Hangzhou City Guide

Last week, we gave you our city guide for Shanghai, listing our favourite shops, culinary escapes and hotels when visiting the Paris of the East. This week, we travel an hour from Shanghai by train to visit Hangzhou, a picturesque city, famed for being the inspiration of many a classic Chinese poem and painting.

To learn where to go, what to see in Shanghai, read our Shanghai city guide here.

Where to stay: The Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake

There are currently only two resorts that are actually positioned on the very banks of the West Lake, The Banyan Tree and the Four Seasons. With the lake recently included on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, it is unlikely that any more resorts or hotels will be given permission to build so close to the site. We personally love the Four Seasons, which took seven years to build. The hotel is in the style of a series of traditional Chinese villas, connected by graceful Suzhou-style bridges, which wind through the beautiful gardens, waterways and inner buildings. We particularly love the beautiful Jin Sha restaurant, as well as the dramatically-styled spa, which offers massages that specialise in the Chinese tui na technique.

5 Lingyin Lu, Hangzhou. Tel: +86 571 8829 8888

What to do: Hangzhou Tea Plantation and the Hangzhou Marathon

A visit to Hangzhou’s tea plantations is a must. The region is famous for its Longjing tea, a type of roasted green tea that is picked and pressed by hand. The name Longjing is the name of a specific well (Dragon’s Well), which can still be visited. Visitors, especially male ones, are encouraged to draw water from this well and splash it on their face, which is believed to confer good luck. If visiting in the spring, then splurging on some of the famous Longjing tea leaves is not a bad idea. Keep in mind that the best tea leaves are believed to be picked just before the Ching Ming festival, with both quality and prices at their highest then. A tip to spot good-quality Longjing tea leaves: when hot water is poured onto the leaves, the tea leaves should stand up straight and float to the top; the colour should be a vibrant green rather than brown; and the aroma should be fresh and light rather than heavy.

For the sporty, another unusual activity that should be considered is the Hangzhou Marathon, held every November. The route takes in the picturesque West Lake, through the tea plantations, and all the way to Qiantang River.

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Where to eat: Yee Chino

While the Four Season’s Jin Sha restaurant is a natural choice, thanks to its use of local, seasonal and premium ingredients to create a menu of Cantonese, Shanghainese and Hangzhou favourites, we would also recommend a visit to Yee Chino, a modern Chinese restaurant that offers a twist on local cuisine. A must-order item for the adventurous is the crab in yellow wine: rather than steamed as per usual, the crab is merely marinated in the wine, creating a sort of Chinese ceviche.

1 Lu Yang Lu, Hangzhou. (Opposite the Ferrari showroom); Tel: +86 571 8707 0777

What to see: Impression West Lake by Zhang Yimou

The West Lake is beautiful enough in itself, with its bridges dating back to the 11th century. However, at night-time is when it really comes to life, thanks to Impression West Lake. Directed by Zhang Yimou (the director of epics such as House of Flying Daggers as well as the opening and closing ceremonies at the Bejing 2008 Olympics), Impression West Lake is an outdoor performance that is on the lake itself, thanks to a stage that is built three centimetres under the surface of the lake. The story is of Lady Snake and Xu Xian, a well-known fable that has roots in Hangzhou. Audiences are seated on retractable and moveable platforms, which are also elevated just above the lake itself. This and other bits of impressive technology, plus a soundtrack by Kitaro Matsuri, makes it one of the must-see shows in China.