the map
A chain of wooded hills about 9 km long on the north-eastern edge of urban Hangzhou, rising to 361 m at Gaoting peak; the western end is Banshan National Forest Park and the eastern end the Gaoting Shan scenic area. - Grand Canal in Hangzhou & Gongchen Bridge 京杭大运河杭州段 4A scenic area · National heritage site
The southern end of the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal, part of the Grand Canal World Heritage Site since 2014, runs through northern Hangzhou, and its landmark is Gongchen Bridge, a three-arch stone bridge 92 m long first built in 1631 and rebuilt in 1885. - Hangzhou Orient Culture Park 杭州东方文化园 4A scenic area · on the map
A large culture park opened in 2000 on the southern slopes of Yangqi Hill in Yiqiao, Xiaoshan, laid out on the eight trigrams and built around the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. - Hangzhou Paradise 杭州乐园 4A scenic area · on the map
An amusement park opened in 1999 by the Songcheng group in the Xianghu resort area of Xiaoshan, with a suspended roller coaster, a log flume, a bungee jump and dozens of other rides, plus parades and stage shows. - Hangzhou Polar Ocean Park 杭州长乔极地海洋公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A marine theme park opened in 2008 in the Xianghu area of Xiaoshan, with themed halls of polar and ocean animals including beluga whales, dolphins, penguins, polar bears, Arctic wolves, seals and sea lions. - Hangzhou Safari Park 杭州野生动物世界 4A scenic area · on the map
A large safari park opened in 2002 in Yinhu, Fuyang, with about 200 species, among them giant pandas, crested ibises, white tigers, white rhinos and golden snub-nosed monkeys. - Huang Gongwang's Retreat 黄公望隐居地 4A scenic area · on the map
A bamboo-filled side valley at Miaoshanwu near Fuyang, by local tradition where the Yuan painter Huang Gongwang lived in his last years and painted 'Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains' (around 1350), whose two surviving parts are now in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum and the National Palace Museum in Taipei. - Jiande Aviation Town 建德航空小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A general-aviation town built around Qiandaohu General Airport near Shouchang in south-west Jiande, with a 1,200 m runway, flight schools and aviation companies. - Jiangnan Old Villages (Shen'ao and Dipu) 江南古村落 4A scenic area · on the map
Five neighbouring villages in Jiangnan town, Tonglu (Shen'ao, Huanxi, Dipu, Xufan and Qingyuan), developed together as one rural scenic area of old houses, ancestral halls and farmland. - Jingshan & Jingshan Temple 径山 4A scenic area
Jingshan Temple, on the summit area of Mount Jing in north-western Yuhang, was founded in 745 and in the Southern Song ranked first among the 'Five Mountains', the leading Chan Buddhist monasteries. - Leifeng Pagoda 雷峰塔 4A scenic area
A pagoda on Sunset Hill on the south shore of West Lake, rebuilt in 2002 over the ruins of the brick tower that the Wuyue king Qian Chu completed in the 970s and that collapsed in 1924. - Liangzhu Museum 良渚博物院 4A scenic area
The museum of the Neolithic Liangzhu culture, set in a park at Liangzhu in a building by David Chipperfield of four long stone-clad blocks around courtyards, opened in 2008. - Lingqi Caves 灵栖洞 4A scenic area · on the map
One of the first show caves developed in Zhejiang, in the hills of Hangtou town south-west of Jiande city, made up of three limestone caves and a small stone forest. - Longmen Ancient Town 龙门古镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A clan town at the foot of Longmen Mountain on the south side of the Fuchun River, where more than 90 per cent of the 7,000 residents are surnamed Sun and claim descent from Sun Quan, ruler of the Three Kingdoms state of Wu. - Longwu Tea Town 龙坞茶镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A tea-growing district in the hills of Zhuantang, south-west Hangzhou, where tea gardens cover the slopes around the villages; Hangzhou media describe it as the largest producing area of West Lake Longjing tea. - Mount Tianmu 天目山 4A scenic area
A forested mountain in western Lin'an, about 80 km west of Hangzhou, whose West Tianmu peak (1,506 m) and its slopes have been a national nature reserve since 1986 and a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1996. - Qiandao Lake Stone Forest 千岛湖石林 4A scenic area · on the map
A karst landscape of about 20 km² in Shilin town, south of Qiandao Lake, where limestone pinnacles and ridges stand in maze-like clusters among the hills. - Qinghefang Historic District 清河坊 4A scenic area · on the map
Described as the only fairly intact old street quarter left in Hangzhou, Qinghefang lies at the foot of Wu Hill and is named after the mansion of the Southern Song general Zhang Jun, Prince of Qinghe. - Qingshan Lake 青山湖 4A scenic area · on the map
A reservoir lake of about 20 km² on the eastern edge of Lin'an, built in 1964 for flood control on the Nantiaoxi river and now part of a national forest park. - Songcheng Theme Park 宋城 4A scenic area · on the map
A theme park opened in 1996 on the south-western edge of Hangzhou, built as a Song-dynasty town with streets in old style, about 20 small theatres and staged street performances. - Taihu Source 太湖源 4A scenic area · on the map
A wooded gorge about 5 km long in Taihuyuan town, northern Lin'an, with cliffs, waterfalls and clear streams, promoted as one of the sources of the Lake Tai river system. - Tangxi Ancient Town 塘栖古镇 4A scenic area
A canal town on the Grand Canal north of Hangzhou, often spelt Tangqi, which grew into one of the richest market towns of the Jiangnan region in the Ming and Qing dynasties. - Tianzidi Scenic Area 天子地 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested mountain scenic area of about 6 km² at Luoshan village in Baijiang town, in the hills of western Tonglu towards Qiandao Lake, now run as the Tianzidi mountain park. - Wenyuan Shicheng, Jiangjia 文渊狮城 4A scenic area · on the map
A new town built in the mid-2010s at Jiangjia on Qiandao Lake as a recreation of Shicheng, the old seat of Sui'an county that was drowned when the Xin'an River reservoir filled in 1959. - Xiajiang Village 下姜村 4A scenic area · on the map
A mountain village in Fengshuling town, Chun'an, with white-walled houses along a clear stream, once one of the poorest in the area. - Xianghu Lake and Kuahuqiao Site Museum 湘湖·跨湖桥 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A lake in Xiaoshan south of the Qiantang River, first dammed as an irrigation reservoir in 1112 and later largely filled in by brickworks, which was dredged and landscaped in stages between 2006 and 2016 as a lakeside park and resort area. - Yan Ziling's Fishing Terrace 严子陵钓台 4A scenic area
A riverside hill on the Fuchun River south of Tonglu, honouring Yan Guang (Yan Ziling), a first-century scholar who refused office from his old schoolfellow Emperor Guangwu of Han and retired here to fish. - Yanzhou Ancient City (Meicheng) 严州古城 4A scenic area · on the map
The old prefectural town of Meicheng, where the Xin'an and Lan rivers meet to form the Fuchun, which for about 1,200 years was the seat of Muzhou and later Yanzhou prefecture. - Yaolin Wonderland 瑶琳仙境 4A scenic area · on the map
A limestone show cave in Yaolin town, in the hills north-west of Tonglu, whose first hall opened to visitors in 1980; its winding halls are filled with stalactites, stalagmites and flowstone. - Yuhuangshan South Fund Town 玉皇山南基金小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A finance district for private investment funds at the southern foot of Yuhuang Hill, between West Lake and the Qiantang River, which began promoting itself as a tourist area in 2015. - Zhejiang Art Museum 浙江美术馆 4A scenic area · on the map
The provincial art museum, opened in 2009 on Nanshan Road beside West Lake, in a building of 32,000 m² with 14 exhibition halls. - Zhexi Grand Canyon 浙西大峡谷 4A scenic area · on the map
A long valley system in the Qingliangfeng Nature Reserve of western Lin'an, where a headwater of the Qiantang River runs fast through steep-sided gorges in the outlying ranges of the Huangshan mountains.
Getting to Hangzhou
Train, flight and driving times from the cities most visitors come from, with stations, fares and how many run a day; each opens the full comparison.
- Suzhou 苏州 high-speed train 1 h 15 min, 47 a day, from ¥133
- Shanghai 上海 high-speed train 45 min, 228 a day, from ¥87; one nonstop flight a day, 1 h 10 min in the air
- Huangshan City 黄山市 high-speed train 1 h 13 min, 40 a day, from ¥103
- Nanjing 南京 high-speed train 1 h, 142 a day, from ¥141
- Wuhan 武汉 high-speed train 3 h 59 min, 28 a day, from ¥323; 5 nonstop flights a day, 1 h 45 min in the air
- Qingdao 青岛 high-speed train 6 h 38 min, 7 a day, from ¥432; 11 nonstop flights a day, 1 h 50 min in the air
- Xiamen 厦门 high-speed train 4 h 15 min, 40 a day, from ¥479; 7 nonstop flights a day, 1 h 40 min in the air
- Changsha 长沙 high-speed train 3 h 13 min, 50 a day, from ¥437; one nonstop flight a day, 1 h 40 min in the air
- Zhengzhou 郑州 high-speed train 4 h 26 min, 37 a day, from ¥491; 7 nonstop flights a day, 2 h in the air
- Tianjin 天津 high-speed train 5 h 5 min, 20 a day, from ¥588; 7 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 15 min in the air
- Guangzhou 广州 high-speed train 5 h 26 min, 16 a day, from ¥768; 33 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 30 min in the air
- Hong Kong 香港 high-speed train 6 h 51 min, 2 a day, from ¥825; 8 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 40 min in the air
- Beijing 北京 high-speed train 4 h 17 min, 28 a day, from ¥578; 36 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 15 min in the air
- Xi'an 西安 high-speed train 6 h 31 min, 18 a day, from ¥758; 15 nonstop flights a day, 2 h 15 min in the air
Trips with Hangzhou
- Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Huangshan in eight days 8 days · Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Huangshan City
On the map
Open Hangzhou on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Hangzhou on the map