Tea Houses

Hangzhou is a beautiful city,the lake is fabulous.It turned out to be a private tour, the car was luxurious, the guide and driver ok (nothing special). It is a long journey from Shanghai. I would prefer if the Felai Peak could be part of the tour,since it takes so much time to go in Hangzhou. The lunch was poor with no variety (the worst meal we had in China).The tea plantation is interesting, but too expensive (40 euros for a few gramars) and the employers a little 'pushy'.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

I again would give this a 5 for the scenery and spots. However, me and my friend were unlucky enough to be stuck with Frank for this tour as well (read my Suzhou review). This time 2 other tourists joined us. Frank performed better on this day. Or more specifically, he treated the two other tourists better than us (preferential treatment based on age or race?!). He gave better descriptions and spoke more about history. I jokingly brought up how he did not talk that much about history on the previous day's tour. This ignited the fire. He started to ignore me and gave me a hard time for the next few hours. During the second half of the tour, he started to cool down to make sure I would rate him better on the survey. On the way back to the hotels, he handed me the survey. I already knew he was going to crack it open once I finished filling it out so I decided to not rate him so poorly (I wanted to voice my opinion on Viator instead). And of course, he did open it in front of everyone and read it before stuffing it in his bag! If I am ever to go back here, I would not join this tour again.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

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Really great tour! The tea ceremony was very interesting to learn about from the tea master, and was great to be able to taste so many different teas. The tea master and the guide were so friendly and excited for us to be there which made the whole experience even better. I'd definitely recommend it, especially if you're a big tea drinker.

Doing what: Experience Shanghai: Small-Group Tea Ceremony

I learnt so much about tea during the tour. Love my tea master!

Doing what: Experience Shanghai: Small-Group Tea Ceremony

It takes 2.5hrs to get to Hangzhou by car from Shanghai so there is a lot of time spent on the road on this tour. If you only have time for 1 day tour in Shanghai, l would recommend the Suzhou and Zhouzhuang Water Village day trip. However, if you have extra time and enjoy gardens, tea and nature, this is still worth the time. My friend and l both enjoyed our time here. To make this tour more attractive, l would suggest that lunch should be arranged at one of the local home/teahouses around the tea plantations so you get more of a local culinary experience. Also, though West Lake is the main attraction in Hangzhou, l would recommend that some more time be allocated to have a free wonder at Nine Creeks as it was quite a beautiful park, and cooler! Note that the tour does not cover a walk inside the Pagoda.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

Rita was a charming guide and the visits were interesting, in particular the tea village. In contrast to the water village trip the meal was OK and the driver did not drive too fast.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

Insufficient time spent walking around lake, too much time spent at tea presentation. A long journey for what is on offer, but interesting.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

Awesome tour, so much to see here , very nice part of china, and close to Shanghai, Great tour guide very helpful and informitive. well worth doing if you have a day to spare the lake and boat trip was great and the gardens and tea house good .. Recomend this

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

Hangzhou is a lovely city, and West Lake there is a must-see. The venerable Longjing tea plantation tour and tasting were excellent, if a thinly-disguised ploy to stimulate the buying impulse. The problem with this daytrip is that the majority of one's time is spent in a van, picking up and dropping off fellow travellers and going to and from Shanghai. Fast train might be the better transportation method. The lunch place was disappointingly mediocre and lacked a lake view. Lastly, our guide added little to the experience. His role seemed simply to be shepherding us to and from the bus and the boat on the Lake. All in all, the Hangzhou day trip served as an enticing but hardly satisfying introduction to one of China's top 10 destinations.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

After a 3 + hours drive out of Shanghai we finally made it to Hangzhou. the traffic was horrible in town that day, riding in a small minivan that had A/C but the driver didn't want to turn it on made it even worse. After our boat ride we went to eat..Ok meal, then we went to the tea house for green tea. We made one more stop but only had about 10 minutes to take pictures. then we piled into the van and rode back to Shanghai. It was very hot in the van even with the windows open. Everyone slept except me because i saw the driver start slapping his face and shaking his head trying to stay awake. I was so happy to return to my hotel! Perhaps you could charge people more money and take the high speed train as a group and have a driver meet the group in Hangzhou. This would eliminate so much time on the road.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

Beautiful gardens and the green tea village demo / tasting was interesting

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

It was a very long drive (heavy traffic) from Shanghai. I would have preferred to travel by train to Hangzhou and be collected from the station by bus and shown around. Hangzhou, the lake, the pagoda and tea fields are all interesting. If you can avoid the drive and catch a train, then visit this area.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

A huge day with so much jammed in. We went unfortunately on a public holiday and got caught in traffic for hours. To see the traditional site of tea and to be educated in the fine arts of tea making was well worth the trip in the end though.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

Hangzhou is a beautiful city, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the 13-tiered pagoda and gardens, as well as West Lake and the tea farm. We had a fun tour guide who led us through some memorable sites-

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai

Eventhough I have a private tour (only me and my wife), it is not a good tour, the tour leader didn't explain the history of the places and/or he should show more interesting places in Hangzhou. He acted more like a companion to us, helped us with pictures taking. However, as we love tea, we enjoy the tea place visiting.

Doing what: Hangzhou - Heaven on Earth Day Trip from Shanghai