Hefang Street & Wushan Hill
A Qing-era old quarter, street snacks, and West Lake from the summit

What gives Hefang its appeal is that it still functions as a real trading street, not an open-air museum. A few steps take you from a pharmacy where people actually buy medicine, to a fan shop where the painter still works at the front, to a spun-sugar stall with children gathered round. In the evening, once the shops are fully lit, the whole length of the street turns into the liveliest night market in the old city.

• 1
  For people who come to eat the street

  Street snacks · night market · local sweets

  This is the main reason Hangzhou locals bring out-of-town friends to Hefang. The snacks run from dingshenggao (the pink steamed rice cake said to bring luck) to fish balls, roast duck, fresh black-sesame sweets, animal-shaped spun sugar, and Longjing green-tea ice cream and milk tea. You can walk and eat the whole length of the street. Typical snacks cost ¥10–40 (~฿50–200). Evening into night is busiest and best.

• 2
  For lovers of heritage crafts

  Heritage shops · silk · fans · tea · Zhang Xiaoquan

  Hefang gathers Hangzhou's heritage brands — the centuries-old scissor and knife maker Zhang Xiaoquan (张小泉), silk shops selling scarves and clothing, hand-painted folding fans, and Longjing tea sellers who let you taste before buying. These make better souvenirs, with a real story behind them, than the generic gift-shop stuff. Just compare prices a little — tourist shops and traditional shops price quite differently.

• 3
  For history and Chinese medicine

  Huqingyutang · TCM museum · Qing architecture

  The Huqingyutang pharmacy (胡庆余堂), founded in the 19th century, is both a working Chinese-medicine dispensary and a museum of traditional Chinese medicine. The original carved-timber building is the draw on its own. Museum admission is around ¥10 (~฿50), open 09:00–17:00 — the most accessible place in the city to see what an old apothecary actually looked like.

• 4
  For escaping the crowds to a view

  Wushan Hill · Chenghuang Pavilion · West Lake panorama

  The western end of Hefang is the trailhead for Wushan Hill. A climb of under fifteen minutes leaves the bustle behind and brings you onto shaded woodland paths dotted with small shrines and temples, up to the multi-storey Chenghuang Pavilion (City God Pavilion), whose upper floors take in the whole of West Lake. It is the natural break in a day of walking the street below.

The advantage of staying around the eastern shore of West Lake (Hubin 湖滨) or near the old town is that both the lake and Hefang Street are walkable. Stroll the lakeshore early before the crowds, spend the day around the water, then drop down to Hefang in the evening for the night market — a whole day without touching a car. Wushan Square on Metro Line 7 also connects you onward to the railway stations and the airport when you need it.

If you want a resort feel against the hills and water instead, the wooded western side of West Lake has several upscale properties — though they are a little further out from Hefang. The choice comes down to whether you weight convenience for the old town or quiet by the hills more heavily.