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Offered languages
- English
- English
Hangzhou in one day, your way. This custom private day tour is built around what interests you — plan your own itinerary with your guide: a hand-rowed boat on West Lake, the incense-filled halls of Lingyin Temple, a tasting at a tea farmer's home in the Longjing (Dragon Well) tea fields, historic Hefang Street, or the quiet waterways of Xixi Wetland. Visiting from Shanghai? We'll time your pickup to your bullet train for an easy, seamless day trip. You'll travel with your own English-speaking local guide and private vehicle — just your group, at your pace — with entrance tickets included and no factory or shopping-stop detours: your hours are spent seeing Hangzhou, not showrooms. Perfect for first-time visitors, families, and anyone who wants the city's highlights without the tour-bus crowds.
What's Included
Meeting and pickup
Your private guide will meet you at your hotel lobby or at the arrivals area of Hangzhou Railway Station/airport, holding a sign with your name. If you are taking the bullet train from Shanghai, send us your train number after booking and we'll time your pickup to your arrival. We'll confirm the exact meeting point and share your guide's direct contact (WhatsApp/WeChat) through the Viator chat or email.
Go to the West Lake Pleasure Boat location on Nanshan Road (map point). From there, walk along the lakeside toward Su Causeway for about 5 minutes until you reach Majiawan Hand-Row Boat Dock (hand-row boats). Your guide will be waiting there.
The experience concludes with an immersive tea experience at a nearby teahouse (near the map point), allowing time to pause, reflect, and connect the landscape with the culture that has grown alongside it.
Itinerary
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1Westlake Hangzhou
Glide through the quiet waterways of Wugui Tan by traditional hand-row boat. Surrounded by reeds, low bridges, and tree-lined banks, this hidden section of West Lake offers a calm, intimate atmosphere far from the main tourist routes, revealing a more local and tranquil side of the landscape.
1 hour • Admission ticket not included -
2Lingyin Temple
A top pick for culture lovers. Your private guide leads you through Lingyin Temple (the "Temple of the Soul's Retreat"), one of China's oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries, founded in 326 AD. Wander incense-filled courtyards and grand halls, then explore the Feilaifeng grottoes facing the temple, where hundreds of Buddhist rock carvings — some over 1,000 years old — line the cliffs and caves. Your guide brings the history and living traditions to life, handles the two-part entry for you (both tickets included), and times the visit to dodge the biggest crowds.
1 hour • Admission ticket included -
3Longjing tea fields
Walk the terraced tea fields of Longjing (Dragon Well) Village, home of China's most celebrated green tea. Stroll the plantation paths between the tea bushes — in spring you may see pickers at work on the hillsides — then sit down in a local tea farmer's home for a tasting of authentic Longjing, brewed the traditional way. Your guide explains how the leaves are picked, hand-roasted in woks, and graded, and translates as you chat with your hosts about village life. Buying tea afterward is entirely optional — no shopping pressure, ever. A peaceful countryside contrast to West Lake, only 20 minutes from downtown.
2 hours • Admission ticket included -
4Hefang Street
Finish with a stroll down Hefang Street, Hangzhou's historic walking street at the foot of Wu Hill, where the Southern Song dynasty's old merchant quarter lives on. Browse stalls of silk, fans, and calligraphy brushes, watch sugar-painters and craftsmen at work, and sample local street snacks — dragon's beard candy, dingsheng cake — with your guide steering you to the stalls worth trying. Duck into Huqingyu Tang, the 150-year-old traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy still dispensing today. A lively, easygoing end to the day, with photo moments and souvenir shopping everywhere.
1 hour • Admission ticket included -
5Xixi Wetland Park
The choice for nature lovers: Xixi National Wetland Park, China's first national wetland park — a maze of quiet waterways, reed marshes, and persimmon groves just minutes from downtown. Glide through the channels by electric boat, watching for egrets and kingfishers, and step off at preserved waterside villages where old fishing and silk-farming traditions live on. Your guide knows the calmest corners and each season's highlight — plum blossoms in early spring, white reed flowers in autumn. The peaceful, big-sky counterpart to a morning in the city; best as the centerpiece of a full-day itinerary.
1 hour • Admission ticket not included
Additional info
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Tags
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Cancellation Policy
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
- Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
Rating
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
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