Discover Hangzhou
Yuhuwan (Bathing Crane Bay)
浴鹄湾
A quiet reed-fringed inlet on the far western lake with wooden boardwalks, stone bridges and a classical pavilion, usually almost empty. Chinese travellers trade it as the 'cold' alternative to the packed east shore.
The story
What makes this place special
Yuhuwan, Bathing Crane Bay, is a stretch of restored wetland and small lakes on the western side of West Lake along Yanggong Causeway, between the Santaishan road and the Wugui Tan and Santai Mengji areas. It was water meadow and marsh that had silted and been built over, and it was reopened as part of the West Lake west-shore restoration programme in the 2000s, which recreated the lost outer waters of the lake. Local tradition associates the area with the Yuan painter Huang Gongwang, who is said to have lived at a cottage nearby.
What you’ll discover
Still water in a chain of small bays, reed beds, willows and stands of old trees, with timber decks, low stone bridges, a water pavilion and a few small halls set among them, and hills rising behind. It is landscape rather than monument: there is nothing to go and look at, and the appeal is that it is the one part of the West Lake scenic area that feels like countryside, with reflections, birds and almost no people even in high season.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- This is the answer to 'West Lake was too crowded'. It is inside the World Heritage area, it is free, and on the same afternoon that the Su Causeway is impassable there will be nobody here.
- Walk it as a chain with Guo's Villa, Quyuan and Wugui Tan along Yanggong Causeway rather than as a destination - the whole western shore strings together into a two-hour walk that most visitors never do.
- Dawn and dusk are when the water is still and the reflections work. In flat midday light there is genuinely not much to see.
- Bring nothing and expect nothing: there are few facilities, little signage in English and no catering, which is part of why it stays quiet.
- Autumn reeds and early spring willow are the two moments; in midsummer the mosquitoes near the reed beds are a real consideration.
When to come
Early morning or the last hour of light, for still water. Autumn for reeds and colour, spring for willow. Avoid midday.
Getting around
Good. Flat wetland at lake level, with level timber boardwalks and paved paths and only shallow bridge humps, and it is reachable from the flat Yanggong Causeway path and the lakeside bus. A wheelchair can do the main circuit. Some of the smaller stone bridges and pavilion approaches have steps, and the surface in places is uneven stone.
Worth knowing before you go
Chain it with neighbouring Maojiabu and Wushan Bay for a two-hour walk with no ticket and almost no crowds. Best in light rain or early morning mist, which is when the reeds photograph well.
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