Hangzhou travel guide — where to stay, what to do, and where to eat in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
Cultural orientation
Essential context for travellers.
Hangzhou is a major tech and e-commerce hub (headquarters of Alibaba) as well as a heritage tourist city, so the population skews younger and more digitally fluent than many Chinese cities, but English is still spoken inconsistently outside hotels and major attractions — a translation app helps with taxi drivers, tea vendors, and smaller restaurants
Cash use has declined sharply; Alipay (headquartered in Hangzhou) and WeChat Pay dominate everyday transactions, and some small vendors no longer accept cash at all — a foreign-linked digital wallet or a UnionPay-enabled card is worth setting up before arrival
Hangzhou people (and the wider Zhejiang region) have a reputation for entrepreneurial pragmatism and a softer, more mild-mannered speaking style than northern Chinese cities like Beijing
Queuing is standard at attractions like Lingyin Temple and the Songcheng Park show entrance, though boarding buses and the metro can feel more assertive during rush hour and Golden Week
Smoking is banned indoors in most public spaces, restaurants, and on public transport, but is common outdoors and in some designated smoking areas
Tipping is not expected or customary in mainland China, including in restaurants, taxis, and for hotel staff; some upscale hotels catering to international guests are an exception
Security checks with bag scanners are routine at metro stations and major tourist sites such as Lingyin Temple and Songcheng Park — carrying a passport is necessary, not optional
Do's and don'ts
Quick guide to local norms.
Do
- Use both hands when giving or receiving business cards, gifts, or money
- Address people by their title and surname (e.g., 'Manager Wang') until invited to use first names
- Try a few words of Mandarin — even a simple 'ni hao' (hello) or 'xie xie' (thank you) is well received
- Dress modestly and remove hats when entering temples such as Lingyin Temple and other religious sites
- Carry a passport at all times, since security checks at metro stations and major sites are routine
- Download a translation app and a ride-hailing or map app (Google services are blocked without a VPN)
- Accept an offered cup of tea graciously, even a small sip, when visiting a teahouse or a local's home
Don't
- Don't stick chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice — it visually resembles incense sticks burnt for the dead and is considered inauspicious
- Don't discuss Chinese politics, Taiwan, Tibet, or Hong Kong status casually with new acquaintances
- Don't hand over money, gifts, or cards with only one hand in formal settings
- Don't be surprised by direct questions about age, salary, or marital status — these are common conversational topics and not considered rude locally
- Don't assume all websites and apps used at home will work — many foreign social media, search engines, and messaging apps are blocked without a VPN
- Don't haggle aggressively over Longjing tea prices in the growing villages without first asking about grade and harvest date — quality varies enormously and price differences are often genuine, not purely a markup
Etiquette by setting
How to navigate everyday situations.
- Overview
- Hangzhou's culture blends the refined, literary Jiangnan (south-of-the-Yangtze) aesthetic — tea, silk, gardens, poetry associated with West Lake for over a thousand years — with the fast-moving, entrepreneurial energy of a modern tech capital. Politeness, indirectness in disagreements, and an appreciation for craftsmanship and natural beauty remain important threads in daily life.
Useful phrases
A few words go a long way.
你好
Hello
谢谢
Thank you
不客气
You're welcome
请
Please
对不起
Excuse me / Sorry
多少钱？
How much is this?
我不明白
I don't understand
你会说英语吗？
Do you speak English?
洗手间在哪里？
Where is the bathroom?
买单
The bill, please
我是游客
I am a tourist
好吃
Delicious
Religion & spirituality
Understanding faith in Hangzhou.
Overview: China is officially an atheist state, but Hangzhou's temples, pagodas, and shrines reflect over a thousand years of Buddhist and Taoist tradition tied closely to West Lake's landscape. Most residents describe themselves as non-religious or practice a blend of folk belief, Buddhist, and Taoist customs around festivals and ancestor veneration.
Items:
- Religion
- Buddhism
- Info
- The most widely practiced organized religion in Hangzhou. Lingyin Temple ('Temple of the Soul's Retreat'), founded in 328 AD and one of the largest and wealthiest Chan (Zen) Buddhist temples in China, remains an active place of worship alongside the adjacent Feilai Feng limestone grottoes carved with Buddhist statuary.
- Religion
- Taoism
- Info
- Taoist tradition is woven into West Lake's landscape and legend, including sites linked to the Baopu Taoist Compound on Gushan (Solitary Hill) associated with the alchemist and Taoist scholar Ge Hong.
- Religion
- Confucianism
- Info
- Less a religion than an ethical and social framework, Confucian values around family duty, respect for elders, education, and hierarchy still shape everyday etiquette. The Hangzhou Confucius Temple in the old city preserves this legacy and hosts occasional ceremonial events.
- Religion
- Christianity
- Info
- Catholic and Protestant communities in Hangzhou trace back to Jesuit and Protestant missionary activity in the 17th-19th centuries; several historic churches in the old town hold regular services and are open to visitors outside service times.
- Religion
- State atheism and folk tradition
- Info
- The Communist Party formally promotes atheism, and religious activity is regulated and monitored by the state. Alongside this, folk practices such as burning incense for good fortune, consulting the lunar calendar, and ancestor veneration during Qingming Festival remain widespread and are treated as cultural rather than strictly religious, particularly around West Lake's temples and pagodas.