Hangzhou Travel Guides (Updated September 2026)

We booked a tour in Hangzhou and our tour guide Gerry is very caring and knowledgeable. We had a great time with him. He was so flexible to change a place for us to visit. He also helped us book the show of impression west lake. Highly recommend Gerry as an excellent guide and person.

This tour to Meijiawu Tea Village was a unique local experience. We got to know a local tea farmer, a delightful woman with a beautiful smile, who showed us her tea plantation and introduced us to the art of producing and serving tea. The guide who accompanied us, Yolanda, was very knowledgeable of Hangzhou and very patient with us, answering to all our questions promptly. Thank you, Yolanda, for a great day!

We booked a half-day tour to visit a Dragon Well tea village and the Temple Soul’s Retreat. Our guide, Yolanda, made everything to make the tour enjoyable and interesting. More than her competent explanations about the tour, we started to talk to her about many other subjects about the region and China, almost as she was a new friend we made in the city. One important aspect about the visit to the tea village was that we were really visiting a family of tea farmers, that showed us the fields and their house, made us taste different kinds of tea, etc. It was really "one-to-one", totally different from "mass-tourism" tour. It was really a very enjoyable morning, thanks to China Highlights and to Yolanda.

My friend and I booked a tour of Hangzhou with China Highlights, to see West Lake and the Tea Fields.Booking the tour was very simple and Kimi from China Highlights was very helpful at answering any questions I had and was flexible for our plans.We were collected from our hotel and transported to the train station where we were assisted with getting through security etc. Our guide in Hangzhou, Gerry was great. He spoke very good English, had great knowledge of the area and made the day a great joy. We had a boat ride on west lake a lovely local lunch. In the afternoon we got to experience two different tea ceremonies. The farmer at the Meijiawu tea village was very welcoming, we picked tea leaves and she taught us the rules of a tea ceremony.The tour was very well planned and executed.I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone travelling to China.Mary & Lydia

Our guide, Leaf, was extremely helpful and provided suggestions for our tour promptly. She suggested great restaurants which we enjoyed and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with all the activities. At the same time, she gave interesting anecdotes and history about the places we visited. We felt that we have learnt a lot about Hangzhou during this trip.The tea cultural experience was also extremely insightful. We took lots of great photos and learnt a lot about the tea drinking culture in Hangzhou.Highly recommended and would definitely return in the future!

we opt for a 3 days tour and did not regret booking it at all. our tour guide named “Leaf” was very patient with us, sharing stories about Hangzhou. for someone who is not a big fan of tour, i enjoyed myself a lot. thanks Leaf! :-)

Four of us booked this trip to Hangzhou through China Highlights. Our guide Gerry was terrific! He picked us up at the train station and began hosting us for the tour. We enjoyed the boat cruise at West Lake, and he also showed us key highlights in the area. Besides, he took us to different restaurants for meals, where were always fresh and delicious. Despite some rain, we saw the tea museum, and had the tea ceremony. It was really a fantastic tour in Hangzhou.

Incredible time in Hangzhou especially the night performance,”Impressions of Hangzhou” which is a must see. Although not in the original itinerary,Gerry, our guide managed to get the tickets for us at the last minute. Gerry is very reliable and helpful

We drove to an area in Hangzhou where we met Nana, whose family has a tea plantation. Nana was extremely friendly and knowledgeable about tea. She plopped a straw hat on us both, we walked up the hill to the tea plants. We picked a few leaves of tea then walked back to her home through a small village. Along the way she showed us how the tea is dried the same day. Nana showed us the rituals of a tea ceremony, allowing us to try to pour the tea correctly. We had a fun time and learned a lot. Our guide was Fiona. She was very helpful getting us around.

We had Gerry as our guide and he was terrific and so informative. We had a list of things we wanted to see and Gerry accommodated us on our private tour. One place Gerry showed us around was a special supermarket known as something like Mr. Hippo, which was also a wonderful food court for sea food. Gerry told us payment can only be made by an App on your phone. We bought some snack and he paid for us using his phone, and we reimbursed him later. I was so impressed by Alibaba's advanced technology and ideas. Hangzhou, a truly smart city that deserves our time!

I spent a day in Hangzhou. We visited the Buddhist temple which was awesome. Lot of history. The 'crazy monk' and his stories were fun.We then went to the tea gardens which was interesting. Post lunch (where I had the awesome local dessert 'O Fen' which is made of lotus), we went to the pagoda which had great views of the river and the 'new Hangzhou' across the river.This was followed by a boat ride on West Lake which had the '1 yuan view'. I didnt see the light and sound show, but the location and setup seemed interesting.Since we had a few hours before the train to Shanghai, Leaf (the guide) took me to a few interesting places. One was a local restaurant which had several grandparents/parents and the associated children at a table doing their homework. Apparently, these are folks that need to take their children to after school activities, but had a few hours free time between the school and the activity. It was interesting to see how much the parents cared about after school activity. We then also visited a local market (not a supermarket) to check out how fresh produce and meat is sold.Hangzhou had a nice, laidback feel that is hard to capture in photos, but feels great in person.

When we arrived Hangzhou Railroad Station Mr. Tony was there. He was born in Hangzhou. spoke excellent English, friendly for us. We went boat at West Lake, Dragon well, Lingyin Temple, and Huagang Park... He dose good Chinese Calligraphy and drawings. Lunch at Louwailou restaurant eat Dongpo Pork ( original Hangzhou local food ) was really good. we saw beautiful flower everywhere and willow tree color was so good on rainy day. we really enjoy with guide Tony... He written for me, (上有天堂 下有苏杭:Haven in the sky, Hangzhou and Suzhou on earth!!) Highly recommend Tour HangZhou with Mr. Tony!! Thank you! Cathy with Odynovo Tours see you next tour!!

We had a wonderful 2:1 tour with Fiona, really making the most of our quick 36 hours in Hangzhou. I would highly recommend having a private tour guide since they are with you the whole time, can answer all questions, translate everything, plus they're the local experts so you learn the most about the area you're visiting. And having a private driver to take you everywhere wasn't bad :)

We visited Hangzhou, the paradise city on earth recently. We saw flowers everywhere in this season. Our guide Gerry was considerate and knew what he was talking about. He was always happy to answer our questions. The lunch at a local tea farmer's home was simply fantastic. Despite the weekend traffic, we really enjoyed ourselves in this lovely city. Highly recommend!

We had a nice guide Gerry recently in Hangzhou. He was knowledgeable, spoke excellent English, friendly and patient with our family. The low season of tourism was very good for us when there were few people in the boat at west lake. Other places were impressive as well except the rainy weather. Great moment with Gerry anyway.

I had a wonderful day in Hangzhou! Fiona was waiting for me when I arrived at the train station and was with me the entire day. Her insights and information was wonderful. She answered every question I had perfectly. I could not have asked for a better guide! Thank you!