Hangzhou in 6 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
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A 6-Day Hangzhou Itinerary on a Budget
Six days is more than a Hangzhou-only trip strictly needs; most travelers pair the city with Shanghai and Suzhou instead, a Yangtze-Delta (“Jiangnan”) circuit that our 7-day itinerary leans on. If you’d rather stay put, this version fills the extra days with museums, a second pagoda, and a genuine day trip. Shorter on time? See our 3-day or 4-day versions, or the Hangzhou budget guide for the free-and-cheap rundown. The real friction here is language, 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 to 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.
Afternoon. Head to Meijiawu or Longjing tea village. Wandering the terraces is free; a sit-down tasting of Longjing tea runs roughly ¥10-80 a cup depending on grade.
Evening. Dinner at Louwailou, the historic (1848) restaurant by the lake serving 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, 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.
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).
Evening. A night cruise on the canal from here runs around ¥100 if you want to be on the water.
Day 4: Xixi Wetland Park
Morning. Xixi National Wetland Park’s central zone is free; the quieter east and west zones cost around ¥80 combined if you go further in.
Afternoon. A slower day: wander the wetland boardwalks and canals at your own pace.
Day 5: Museums and a Second Pagoda
Morning. Catch up on ticketed sights you skipped earlier: Leifeng Pagoda (around ¥40, a 2002 rebuild over the 975 CE original, which collapsed in 1924) and Yue Fei Temple (around ¥25).
Afternoon. The Six Harmonies Pagoda (around ¥20 plus ¥10 to climb), on the Qiantang River south of the lake, a separate site from the West Lake sights.
Evening. If your dates land near the Mid-Autumn Festival (25-27 September 2026), the Qiantang tidal bore is viewable about an hour away at Haining/Yanguan, not from central Hangzhou; check the daily tide notice before you go.
Day 6: A Water-Town Day Trip
Morning. Wuzhen and Xitang, the classic canal water towns, sit about 1.5-2 hours away by car; a private car covers both more comfortably than the bus, which is a stretch to fit into one day. Moganshan, a bamboo-hill retreat around 1-1.5 hours away, is the quieter alternative if you’d rather slow down than sightsee.
Afternoon. Return to Hangzhou for your final evening.
Evening. One last West Lake walk before departure.
Six days is enough to add museums, a second pagoda, and one real day trip to the core of West Lake, the temple, the tea, and the old town, though most travelers this far into a Jiangnan trip use the extra time on Shanghai and Suzhou instead. 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.