Xixi National Wetland
Boat maze of reeds and water villages west of the city.
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 08:00-17:30
- Ticket
- 80 CNY + electric boat 60 CNY
- Suggested visit
- half day
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
Why it's worth it
China's first national wetland park (2005) — 70 percent water, a maze of reed marshes, persimmon groves and hidden ponds threaded by punting channels, ten minutes from downtown Hangzhou yet fully another century.
Don't miss
- A hand-punted boat through the reed channels — the punter steers with one oar, silence otherwise
- Autumn persimmon harvest, when the trees hang orange over the water
- The film-location sets from 'If You Are the One', still standing in the water lanes
Getting there
Bus or taxi to the Zhoujiacun entrance on the west side; Line 19's Xixi Wetland North plus a walk covers the north gate.
Tips
- Boat-first strategy: walk one loop, boat one loop — the water perspective is the point
- Half a day is right; pack mosquito repellent from June to September
- Weekday mornings you'll share the park with egrets more than people
Photos
More in Hangzhou
- West Lake
UNESCO lake of pagodas, causeways and arched bridges; boat or bike the shoreline.
- 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