China: Zhejiang: Hangzhou

ririsu
Seattle

Worth visiting!

This place used to be "Suzhou" on my list

Originally, when I first came to Shanghai, I wanted to visit Suzhou. Then, I read more about Hangzhou and went with three classmates. We went for a weekend and it was perfection. I can’t remember for sure, but I think it is a little further from SH than Suzhou, but the whole experience was beautiful. We stayed in a hostel on West Lake, spent a day exploring the lake and a night in the street markets and then went to Moganshan the next day. I’m sure more time could be spent here, but for me, it was wonderful to make a short, exciting trip in the midst of my Chinese studies. I can’t say it was better than Suzhou because I never went, but in talks with friends, I’d say Hangzhou is the place to go if you have to choose between the two.

Comments:

missy_beauvois
Bern

Travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou

Hi! Can you recommend the best way to travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou? I was also thinking about taking a few days in Suzhou, but your post inspired me to reconsider. Can you also recommend a really nice, traditional guest house or hotel in Hangzhou? Maybe outside of the industrial city? (I like nature) Thanks!

ririsu
Seattle

The train!

Take the train. It is a quick three hours and goes through interesting landscape but I’m prejudiced – I love ALL train rides. I think the train one-way costs 50 yuan…that’s for a soft seat. Also, I stayed in a youth hostel on West Lake. It was wonderful. Clean and convenient and quiet – not in the city. It is ten minutes from the train station by taxi. If you’re in SH, check out the Hostelling International youth hostel and they’ll set you up with the hostel in Hangzhou. Have fun!

missy_beauvois
Bern

Thanks for the great suggestions!

Thanks for the suggestion! I heard that you have to reserve a seat on the train the day before… is this true? Or can you buy the ticket at the train station on the same day? I like train rides, too—I look forward to seeing the beautiful landscape.

ririsu
Seattle

The sooner the better

I purchased my ticket TO Hangzhou three days before leaving. However, I bought my ticket back to SH two days before leaving…as soon as I got off the train in Hangzhou. One important thing, when you buy your return ticket, make sure you know which station you’re leaving from. We arrived at the wrong station twenty minutes before our train was supposed to leave from the OTHER station…luckily, there was one more train to SH leaving from the station we were at and they were able to get seats for us…we didn’t even have to upgrade or anything…but you’d better double check just to be sure.


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