West Lake

The only World Cultural Heritage site, one of the top 10 scenic locations in China, and the heart and soul of Hangzhou are all located in West Hangzhou. West Lake, a renowned poet of the Song Dynasty, famously praised Hangzhou West Lake for being the most beautiful among China's 36 west lakes.

Every season has its own beauty at West Lake, with its stunning landscape in the spring, endless lotus in the summer, artistic moonlight reflected in the lake in the fall, and oblique crimson gloom in the poetic winter painting. Based on the scale, West Lake is divided into five parts: Outer West Lake, West Inner Lake, North Lake, Little South Lake, and Yue Lake. These areas are separated by Lonely Hill, White Embankment, Su Embankment, and Yanggong Embankment. Leifeng Pagoda on Sunset Mountain faces against northern Baochu Pagoda on Stone Mountain across the lake, creating an amazing location of one mountain, two pagodas, three islands and banks, and five lakes in West Lake as a result. Three additional small islands stand in the central region and the White and Su Embankments pass over the lake.

For its natural beauty and historical artifacts, West Lake has influenced poets and painters throughout Chinese history. It has also been one of the most significant sources of inspiration for Chinese garden designers. In 2011, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the description that it "inspired garden architecture in the rest of China as well as Japan and Korea over the ages" and that it "reflect[ed] an idealized synthesis between humans and nature".

Surface area: 6.4 km2

Location: No.1 Longjing Rd, West Lake Scenic, Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province.