Lingyin & the West Hills, Hangzhou
Forest temple, Longjing tea terraces and the quiet side of West Lake

What makes this side rewarding is how close nature and culture sit to each other. Step out of the temple gate and you are in a bamboo grove; walk a little further and you reach a clear stream; climb the slope and you are among tea terraces that run out of sight. Here is who the area suits best.

• 1
  For temples and a quiet mind

  Lingyin Temple · Feilai Feng · Buddhist pilgrimage

  Lingyin is not a temple arranged for photographs — it is a working monastery, with resident monks, worshippers bringing incense, and the smell of it hanging in the air throughout. Walk into the Feilai Feng forest early and it is quiet enough to hear birdsong and running water. The cave carvings, several centuries old, give the strong sense of walking somewhere people have come on pilgrimage, without a break, for well over a thousand years.

• 2
  For tea lovers and seeing real plantations

  Longjing · Meijiawu · Dragon Well tea · tea tasting

  Longjing (Dragon Well) is China's most celebrated green tea, and this is where it comes from. Whole hillsides are terraced with tea bushes in neat rows. During the harvest in late March and April you can watch villagers picking the young leaves by hand and pan-roasting the tea in hot woks at the roadside. The family teahouses in Longjing and Meijiawu let you sit over a freshly brewed cup with a view of the fields — an experience the city cannot offer.

• 3
  For easy hiking through the landscape

  Nine Creeks · Jiuxi · tea terraces · light hiking

  The Nine Creeks trail (九溪十八涧, Jiuxi) is a gentle walk through paddy fields, tea terraces and the small streams that converge here. Follow it uphill and you reach a small lagoon, a teahouse and, eventually, Longjing Village. It takes about 3–4 hours including sightseeing and tea stops. The gradient is mild — this is for ordinary walkers, not just hikers — yet it gives the strong feeling of having left the city far behind.

• 4
  For a quiet resort retreat

  Amanfayun · Four Seasons · quiet retreat · wellness

  The Lingyin side holds Hangzhou's most peaceful luxury resorts. Amanfayun is built on the foundations of an old village called Fayun, next to Lingyin Temple, with 47 traditional stone courtyard dwellings set among the tea hills. Four Seasons Hangzhou at West Lake sits on the western lakeshore in a classical-garden setting. Both suit travellers who would rather wake up to greenery and quiet than to the sound of the city.

The strongest argument for basing yourself on the Lingyin / West Hills side is calm and nature. The resorts here sit among tea fields and forest, so you can be inside the temple or out on the tea trail before the day-trippers arrive — an atmosphere the lakefront cannot match. Amanfayun is built on the old Fayun village next to Lingyin Temple, 14 hectares with 47 stone courtyard houses, some more than a century old. Four Seasons Hangzhou at West Lake sits on the western lakeshore in a classical Chinese garden setting, with a livelier kind of luxury.

The one real drawback is getting around. This side has no direct metro and lies some distance from the centre. If your itinerary is built around walking the West Lake shore or shopping every day, basing yourself on the eastern shore (the Hubin area) is more convenient. But if you have come to rest, recharge and have the temple and tea fields as the backdrop to your trip, the Lingyin side does it best.