Hangzhou and the Jiangnan Countryside: West Lake, Tea Hills and Water Towns

West Lake, a landscape that became a model

West Lake is bordered by hills on three sides and the city on the fourth. Poets, scholars and artists have been drawn to it since the ninth century, and repeated dredging between the ninth and twelfth centuries created the two causeways and three islands that define its shape. Temples, pagodas and pavilions dot the shore, and the landscape influenced garden design across China, Japan and Korea; its causeways were even copied at the Summer Palace in Beijing. UNESCO inscribed the cultural landscape in 2011.

The classic first day is to walk the causeways of West Lake.

Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake is a garden hotel on the shore, and Amanfayun is a restored village among temples and tea fields in the hills to the west.

The tea hills

Behind the lake, the hills grow Longjing tea, best seen in spring when the first leaves are picked. You can pick and taste Longjing tea in the villages. Further out, Fuchun Resort sits among tea plantations above the Fuchun River, inspired by classical Chinese painting.

Water towns and a health stay

Wuzhen is the best known of the canal towns, a place of waterways connected to the Grand Canal, stone bridges and old houses with wood carving. The east area is busier, with museums and performances, and the west area is quieter, with guesthouses, craft centres and a theatre. Alila Wuzhen is a modern abstraction of a Jiangnan water town, designed by GOA, and the Wuzhen Theatre Festival takes over the town for a stretch each year. Wuzhen is about fifty minutes from Hangzhou East bus station.

For a stay built around health, Clinique La Prairie Health Resort Anji is a lakeside resort organised around week-long programmes.

In the city

Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at Hangzhou Centre is beside Wulin Square and the Grand Canal. For eating, see a gastronomic guide to Hangzhou.

Sources: UNESCO: West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou; StudyCLI: Wuzhen water town. Check the official websites for current information.