West Lake
UNESCO lake of pagodas, causeways and arched bridges; boat or bike the shoreline.
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 24/7
- Ticket
- free (boat 55-70 CNY)
- Suggested visit
- half day
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
Why it's worth it
The lake that Chinese poetry has been describing for twelve centuries — 15 kilometres of shoreline, three causeways stitched with willows, pagodas on the hills, all of it free to walk. UNESCO listed it as a 'cultural landscape': the scenery and the ten thousand poems about it are one thing.
Don't miss
- Su Causeway at dawn — six stone bridges, no crowds, herons in the shallows
- Leifeng Pagoda at sunset (the 'Leifeng Pagoda in Evening Glow' scene, and the White Snake legend's prison)
- A boat to the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon island — the island on the 1-yuan note
Getting there
Metro Line 1 to Longxiangqiao for the east shore; the lake loop is walkable, cyclable and boat-able from every side.
Tips
- Walk or rent a bike; the shoreline roads are closed to through traffic — that's the whole magic
- The 'Ten Scenes' framing is worth borrowing: each is a specific viewpoint, most are free
- Weekend afternoons on Broken Bridge are shoulder-to-shoulder; shift your circuit to early morning
Photos
More in Hangzhou
- Xixi National Wetland
Boat maze of reeds and water villages west of the city.
- Lingyin Temple
Buddhist temple founded 326 AD amid grottoes of Song-era rock carvings.
- Longjing Tea Village
Terraced Dragon Well tea fields; tastings at family farms.
- West Lake Loop
A World Heritage Site (inscribed in 2011): an urban lake with misty hills on three sides and the city on the fourth, dredged in succession by two of its governors, Bai Juyi and Su Dongpo; Su Shi's verse "wishing to compare West Lake to the beauty Xi Shi" made it a byword for Eastern aesthetics
- Su Causeway & Bai Causeway
Su Causeway, 2.8 km long, was built from dredged silt when Su Shi dredged West Lake; six bridges span the lake, with peach trees and willows lining both banks—"Misty Willows over Six Bridges" is the top spring scene
- Leifeng Pagoda
The 2002 rebuilt pagoda on the ruins of the old tower that collapsed in 1924 (traditionally the "Huangfei Pagoda" built by a king of Wuyue): a steel structure shelters the original pagoda site, an elevator inside runs straight to the top floor for panoramic West Lake views, and the gilt silver Ashoka stupa unearthed from the underground palace is a treasure of Buddhist art