Hangzhou

Broken Bridge is the eastern threshold of Bai Causeway and a useful fixed start for reading West Lake as a sequence of engineered views rather than a generic lake pin. Walking west from here keeps the city behind you, opens the north and outer lake on either side, and leads naturally toward Solitary Hill without requiring a full circuit.

This is one of the lake’s busiest approaches during blossoms, weekends, and public holidays. Arrive early, keep Bai Causeway as the core walk, and decide at Solitary Hill whether weather and crowding justify a boat, museum, or bus; do not prepay an informal boat offer without the operator, route, island stop, and return pier.

杭州市西湖区北山街，白堤东端

This entrance controls the shared religious and heritage landscape containing the Feilai Peak carvings, Lingyin Temple, Yongfu Temple, and Taoguang Temple. Preserving the scenic-area identity prevents a traveler from saving only a temple label and missing the real-name timed reservation that now governs the whole complex.

The complex has been free since 1 December 2025 but is not walk-in: reserve a morning or afternoon slot at least one day ahead in the 杭州灵隐飞来峰 mini-program. Since 1 February 2026 there is no offline standby queue; use the online waitlist by the prior-day deadline, carry the booked identity document, and cancel in time to avoid a no-show suspension.

杭州市西湖区灵隐路法云弄1号

Shuangfeng is the museum branch that pairs a Chinese tea-culture exhibition with a dedicated West Lake Longjing exhibition in a garden among tea fields. Naming the branch matters because the same institution also operates the hillier Longjing campus at Wengjiashan 268, with different exhibitions, terrain, and transport.

The museum’s current guide lists 09:00–16:30 and an unusual Tuesday closure, with public holidays excepted. Use the exhibitions before any tasting or purchase, then require a producer, cultivar, harvest date, picking standard, grade, net weight, sealed package, quoted service charges, and receipt instead of treating a view of tea bushes as proof of origin.

杭州市西湖区龙井路88号

Deshou Palace is the most legible first stop for Southern Song Lin’an because it puts exposed palace remains, excavation history, historical interpretation, and reconstructed halls in one place. The archaeological fabric and the modern reconstruction are both useful, but they are not the same kind of evidence and the visit should keep that distinction visible.

The standing process releases free timed reservations through the official 南宋德寿宫遗址博物馆 WeChat account up to three days including the visit day, from 09:00. Recheck the current calendar and accepted document flow; if a foreign passport cannot complete the mini-program, contact the official venue before building the day around a promised slot.

杭州市上城区望江路228号

This museum explains the canal’s engineering, grain transport, trade, vessels, and effect on Hangzhou beside the water it interprets. Its exact bilingual identity prevents substitution with the much larger China Grand Canal Museum in Yangzhou or with unrelated canal exhibition halls, while its east-bank position creates a natural museum-to-Gongchen-Bridge walk.

Check the museum’s current official notice for opening and reservation requirements before traveling north. After the galleries, cross Gongchen Bridge and continue only through public Qiaoxi lanes and river edges; workshops, residences, craft museums, and cruises have separate hours or tickets and should not be bundled into this one pin.

杭州市拱墅区运河文化广场1号，拱宸桥东侧

Liangzhu Museum gives the clearest first reading of the jade, rice agriculture, water engineering, settlement, and political organization behind the World Heritage archaeological city. It is a museum in Meilizhou Park, not the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City Park and not a generic pin for modern Liangzhu subdistrict.

The official visit guide lists free reserved admission Tuesday–Sunday, 09:00–17:00 with last entry at 16:00. The archaeological park is about five kilometers away, uses its own real-name reservation and ticket, and needs roughly three more hours plus internal transport, so give both sites a dedicated day or choose the museum alone.

杭州市余杭区美丽洲路1号