Hangzhou in 3 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
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A 3-Day Hangzhou Itinerary on a Budget
Three days is the honest sweet spot for a Hangzhou-only trip: enough time for West Lake, a tea village, Lingyin Temple, and the old town, without padding the schedule out. Got a fourth day? Our 4-day Hangzhou itinerary adds Xixi Wetland Park. For the full free-and-cheap rundown of the city, see our Hangzhou budget guide . The real friction on a trip like this is language (keep a translation app handy), cashless payment, and the Great Firewall, not the exit-ban and legal-dispute risk behind China’s Level 2 advisory, which mostly touches business travelers, not ordinary tourists.
Set up before you go:
- Link an international Visa or Mastercard to Alipay before you fly; it’s far harder to sort out once you’ve landed.
- Install a VPN before you leave home. Google, Maps, WhatsApp, and Instagram are all blocked once you’re in China, and you can’t download one after arrival.
- Reserve your Lingyin Temple and Feilai Feng timed entry on the “杭州灵隐飞来峰” WeChat/Alipay mini-program, 1-7 days ahead. It’s free since December 2025 but capped daily.
- A Hangzhou hotel booked near West Lake or Wulin Square, whichever suits your budget.
Day 1: West Lake and a Tea Village
Morning. Land at Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport (HGH) and take the metro (Line 19 plus Line 1) to the West Lake area, about 50-60 minutes for roughly ¥6-10. Check in, then head straight for the lake. West Lake itself, the causeways, and Solitary Hill are free; walk the Su Causeway (built 1074 by Su Dongpo) and the Bai Causeway (822, Bai Juyi), two different builders about 250 years apart.
Midday. Take a boat out to Three Pools Mirroring the Moon (around ¥55-70), the small island on the ¥1 note, reachable only by water.
Afternoon. Head to Meijiawu or Longjing tea village. Wandering the terraces is free; a sit-down tasting of Longjing (Dragon Well) tea runs roughly ¥10-80 a cup depending on grade.
Evening. Dinner at Louwailou, the historic (1848) restaurant by the lake that serves the full local canon: Dongpo Pork, West Lake Vinegar Fish, Longjing Shrimp.
Day 2: Lingyin Temple and Feilai Feng
Morning. Arrive at your reserved entry time for Lingyin Temple, founded in 328 CE, and the Feilai Feng grottoes next door, more than 300 rock carvings including a well-known laughing Maitreya. Both are free with the timed reservation.
Afternoon. The China National Tea Museum and China National Silk Museum are both free; the silk museum is the largest of its kind in the world.
Evening. A quieter dinner near wherever you’re staying; save Hefang Street’s food stalls for tomorrow.
Day 3: Hefang Street and the Grand Canal
Morning. Walk Hefang (Qinghefang) Street, free, a pedestrian strip of century-old shops and snack stalls.
Afternoon. Head to Gongchen Bridge, the southern terminus of the Grand Canal, a UNESCO site in its own right (2014, separate from West Lake’s 2011 listing). Walking the canal-side path costs nothing.
Evening. A night cruise on the canal from here runs around ¥100 if you’d rather be on the water than beside it, or close out the trip with one more lakeside walk instead.
Three days covers the honest core of Hangzhou: the lake, the temple, the tea, and the old town. If you already took the Three Pools boat on day 1, feel free to skip the ¥100 canal cruise here and put the money toward a better dinner instead. Whatever you do, set up Alipay and a VPN before you fly, and get the Lingyin reservation booked as early as you can. It’s the one step here that has to happen in advance.