Hangzhou in 7 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
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A 7-Day Hangzhou Itinerary on a Budget
Seven days is more than Hangzhou alone comfortably fills; the honest advice is to pair it with Shanghai (about 42-45 minutes by high-speed rail) and Suzhou (about 43 minutes) on a wider Yangtze-Delta (“Jiangnan”) circuit rather than stretch a Hangzhou-only week. This version keeps things Hangzhou-based but borrows a day trip to Suzhou to make that point concrete. Prefer a shorter, tighter trip? See our 3-day , 4-day , or 6-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, plus a high-speed rail ticket to Suzhou for day 7.
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: 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.
Afternoon. Return to Hangzhou for the evening.
Evening. Rest up before an early train the next morning.
Day 7: A Suzhou Day Trip
Morning. High-speed rail to Suzhou, about 43 minutes, to see the classical gardens the city is famous for.
Afternoon. A rushed day trip is genuinely the weaker way to see Suzhou; if your schedule has any give left, an overnight there (or in Shanghai, 42-45 minutes the other direction) suits the gardens far better than a same-day return.
Evening. Train back to Hangzhou, or fly out of Suzhou/Shanghai directly if your route allows it.
Seven days is enough to see all of Hangzhou’s honest core plus museums, a second pagoda, and two day trips, but the schedule above makes its own case: past about day 5, the better use of time is usually Shanghai and Suzhou, not another day inside Hangzhou. 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.