Ling Yin Temple 灵隐寺 (Highly Recommended)👍
This is one of my favorite temples in all of China. Ling Yin Temple has over 1,600 years of history and throughout time has been destroyed and restored several times. Ling Yin Temple is a temple built into and around a mountain, where Buddhas are carved directly into or from the mountain itself. It is a very unique temple to visit. There is a also a large Buddha hosted in Lin Yin Temple. However, the most significant feature of this temple that makes it so memorable is its appearance, surrounding environment and how it uses the mountain to enhance experience by forming grottoes and figures carved into the walls of the mountain.
The cost of an entrance ticket is about 70RBM. Ling Yin Temple also closes a bit early normally at 5:00pm but depending on the season that you go it could be earlier (sometime around sundown), so be sure to check ahead of time. Ling Yin Temple is a good place to spend a couple of hours. It isn’t a huge temple so I wouldn’t anticipate that many people would spend much more than a couple of hours here.
How to get there?
Ling Yin Temple is a few miles away from West Lake. I recommended taking an Uber or cab to get there. Even though I recommended renting bikes I don’t recommend riding the bikes to Ling Yin Temple. The route to Ling Yin Temple doesn’t hold anything of significance to see and the route is a bit of a journey to travel there by bike. It is about a 10-15 minute car ride or about an hour bike ride. It is not worth the time to ride bikes to Ling Yin Temple. Also, it is easy to take a wrong turn and get lost on your way to Ling Yin Temple. It would be best not to put yourself through the frustration.
清河坊历史文化街 Qing He Fang Historical & Cultural Street
This is the culture street in Hang Zhou. It is not far away from West Lake and is definitely the place to go if you’d like to buy nicknacks, scroll paintings, or any other souvenirs in Hang Zhou. It is also at the end of a very high-end walking street where there are name brand items like you would find in any western big city (Dior, Louis Vuitton and etc.).
I would recommend going here at night after you’ve done everything that you wanted to do around West Lake (or other areas). I wouldn’t say that the culture street is worth the day light, when there are so many other scenic areas that can only be visited in daytime. So, save the culture street for after sundown. You can also grab a some snacks to eat while walking in the culture street.
Be aware that you can haggle with people to buy items here. Except in the name brand shops and eateries. If you are buying nicknacks the vendor will undoubtably try to sell you them for a high price, so haggling for nicknacks is a must (at stands, not stores).
西溪湿地 The Wetlands (Sub-par)
The wetlands is another attraction that travelers can visit while in Hang Zhou. It is a bit far from West Lake. So, if you’re staying near West Lake it’ll be between a 45-60 minute venture to the wetlands. Personally, I don’t recommend going to the wetlands. Being from Florida I have seen wetlands before and I thought it was underwhelming. I didn’t see any gators or crocs (I am not sure if they even have them in this wetland area), I did see a few snakes but not the large impressive Boas or Pythons… More like the smaller possibly venomous ones that you might accidentally step on.
Pretty much the only activity to do in the wetlands is take the boat tour. There are a few docks where visitors are dropped off to look around (not a lot of room to roam around). If you’ve never been to a wetland before… I’d recommend going to the Florida Everglades but if that is not an option and you are in the area of Hang Zhou you could always check it out. Don’t expect to see much wildlife, go for the ecosystem and be pleasantly surprised if you see anything more. I would not recommend putting the wetlands high on the list of places to visit. If you have time to kill then check it out, if not, you’re not missing much.
植物园 The Botanical Gardens 👍
The Botanical Garden of Hang Zhou is located a stones throw away from West Lake and it is definitely worth a visit (in the spring). Hang Zhou is an area that can sustain a large variety of plants and flowers. As a result, the botanical garden looks beautiful, very eye catching and it is set up perfectly to take a walk around and enjoy the scenery.
Be aware that the botanical garden is very large, be sure to take a note or drop a pin in your phone as to which entrance you came in. The reason I mention this is because some entrances/exits close at different times. So, you may not be able to leave from any exit (depending on the time). Also, if you rode a bicycle there you will need to remember where you put the bike. It is easy to get lost in the shear size of the botanical garden.
The botanical garden is a good place to pass an hour or two, I would recommend spending more time than that here unless you have time to kill though.
International Kev 