As you all know, Hang Zhou is known for the West Lake or some call it 'Xi Hu'. West Lake is huge and there are many smaller scenic spots around the lake which will take you a couple of days to cover.
Apart from West Lake, there are also several cultural attractions which I will introduce in my itinerary.
Generally if you are traveling on your own, I would highly recommend for you to use the taxi to get around. Not only is it cheap, it also saves you time on getting lost (because frankly I think they public transport is horrible!).
This is a park near the west lake area. It is great for an evening stroll just taking in the sights. Do allow about an hour or so for this park as it is not small and requires abit of walking.
And yes this is the beautiful west lake! This isn't much to do except takings photos and selfies.. so it is more of a "by the way" kind of thing (more for just the picture of the lake I would say).
And more scenic spots, this time with some pagodas and water lilies in the background :)
This is a temple we visited in the west lake area. I would advise you to grab a map because there is quite a bit to cover in here. Do note that some climbing of stairs is required in this temple.
This used to be the residence of someone famous (I'm sorry I'm not too sure of the name). Be prepared to get lost here as it consists of many smaller areas to explore and it looks like a maze to me because every area looks similar!
This place is called Song Dynasty. It is actually a man-made attraction which reconstructs how China used to look during the Song Dynasty. There are ancient houses that you can visit.. there are also workers who don the Chinese traditional costumes walking around the area. There are even little stalls along the way selling traditional Chinese snacks and candies. If you are lucky, you might even catch a performance!
This is the ancient water town called 'Wu Zhen'. Do note this place is not in Hang Zhou city but it is about a 1.5 hour taxi ride away from the city. I wouldn't highly recommend you to visit this place if you are running a tight schedule in Hang Zhou as you are required to spend about 3 hours in total travelling to and fro from this water town. But if you have extra time on hand, it won't hurt to visit this place because it definitely has its "traditional feel" to it.
