3 Days Private Hangzhou & Wuzhen Water Town

After breakfast, your guide and the driver will meet you at the hotel lobby and escort you to Xixi National Wetland Park, dubbed the ‘the lungs of Hangzhou’ thanks to its diverse ponds, lakes, and swamps. Taking a boat through its crisscross waterways with reeds, you’ll glimpse the traditional wedding scenes at the Fishing Village, which showcase lifelike statues dressed in traditional red costumes, along with a wedding bed. At Deep Pool Inlet, the verbena fields unfold like a real-life Monet painting ‘Garden’, and the tower offers stunning panoramic views of the whole wetland. After admiring the symmetrical beauty of Gao Garden, you may watch egrets flitting among the bamboo and hedges at the nearby Lotus Beach.
 Tips: 
1.Due to the dense vegetation, please bring mosquito repellent and a sun hat if you visit between June and August. 
2.Keep your paper ticket for a second check, as Xixi Wetland is divided into two parts: one free and one charged. Next, let’s journey to Wuzhen Water Town, whose 1,300-plus-year-old history has epitomized the lifestyle of the region south of the Yangtze River. Today, we’ll focus on its East District, where many original inhabitants still reside and wooden awnings shade their washing basins, potted plants, and drying clothes. Step into the Hundred-Bed Museum and explore nearly 30 wooden beds that date back 600 years while speculating on their original owners’ wealth through the intricate or austere carvings. Then, let’s visit the Three Whites Wine Workshop to watch how white rice, white flour, and white water are fermented to create wine. Just a short walk away lie numerous high poles with swaying blue-dyed floral fabrics, which showcase the traditional and natural textile-dyeing methods, worth posting on your Instagram. Finally, your guide will accompany you to enjoy a Shadow Play, learning more about Chinese folk stories like ‘the Journey to the West’ with the rise and fall of skilled shadow puppeteers’ fingers. 

For an authentic experience, your guide will finally escort you to check into a local guesthouse in Wuzhen to stay overnight.

Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast, your guide will accompany to explore West District of Wuzhen. It feels like a carefully curated water town theme park, with tidy canals weaving between uniformly managed shops. At Zhaoming Academy, a courtyard where tranquility seeps through ancient furniture and swaying bamboo leaves, you can observe the art of lacquer painting on paper fans. Then, ascend the White Lotus Pagoda for a view of the Grand Canal. What really hits you might be the Foot-Binding Culture Museum, which exhibits over 500 pairs of distorted women’s shoes, each designed to compress the feet into a mere 12-cm (5-inch) space, about half the normal size! From them, you’ll know the deformed and brutal beauty standards imposed on Chinese women in ancient times. There are also art galleries, an ancient post office, and traditional tea houses. If any of these piques your interest, feel free to discuss with your guide to arrange a flexible visit.

Around noon, the aroma of street foods would draw you to the Water Market, and you can savor local specialties at your own expense to lighten the mood. Try the Fried Radish Cakes, crispy on the outside with a subtly sweet, shredded radish filling. Or, you can taste the Victory Cake, a fluffy and fragrant glutinous treat with red bean fillings that’s sweet but never overwhelming.

► Things to Know: Wuzhen Water Town is also a utopia for dramatists. If you visit in late October, expect for the vibrant Wuzhen Theater Festival in the West District, where ancient buildings give way to an open-air carnival of street art. No ticket is needed; just dive right in roaming mime artists, stilt-walking fairies, or impromptu dance crews on ancient bridges, stone steps, at alley corners. 

Completing this Wuzhen tour from Hangzhou, your guide and the driver will escort you to Hangzhou airport or railway station for your onward journey. If you want to travel to metropolitan Shanghai or ancient Beijing or Xi’an, feel free to share your ideas with our travel consultants!

Meals: Breakfast