Discover Hangzhou
Xixi National Wetland Park
西溪国家湿地公园
A vast managed wetland of ponds, fish farms and reed channels on the city's western edge, best seen from a punt poled through the waterways. Locals come for the persimmon trees in autumn and the plum blossom in February.
The story
What makes this place special
Xixi is a 1,150-hectare wetland in western Hangzhou with six main watercourses and a scatter of ponds and marsh, and it has been shaped by people for a very long time - the wetland took form in the Liangzhu period, villages appear from the Han and Tang, and it developed heavily under the Song and Yuan, when Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song admired it enough to consider siting his capital here. Flood-control works and silkworm raising followed under the Ming and Qing. Industrial pollution damaged it in the late twentieth century; a protection scheme began in August 2003 and the park opened in 2005 as China's first national wetland park.
What you’ll discover
Water, reeds and persimmon and willow trees rather than landscape set pieces: a maze of channels between low islands, crossed by boardwalks and bridges, with electric boats and hand-poled punts working the waterways. There are restored village clusters with silkworm-rearing and silk-making demonstrations, old temples and halls, bird-watching areas with egrets and kingfishers, and a traditional dragon boat contest. It is a place to drift and walk rather than to tick off sights, and the scale means you will not see all of it.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Take a boat, then walk. The channels are the park and the boardwalk network only makes sense once you have been on the water; the electric boat covers the distance and the punt is the slower, better version.
- Persimmon season in late autumn, when the fruit is orange on bare trees over the water, and the reeds in autumn, are what locals come for. In midsummer it is green, hot and mosquito-ridden.
- Pick one zone. The park is far too big for a single visit and is divided into separate areas with separate entrances; decide before you go rather than trying to cover it.
- The dragon boat event and the folk-culture days are the park at its best and are tied to the lunar calendar - worth checking the dates against your trip.
- It is a long way from West Lake and is a half-day in itself. Do not treat it as an add-on to a lake day.
- Take insect repellent. It is a wetland, and visitors are routinely caught out.
When to come
Autumn, for the reeds and the persimmons, and early morning for birds and mist. Spring is good too; midsummer is hot and buggy and winter is bleak but very quiet.
Getting around
Good, unusually so. The park is flat by definition, the routes are boardwalk and paved path with ramps, and the electric boats and shuttle buses cover the distances, so a wheelchair user can get a real visit here - probably the best nature outing in Hangzhou for someone who cannot walk far. Boat boarding involves a step down onto a floating pontoon and needs help. Some older village lanes and small arched bridges have steps.
Worth knowing before you go
The park has several entrances and they are far apart: Zhoujia Village (周家村) for boats and the main sights, Longshe Nunnery (龙舍庵) for the quiet east zone. Check which gate your ticket or hotel shuttle uses before setting off.
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