Overview

Hangzhou is also named ad Hangchow. Located 140 km southwest of Shanghai, Hanozhou is best reached from there by two-hour or so express trains leaving about six times a day. Important to know is that its new Hangzhou Railway Station is for trains terminating in the city. The old train station is now the Hangzhou East Railway Station and is a stop for trains passing through. When you buy a ticket, ask about this. In addition, if you are going to Shanghai from Hangzhou, make sure your ticket is for the main Shanghai station, not the Shanghai south station. Otherwise you will end up in a suburban station with no taxis. Insist on Express and new station to new station.

Visitors flock to Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, because of beautiful West Lake. Hangzhou also has temples, gardens, tea, museums, herbal medicines, and its history as the capital of the Southern Song dynasty. It has the largest silk market in the country. But essentially the visit is to experience this lake, by boat, on foot, or above from the hills. It is spectacular.

An express roadway runs between Hangzhou and Shanghai, and by the end of 2002, an expressway linking Hangzhou with Suzhou should take cars 1.5 hours by road. Hangzhou has air connections with Hong Kong and 37 Chinese cities. Shanghai's Hongqiao airport is 90 minutes by road from Hangzhou and there are no flights between Shanghai and Hangzhou.