2-Day Xitang Water Town Tour from Hangzhou with Night Highlights

Day1 Xitang Water Town

Hangzhou to Xitang

Your guide meets you at your hotel in Hangzhou with a Your Way Holiday sign and drives you to Xitang Water Town in a private air-conditioned car. On the way your guide gives a short introduction to the town, and you check in to your hotel in Xitang for the night.

Xitang by Lantern Light

You return to the town as the light fades and the lanterns come on over the stone bridges and narrow lanes. The main sight is the Mist-Rain Long Corridor, a covered riverside walkway close to one kilometer long, built of wooden beams and once used to shelter people from sun and rain. Your guide points out the carved windows and the black-tiled roofs of the old houses.

Canal Boat Ride

To see Xitang from the water, you board a traditional wooden boat and cruise the canals under the lantern light. The boat passes beneath old arched bridges and moves past homes along the water, while your guide tells the local stories of silk traders and scholars.

Bar Street

Later the mood changes on Bar Street, the busiest part of Xitang at night. Bars line the water with music and lights, some simple and local with rice wine, some modern with rooftop seats. Your guide helps you choose a place to sit.

Canal-Side Dinner

Dinner is at a restaurant by the canal. Local dishes include braised river fish cooked with ginger and sweet soy, stir-fried lotus root with vinegar and chili, and crispy fried tofu. Your guide helps with the menu and explains each dish.

Evening Stroll and Your Xitang Hotel

After dinner you take a last walk through the quieting lanes as the crowds thin. Your guide then takes you back to your hotel in Xitang, where you stay the night before the second day.

Day2 Xitang Water Town

Morning in Xitang

After your night in Xitang, your guide takes you into the old town by day. Xitang is known for its canals, its Ming and Qing buildings, and more than a hundred stone bridges, and the pace here is easy and local.

Mist-Rain Long Corridor

You walk the Mist-Rain Long Corridor in daylight. Its tiled roof, wooden beams, and lattice windows were built to keep off sun and rain, and it runs for more than a kilometer beside the canals through neighborhoods and old shops. Stone benches line the way, and residents often play chess or drink tea by the water.

Huanxiu Bridge

Next you cross Huanxiu Bridge, a stone arch of the Ming dynasty worn smooth by centuries of use. The bridge once linked busy markets, and its name suggests encircling and reunion, a traditional idea tied to family and community. Willows and old buildings frame the canal here.

Zhang Zheng Root Carving Museum

Then you visit the Zhang Zheng Root Carving Museum, where whole tree roots are carved into figures such as dragons, deities, and scholars. The work follows the natural shape of the wood and the ideas of living in balance with nature. If the workshop is open, you can watch the artisans carve and polish.

Button Museum

After that you see the Button Museum. Xitang was long a center for making buttons, and the museum traces their history in six rooms, from early buttons of shell, bone, and bamboo to metal and plastic designs of the 20th century, including embroidered and knotted silk fasteners. You can try tying a Panlong knot.

Songzi Laifeng Bridge

You then pause at Songzi Laifeng Bridge, an arched stone bridge of the Ming dynasty with carved railings that stand for good fortune. Its name means bringing phoenix and offspring, so it has long been a blessing spot for couples. At sunset the bridge and its reflection form a circle on the water.

Flower Alley

Your walk ends in Flower Alley, a quiet and narrow lane of low brick homes with weathered wooden doors. Climbing jasmine, osmanthus, or morning glories scent the air, and the doorsteps carry small charms and paper cuttings. Some families show embroidery or calligraphy to visitors.

Return to Hangzhou

At the close of day two your guide drives you back from Xitang to your hotel in Hangzhou, ending the two-day tour.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many days is this Xitang tour?

It is a two-day tour from Hangzhou. You spend one night inside Xitang, which lets you see the town both by day and by night.

Where does the tour start and end?

Your guide meets you at your hotel in Hangzhou on the first morning, and the tour brings you back to your hotel in Hangzhou at the end of day two.

Where do I stay on the first night?

You spend the first night at a hotel in Xitang, so you can see the lit canals and Bar Street in the evening as well as the town by day.

What is the Button Museum?

Xitang was once a center for making buttons, and the Button Museum traces that history in six rooms, showing early buttons of shell, bone, and bamboo alongside modern designs.

Which sights do we see on day two?

On day two you walk the Mist-Rain Long Corridor, cross Huanxiu Bridge and Songzi Laifeng Bridge, and visit the Root Carving Museum and the Button Museum, then end with a stroll down Flower Alley.

Price Per Person in US Dollars