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Photo by 钉钉, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Best time to visit Hangzhou
China · East Asia
All twelve months scored on daily temperature, rainfall, humidity and holiday crowding.
The year in Hangzhou
Tap a month for its page
- JanJHangzhou in January: ok
- FebFHangzhou in February: ok
- MarMHangzhou in March: sweet spot
- AprAHangzhou in April: sweet spot
- MayMHangzhou in May: sweet spot
- JunJHangzhou in June: ok
- JulJHangzhou in July: avoid
- AugAHangzhou in August: avoid
- SepSHangzhou in September: ok, busy
- OctOHangzhou in October: sweet spot, busy
- NovNHangzhou in November: ok, busy
- DecDHangzhou in December: ok
- Sweet spot
- Good
- OK
- Avoid
- Busy
Plan this trip
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too.
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Flights from
Flights
Your city is a guess from your time zone. Choose your city
Where are you flying from? Choose your city for its flights and fares.
Book with the airline
Where to stay
Book direct
Luxury
Things to do
Car hire
Rent direct
Travel insurance
Check whether your bank card or home insurance already covers this trip.
If the trip needs a visa, the travel agent or visa centre usually sells the cover it asks for.
Mobile data (eSIM)
Your own plan's EU roaming may already cover this.
Renting a pocket Wi-Fi is the other common way to stay connected.
These are sites people in book with. Each opens in a new tab, on the site's own pages.
Things to do in Hangzhou
- Tianducheng A neighborhood built in Parisian style, including a 108 m replica of Eiffel Tower…
- West Lake Hangzhou's most famous scenic sight.
- Lingyin Temple Meaning "heart of the soul's retreat"…
- Leifeng Pagoda On the shores of the southeast side of the lake and built in the year 977…
- Xixi National Wetlands Park Opened in May 2005, this wetlands park is in the extreme west part of the city past the…
- Liuhe Pagoda Down by the Qiantang River, about a 15-minute cab ride from the lake in light traffic…
- Dreaming of the Tiger Spring A spring as well as a scenic and historic destination.
Tours and tickets in Hangzhou
Each site opens on its own search: choose your dates there. A few open on their home page, where you type the place too. Links marked Ad pay us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you; most pay nothing, and what a site pays never decides whether it is listed or where. How we rank
Sights and their lines from Wikivoyage (Hangzhou), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; in order of how often each one's Wikipedia article was read on phones in the last 12 months.
Month by month
No fare history for this route yet, so this ranking is climate and crowds only — the price column will fill in as the scanner collects.
| Month | Max °C | Rain days | Humidity | Sun h/day | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10° | 8d | 73% | 5.8h | ok | 10C max, 8 rainy days |
| Feb | 12° | 9d | 76% | 5.4h | ok | 12C max, 9 rainy days |
| Mar | 17° | 10d | 75% | 6.2h | sweet spot | 17C max, 10 rainy days |
| Apr | 23° | 11d | 73% | 7.2h | sweet spot | 23C max, 11 rainy days |
| May | 27° | 9d | 74% | 7.8h | sweet spot | 27C max, 9 rainy days |
| Jun | 29° | 14d | 82% | 6.8h | ok | 29C max, 14 rainy days |
| Jul | 33° | 10d | 78% | 9.2h | avoid | extreme heat: 11 days over 35C |
| Aug | 34° | 9d | 75% | 10.1h | avoid | extreme heat: 11 days over 35C |
| Sep | 29° | 8d | 79% | 8.1h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Oct | 23° | 5d | 76% | 6.9h | sweet spot busy | holidays: CN: National Day; CN: National Day (observed) |
| Nov | 18° | 8d | 75% | 6.3h | okbusy | busier than usual |
| Dec | 12° | 6d | 72% | 6.5h | ok | 12C max, 6 rainy days |
Rain days are the days with at least 1 mm of rain, as a weather station counts them.
Weather read at the centre, by West Lake, 25 km from the airport (HGH): ten years of ERA5 and ERA5-Land reanalysis, through Open-Meteo's open data.
A busy month is a crowded one, not a bad one — usually it is crowded because the weather is good. It is flagged rather than scored down, and crowds alone never make a month “avoid”: that is reserved for weather worth skipping.
How busy it gets
Then and now
Hangzhou's March days now average 17.4°C, 3.6°C warmer than in 1981–1990. 9 of 12 months are clearly warmer.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–90 | 8.0° | 8.7° | 13.8° | 20.1° | 25.1° | 27.9° | 32.3° | 31.5° | 26.4° | 21.8° | 16.5° | 10.8° |
| 2017–26 | 10.4° | 11.7° | 17.4° | 22.6° | 26.9° | 28.9° | 33.4° | 33.9° | 29.2° | 23.3° | 18.4° | 11.5° |
| Change | +2.4° | +3.0° | +3.6° | +2.4° | +1.8° | +1.0° | +1.1° | +2.4° | +2.8° | +1.5° | +1.9° | +0.7° |
The average daily high, month by month, for the nearest ERA5 grid cell. Bold is a clear change; grey is within the ordinary spread between years. Every destination, ranked.
Getting there
How far Hangzhou is, and what it costs, depends on where you set off from — the months above do not.
- from Taipei
- from Seoul
- from Hong Kong
- from Manila
- from Tokyo
- from Ho Chi Minh City
- from Bangkok
- from Kolkata
Open in Rome2rio for every way from to Hangzhou, flying or not.
Before you go
Type A and C and I plugs at 220 V. Drives on the right. The currency is the Renminbi. No UK Foreign Office advice against travel. Global Affairs Canada: Exercise a high degree of caution (with regional advisories). US State Department: Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution. Everything for China: cost of living, languages, emergency numbers and health.
Being there
On arrival
- Paying — Most payments are made by phone with Alipay or WeChat Pay: link a Visa, Mastercard or other foreign card to either app, then scan the shop's QR code. Many hotels and larger shops take foreign cards, but many places do not, so carry some yuan in case the apps fail you.
- UPI, for visitors from India — Not accepted for paying here; bring a card that works abroad.
- Tipping — Not expected in most restaurants and hotels, or in taxis; bars and cafeterias in hotels, and some other restaurants and bars, may add a 10-15% service charge.
Getting around Hangzhou
- Apps — Rides: DiDi, Amap. Maps: Amap, Baidu Maps, Apple Maps. Messages: WeChat. Google and WhatsApp are blocked in mainland China, as are Facebook, YouTube and X; WeChat, Alipay and DiDi all work in English.
The easiest way around Hangzhou is the metro system, with 13 lines and 270 stations operational, covering 516 km as of August 2024. Hangzhou has an extensive bus network. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Hangzhou, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Help
- Emergency — police 110 · ambulance 120 · fire 119. Traffic police are on 122.
TravelCharika is not an emergency service: we cannot call for help or send anyone. Numbers can change; if one fails, ask someone local or your hotel.
Your embassy — : how to reach your embassy or consulate abroad. A guess from your city, : a city is not a passport.
Put together by hand from the sources listed, checked 7 October 2026. Apps, cards and rules change, so check before you rely on one.
Sources (27)
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china/getting-help
- gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/china/safety-and-security
- travel.gc.ca/destinations/china
- auswaertiges-amt.de/de/service/laender/china-node/chinasicherheit-200466
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-PaymentsInShanghai/20260920/f22b7e0f606c407e9da9d26b089eac48.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-PaymentMethods/20240313/6f4e58272f1a4cea9aec59c518915bdf.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-UsefulApps/20231214/3cac2d8cc7f847da92a72252bae06705.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250627/d8f21f2e7d3b45a5b03757e35039b806.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250614/a5c7bac93f024324ace770d3275d28b6.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-CIIE2025Service-Transport/20251017/c6c5ca124ee74e92a37244280c0983b9.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20240417/0444aa1c2f114f7eb66a0341b603bbbc.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250711/8f2fcf3c6b624a56a6b2c0d8152ea2f2.html
- english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-FAQs-LivinginShanghai/20231214/6e73c9e64a174827beeb9b588af1255d.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/latest/specials/essentialtipsfornewarrivals/transportation/202408/t20240830_3785706.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/latest/news/202506/t20250616_4114250.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/contactus/faqs/list/202602/t20260209_4502729.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/livinginbeijing/transportation/beijingsubway/202409/t20240914_3891497.html
- english.beijing.gov.cn/consuminginbeijing/news/202410/t20241016_3921355.html
- english.visitbeijing.com.cn/article/47ONhboe35K
- apps.apple.com/us/app/didi-china-ride-hailing/id554499054
- apps.apple.com/us/app/amap-global/id461703208
- en.prnasia.com/releases/apac/tencent-announces-2026-second-quarter-results-543788.shtml
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/China
- apple.com/ios/feature-availability
- pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2286608
- rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/AnnualReport/PDFs/09PAYMENT290526C6588B796E664822A2BD0DEB6452CAD4.PDF
Hangzhou in pictures
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Charlie fong, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Baycrest, cropped by Foxy1219, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
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·˙·ChinaUli2010·.·, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Hangzhou is like
Hangzhou (杭州; ɦaŋ-tsei in Wu, Hángzhōu in Mandarin) is the capital of Zhejiang province. It is one of the most important tourist cities in China, famous for its natural beauty and historical and cultural heritage. Hangzhou serves as the political, economic, and cultural center of Zhejiang province. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth seeing
- West Lake (Xihu), Hangzhou，Zhejiang，China (The east side of the lake is easily accessed by Metro - Longxiangqiao station (line 1) or Fengqilu station (lines 1,2).) Open 24 hours. More on Wikivoyage
- Worth doing
- Impression West Lake (印象西湖). 19:30 (winter), 19:45 (summer). Directed by the golden trio including Zhang Yimou, a love story performed with impressive special effects on the lake. More on Wikivoyage
- Getting in
- Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH IATA). serves domestic and international flights. There are frequent services to Beijing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities. More on Wikivoyage
- Staying healthy
- The West Lake is home to many biting insects that may cause allergic reactions in visitors from outside the area. More on Wikivoyage
From the Wikivoyage article on Hangzhou, written by travellers and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the full article has far more. The numbers above are measured; this is experience.
Around Hangzhou
Also in China
- Beijing best Apr, May, Jun
- Chengdu best Apr, May, Jun
- Chongqing best Mar, Apr, Jun
- Harbin best Apr, May, Jun
- Nanjing best Mar, Apr, May
- Shanghai best Apr, May, Nov
- Xi'an best Mar, May, Jun
Nearby
- Taipei Taiwan · 594 km
- Okinawa Japan · 862 km
- Busan South Korea · 1,003 km
- Seoul South Korea · 1,027 km
Kind of place
Hangzhou is in China, East Asia. Distances are great-circle, so a short one can still be a long way round.
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