杭州市

Why this place

Hangzhou's West Lake has been written about, painted and landscaped for a thousand years, and it is the reason Chinese gardens look the way they do — the lake is the original model. The city around it was the Song dynasty capital and is now the country's tech hub, with a tea culture that has been famous since the Tang.

What to see

• West Lake: the Su Causeway and Bai Causeway, and the lake at dawn before the crowds
• Lingyin Temple and the Feilai Feng grottoes with their hundreds of carvings
• Longjing tea villages (Meijiawu, Longjing) in the hills, for tea tasting in the fields
• The Grand Canal's southern end and the Gongchen Bridge quarter
• Xixi wetland, west of the city, and the Liangzhu museum if you care about early Chinese civilisation

What to eat

• Longjing shrimp and Dongpo pork — the two dishes Hangzhou is known for
• West Lake fish in vinegar, cooked whole and served with a sweet-sour sauce
• Longjing tea, drunk all day, everywhere

How to plan

Two or three days: lake and causeways, Lingyin, tea hills, plus a canal walk.

Best time

March–May and October–November; plum blossom in February, lotus in July

Practical tips

• Walk or cycle the lake early in the morning — by mid-morning it belongs to tour groups