Hangzhou 6 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)
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Six days is the 5-day itinerary plus a day trip to Suzhou, and honestly, this is the point where Hangzhou alone runs out of new ground. Suzhou is about 43 minutes away by high-speed rail, and most people planning a week in this region end up splitting it between the two cities rather than basing entirely in one. If a slower retreat suits you better than another city, swap this day for Moganshan (about 1-1.5 hours out) instead. Shorter on time, the 4 and 5-day plans cover the Hangzhou-only core. The 7-day plan adds a second day trip on top of this one.
Book these before you go
- A timed Lingyin Temple + Feilai Feng slot, via the Alipay or WeChat mini-program, 1-7 days ahead, daily caps apply.
- Alipay set up before you fly, with a foreign card linked, and a VPN installed before you leave home.
- Your Suzhou high-speed rail ticket, via 12306 or Trip.com for an English interface.
- A West Lake-area hotel, compare rates on Booking.com .
Day 1: West Lake and a Longjing tea village
Walk the free West Lake causeways: the Su Causeway (1074, Su Dongpo) and the Bai Causeway (822, Bai Juyi, a different builder roughly 250 years earlier). Boat to Three Pools Mirroring the Moon (¥55-70). Afternoon in Meijiawu or Longjing tea village, free to wander, tastings ¥10-80 a cup. Close at Leifeng Pagoda (¥40), a 2002 rebuild over the 975 CE original.
Day 2: Lingyin Temple and Feilai Feng
Free since 1 December 2025, but only with a mandatory timed reservation through the Alipay or WeChat mini-program, booked 1 to 7 days ahead, daily cap in place. Founded 328 CE; Feilai Feng carries 300-plus Buddhist rock carvings.
Day 3: Hefang Street and the Grand Canal
Hefang Street (free) for Dongpo Pork and West Lake Vinegar Fish; Louwailou since 1848 for the sit-down version. A Grand Canal night cruise from Gongchen Bridge (around ¥100), a separate UNESCO listing from 2014, distinct from West Lake’s 2011 designation.
Day 4: Xixi Wetland
An 11 sq km urban marsh, central zone free, quieter east and west zones around ¥80.
Day 5: The Silk and Tea museums, and the Six Harmonies Pagoda
China National Silk Museum (free, the world’s largest) and China National Tea Museum (free) in the morning. Six Harmonies Pagoda in the afternoon, ¥20 entry plus ¥10 to climb, on the Qiantang River, a separate site south of the lake.
Day 6: a day trip to Suzhou
High-speed rail to Suzhou takes about 43 minutes from Hangzhou East, one of the more genuinely worthwhile day trips from here since Suzhou’s classical gardens are a different kind of sight entirely from anything Hangzhou itself offers. It’s a rushed way to see Suzhou properly, an overnight does it more justice, but as a single day it’s real gardens, not a token stop. If gardens aren’t the draw, Moganshan’s bamboo hills (about 1-1.5 hours out) make a slower, quieter substitute for this day.
Know before you fly
China sits at US State Department Level 2, driven mainly by exit-ban and arbitrary-detention risk tied to business or legal disputes, not street crime, which is low; ordinary sightseeing carries very little of it. Day-to-day, the language barrier is the more common friction, a translation app earns its keep, plus the near-cashless Alipay/WeChat Pay system and a Great Firewall that blocks Google, Maps, and WhatsApp, so a VPN installed before you leave home matters more here than in most cities.
Is 6 days too many for Hangzhou alone?
Yes, which is exactly why day 6 leaves the city. Hangzhou’s own honest sight list, West Lake, a tea village, Lingyin Temple, Hefang Street, the Grand Canal, Xixi Wetland, the museums, and Six Harmonies Pagoda, fills five days properly. A sixth day spent hunting for more Hangzhou-only sights is padding; a sixth day in Suzhou or Moganshan is a genuinely different trip.
| Day | Focus | Rough cost per person (¥, excl. hotel) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Lake causeways, Three Pools boat, tea village, Leifeng Pagoda | 150-200 |
| 2 | Lingyin Temple + Feilai Feng (free, reserved) | 20-40 |
| 3 | Hefang Street, Grand Canal night cruise | 130-180 |
| 4 | Xixi Wetland (central zone free, east/west zones ~¥80) | 0-80 |
| 5 | Silk Museum, Tea Museum (both free), Six Harmonies Pagoda | 30-50 |
| 6 | Suzhou day trip (HSR + gardens) or Moganshan | 150-300 |
One concrete tip: set up Alipay and install a VPN before you fly, and reserve the Lingyin Temple slot the moment your dates are fixed. Both are five-minute jobs at home and half a lost day if left for arrival.