Hangzhou travel guide — where to stay, what to do, and where to eat in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Wuzhen Water Town
Wuzhen is a canal town split into two ticketed zones: Dongzha (East Scenic Zone), smaller and often visited on a half-day, and Xizha (West Scenic Zone), larger and set up for an overnight stay with the canal-side buildings lit up after dark. The town is a working example of the timber-and-whitewash canal architecture of northern Zhejiang, with workshops for indigo-dyed cotton cloth and a rice-wine distillery still operating along the water. Wuzhen is more restored and commercialised than nearby Xitang or Nanxun, which shows in the ticketing and the density of shops, but the scale of the canal network and the evening lighting in Xizha are hard to match elsewhere in the region.
Highlights: Xizha scenic zone with canal-side Ming and Qing dynasty houses · Traditional indigo dye workshop with cloth drying over the water · Canal boat rides past stone bridges and wooden dwellings · Former residence of writer Mao Dun in the Dongzha old town · Evening lantern displays along the waterways
Xitang Ancient Town
Xitang is a canal town built around nine intersecting waterways, known for its covered wooden corridors (langpeng) that run along the water's edge and let you walk the length of the town under a roof even in rain. It has fewer big-ticket sights than Wuzhen and functions more as a place to walk the stone bridges and canal lanes than to tour named attractions. The town gained wider recognition after being used as a filming location for Mission: Impossible III, and stalls selling the pork-stuffed baizhong zongzi (rice dumplings) associated with the town line the main lanes.
Highlights: Nine interlocking canals crossed by over 100 stone bridges · Covered wooden corridors (langpeng) running along the waterfront · Songzikong Bridge and the Bogong Hall ancestral hall · Folk-craft workshops for paper cutting and local wine · Lantern-lit canals in the early evening
Qiandao Lake (Thousand Island Lake)
Qiandao Lake is a reservoir created in the 1950s when the Xin'an River was dammed for hydroelectric power, flooding a valley and leaving over a thousand hilltops as islands. It is a lake-and-boat day trip rather than a historic-town one: the appeal is open water, forested islands, and air quality that is noticeably better than central Hangzhou, not temples or old streets. The submerged old city of Shi Cheng lies underwater near the dam and is a dive site rather than something visible from the surface.
Highlights: Boat cruises past more than 1,000 forested islets · Longshan Island and its Five Lions Mountain viewpoint · Turquoise reservoir water framed by green hills · Local fish-head soup made from the lake's farmed fish · Lakeside walking paths near the scenic-area docks
Moganshan
Moganshan is a hill town in Deqing County that became a summer retreat for foreign residents of Shanghai in the early twentieth century, and the stone villas they built are still scattered through the bamboo forest on the mountainside. The appeal is the combination of cooler air at altitude, walking trails through dense bamboo, and the incongruous sight of European-style stone houses among the trees rather than any single monument. It works as a half-day hike-and-look-around trip rather than a sightseeing checklist.
Highlights: Bamboo forest trails along Jianzhuang Path · Panoramic views from Tashan (Pagoda Hill) · Early 20th-century stone villas near Yinshan Street · Noticeably cooler mountain air compared to the Hangzhou plain · Local bamboo shoot and mountain vegetable dishes
Shaoxing
Shaoxing is a canal city and the hometown of the writer Lu Xun, reachable from Hangzhou in well under an hour by high-speed train, which makes it one of the easiest day trips on this list logistically. It is known for yellow rice wine (huangjiu), still produced and sold from shopfronts around the old town, and for a cluster of sites connected to Lu Xun's childhood, including his family home and school. The city has canals and stone bridges like Wuzhen or Xitang but is a living, working city rather than a preserved scenic zone, so it reads less curated and has ordinary daily life running through it.
Highlights: Lu Xun's former residence and the Lu Xun Native Place complex · Shen Garden, a classical garden linked to poet Lu You · Old canal district along Cangqiao Street with black-tiled houses · Local yellow rice wine (huangjiu) tastings · Shaoxing Museum for regional history
Anji (Bamboo Sea)
Anji County is dense with bamboo forest covering the hills, and the Bamboo Sea scenic area is the main way to see it: boardwalks and cable cars run up through stands of bamboo that stretch across the ridgelines. Part of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed in bamboo forest in this area, and the scenic area draws on that association. This is a nature and scenery trip rather than a cultural-sites one - there isn't a historic town or set of named monuments to see, just the bamboo landscape itself from various vantage points.
Highlights: Dense moso bamboo groves used as film locations · Boardwalk paths through the bamboo corridors · Cable car or chairlift ride to hilltop viewpoints over the bamboo sea · Local bamboo-shoot dishes at scenic-area restaurants · Bamboo-craft workshops in Anji County
Nanxun Ancient Town
Nanxun is a canal town in Huzhou built on wealth from the silk trade in the late Qing and early Republic period, and it is noticeably less crowded and less commercialised than Wuzhen, with fewer souvenir shops crowding the old lanes. Its distinguishing feature is a set of grand private residences and gardens built by silk merchant families, several of which mix traditional Chinese design with imported Western elements like stained glass and European furniture, reflecting the trade connections of the families who built them.
Highlights: Xiaolianzhuang Garden, a silk merchant's estate with lotus ponds · Baijian Building, a hundred connected rooms along the canal · Liu's Family Mansion blending Chinese courtyards with a European ballroom · Canal boat rides between the main historic sites · Local Huzhou-style pork rice and Nanxun smoked chicken
Suzhou
Suzhou is a full city rather than a single scenic zone, reachable from Hangzhou by high-speed train, and known above all for its classical private gardens, several of which are UNESCO-listed. The gardens are compact, walled spaces designed to compress an entire landscape - rockery, water, pavilions, borrowed views - into a small area, and they reward slow, attentive walking rather than a quick pass-through. The city also has a historic canal district and a long association with silk production, but a day trip realistically means choosing one or two gardens plus a walk through an old street rather than trying to cover the whole city.
Highlights: Humble Administrator's Garden and Lingering Garden, UNESCO-listed classical gardens · Pingjiang Road canal-side historic district · Old city moat boat rides · Local silk shops and workshops · Suzhou-style cuisine including squirrel-shaped mandarin fish
West Tianmu Mountain Nature Reserve
West Tianmu Mountain is a UNESCO-listed biosphere reserve in Lin'an District known for its ancient forest, including stands of centuries-old Cryptomeria (Chinese cedar) that draw botanists as much as hikers. The reserve sits noticeably cooler than the Hangzhou basin, which is why it has long served as a summer retreat. A day here is walking trails through old-growth forest and past temple ruins rather than sightseeing a single monument, so it suits travellers who want a forest hike over a city excursion.
Highlights: Ancient Cathay silver fir trees over a thousand years old · Old-growth forest trails through multiple vegetation zones · Ridge viewpoints over the Tianmu mountain range · Waterfalls and streams along the hiking routes · Noticeably cooler forest canopy compared to the Hangzhou plain
Trips by distance
How far you can go in a day.
Under 70km
70 120km
Over 120km
Getting there
Transport options for day trips.
- Overview
- Most day trips from Hangzhou run by direct tourist bus from Hangzhou East Bus Station, by high-speed rail from Hangzhou East Railway Station, or by chartered car/Didi for destinations without direct public transit, such as West Tianmu Mountain.
Multi-day tours from Hangzhou
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
Browse multi-day tours from HangzhouWe may earn a commission from bookings made through this link.
Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Start early — most popular day-trip destinations get crowded by mid-morning.
Check return transport times before you leave — missing the last train or bus can be costly.
Carry water, snacks, and layers — weather and food options can be limited at smaller destinations.