ChinaRoam
ChinaRoam
Metro routes that work, tickets you can actually book, food you can order, and the payment hacks no guidebook prints — city by city.
West Lake, Longjing tea terraces and Song-dynasty temples — the classic Chinese postcard city, one hour from Shanghai.
Xiaoshan (HGH): Line 1/7 metro or airport bus to downtown ~40 min. High-speed rail from Shanghai Hongqiao (45 min–1h) makes Hangzhou the easiest side-trip in China.
Lines 1, 2 & 5 cover the lake, station and Longjing area. Fares ¥2–8. Same Alipay metro QR.
DiDi everywhere; the West Lake loop is best walked or cycled — shared bikes are all over the lakefront.
The UNESCO lake of causeways, pagodas and bridges. Walk Broken Bridge 断桥, cycle the Su Causeway 苏堤, or take a boat at dusk. Free and endlessly photographable.
Reserve: None
1600-year-old Buddhist temple in a bamboo valley with 300+ grotto statues. A short taxi/bus from the lake.
Reserve: None
The source of China's most famous green tea — terraced fields and teahouses 20 min from the lake. Tastings are free; buy only from the licensed shops, not street touts.
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Restored Ming-Qing shopping street of snacks, silk and tea shops beside the old city wall remains.
Reserve: None
Slow-braised pork belly named after the poet Su Dongpo — Hangzhou's signature dish.
Sweet-sour river fish, the classic lake-city dish. Try it at a proper restaurant, not a tourist spot.
River shrimp stir-fried with Longjing tea leaves — delicate, fresh, very local.
Hangzhou shares Shanghai's love of soup dumplings — excellent at the old-town teahouses.
Alipay everywhere; Longjing village and small teahouses are cash-friendly — carry ¥100–200.
Spring (Mar–May) for the lake and tea-picking season; autumn is golden. Summer is hot and crowded.
One hour from Shanghai by high-speed rail makes it a perfect day trip, but staying a night lets you see the lake at sunrise, when the causeways are empty.
Tourist sites have English signage; everyday English is thinner than Shanghai — translation app helps.
ChinaRoam is a crowdsourced guide to traveling China, built for foreign visitors. We started with the city guides that everyone needs but nobody could find in English: how do I actually pay? How do I book a museum with my passport? Which metro line goes where?
Unlike tourist agencies and travel portals, every entry here is written by travelers who have been on the ground — and every guide is open for anyone to correct and improve. It's a living guidebook, not a static one.
Prices, opening hours, and visa rules change. Treat every entry as a strong hint, not gospel — check official sources for things that matter. And if you spot something wrong, correct it: that's the whole point.
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