MadPsychMum | Parenting + Travel

Sunday, 8 March 2026

SH-Hangzhou Day 4: Hangzhou Museum, Taiziwan Park & Su Causeway

We woke up by 7.30am and proceeded to Coffee Garden Restaurant for breakfast instead of the Horizon Club (the only one I know that does not serve breakfast)!

Buffet breakfast

Chef station and variety of food

Love the selection of ice cream!

The donuts and ice cream were too good to resist!

Braved the cold to take photos with this sign! So cute!
(Sign translation: "I'm waiting at West Lake for the wind and for you")

After breakfast, we took a DiDi (CN¥15) across the lake to Hangzhou Museum 杭州博物馆. Admission was FREE for all visitors!

Hangzhou Museum North entrance

You'd need a local identity card to generate a QR code via an app, which will be scanned at the gate. As we were not locals, the security officer brought us to the counter where we registered using our passports.

I found a lot of similarities between the artefacts on display in Hangzhou Museum and those at the National Museum of Korea. It's unsurprising, seeing as this part of China is geographically located close to South Korea, separated by the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.

Artefacts from the Liangzhu Culture, which were found in an excavation site in Hangzhou

Hangzhou was known for its sophisticated jade artefacts

Jingdezhen porcelain from the Yuan Dynasty, famed for its beautiful coloured porcelain

I bought a pin, which was inspired by a ceramic stem cup on display, from the museum's shop

Historical stone pillar encourages guests to learn about the 3 pagodas in Hangzhou:
Leifeng Pagoda, Baoshu Pagoda and Liuhe Pagoda

Art and architecture in Hangzhou

We enjoyed exploring the museum and learning about Hangzhou! It was very intellectually stimulating! 😄

After leaving the museum, we explored Hefang Street in search of food since it was lunch time.

Analysing this signboard to get out bearings

I spotted a restaurant across the road and decided on it because I had a good feeling (I'm learning from the Hubby to follow my gut feeling when it comes to food 😄).

Beef noodles at Taizhou Peninsula Taizhou restaurant

Yummy beef noodles

Although it was a long wait because the restaurant was packed with people, our food was cheap and good so it was worth the wait! 😋

After lunch, we walked along Hefang Street for some shopping.

Cultural part of Hefang Street

When it was time to leave, we hailed a DiDi (CN¥20) to Leifeng Pagoda but the app insisted on a dropoff that was very far from it! We didn't realise it until our DiDi dropped us in the middle of nowhere, near Hang & Tang Tea Culture Museum.

Hang and Tang Tea Culture Museum

I tried to hail another DiDi and this time, kept trying to drop a pin as close to the pagoda as possible! The system finally allowed me to pick a dropoff point about a 15-minute walk from the pagoda, which was close enough. The journey was longer than usual as there was a huge traffic jam to the dropoff, which we later realised was because we were approaching the West Gate of the famous Taiziwan Park 太子湾公园! No wonder there were so many people!

We decided to join the crowd and check it out since we had to cut through the park to get to West Lake anyway. Everyone had to register with their local IDs but as we were foreigners, the staff allowed the both of us to enter without registration 😅

Early blooms of different Tulip varieties

Love the pink ones!

More tulips near the Lanying Pavilion

It wasn't easy trying to squeeze through the crowd and take this selfie! 😅
Worth it though! It was beautiful 😍

Took this picture to prove that there was indeed a huge crowd!

We exited Taiziwan Park via the North Gate and crossed the road to the South Lake 南湖.

Many people were paddling their boats on the South Lake

The road was fenced up, no wonder it was so hard for us to find a dropoff near the Laifeng Pagoda!

A guide map to West Lake National Park

We walked to the start of the Su Causeway and finally saw the Leifeng Pagoda 雷锋塔 across the lake!

View of the famous Laifeng Pagoda

We were near the Reflecting Ripples Bridge (see map below) and had to cross the West Lake in order to get to our hotel on the other side near Xiling Bridge.

Photo credit: travelchinaguide.com

The fastest way back would be on foot through the Su Causeway to the other side because it was very difficult to get a DiDi from where we were. There were 6 bridges to cross in total and we were only at the first one!

Exploring the Su Causeway with countless others

Beautiful view of West Lake and the Laifeng Pagoda from one of the bridges on the Su Causeway!

Midpoint along the Su Causeway where we stopped to capture the beautiful sunset at the West Lake! 🩷
I was so excited that I called my family to show them the view!

One of my favourite photos of West Lake! 🩷

It took us about 40 minutes to walk across but it was so worth it as the views were spectacular! I'd definitely do it again if given the chance! It's too bad that we did not have enough time to cross the Bai Causeway! 😅

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We arrived at our hotel just in time for evening canapes at the Horizon Club Lounge. After clocking 18,000 steps, it was time to replenish our bodies with good food! ☺️

Happily eating all the food and watching the Paralympics on TV!

I was all ready for a warm bath in the bathtub as it was quite cold outside! I was so relaxed that I fell asleep super early! 😴😅

Continue to >> Shanghai-Hangzhou Day 5-6: Train to Grand Central Hotel, Nanjinglu & Flight Home
<< Back to Shanghai-Hangzhou Day 3: Train to Shangri-La Hangzhou Horizon Club & West Lake

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Saturday, 7 March 2026

SH-Hangzhou Day 3: Train to Shangri-La Hangzhou Horizon Club & West Lake

Filed under: Mad Self Care, Travel PhD

I had a much better sleep last night than the one before and woke up at 7.30am instead of my usual 5am! 😅 When we were ready, we took the complimentary shuttle for hotel guests to Disney Town for breakfast.

Most of the restaurants only open at 10am so we had to settle for Paper Stone Bakery for breakfast.

Paper Stone Bakery
(Where's the scissors? As in scissors, paper, stone? Geddit?!? Hahaha 🤣)

Ordered a simple bread and my favourite Hong Kong milk tea!
Can't live without my Asian milk tea! 😄

The Twin needs her coffee and got a cup from both Manner Coffee and % Arabica!

By chance, we discovered the Chua Lam's Dim Sum outlet at Disney Town! Having tried the franchise in Guangzhou and loving the food, we decided to order BBQ pork buns for takeaway as we didn't have enough time to dine in.

The BBQ pork buns were soooo good!

We returned to our hotel just in time to check out at 11am.

Photos at the hotel before we left

We hailed a DiDi (CN¥122) to Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to catch our train to Hangzhou.

Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station

We had pre-booked our Shanghai to Hangzhou High Speed Rail tickets via Klook about 2.5 months in advance, with actual tickets confirmed only 15 days prior to travel (this was the standard for all high speed rail bookings). There were many routes to choose from but we chose the 12.56pm train as the joinery was only 52 minutes and cost S$16.14 per adult.

Boarding our train early;
Trains leave on time so don't be late!

View of another similar train from inside our train

The train was so fast that 50 minutes flew by and in a blink of eye, we had arrived at Hangzhou East Station!

Arrival at Hangzhou East Station after a comfortable ride

We walked to the ride-hailing area to hail a DiDi and discovered that we had to follow a set of instructions to facilitate pick up. The system was easy to use once we got the hang of it.

Instructions on how to insert the driver's car plate number into a separate website to track their arrival

This screen informed us that our driver has entered the carpark and the lot that he was parked at. We would then exit the waiting area to board the car.

Our DiDi (CN¥40) to Shangri-La Hangzhou took 45 minutes, longer than usual due to the multiple congestions on the road! Despite not being a peak period for travel, West Lake was still super crowded!

Arrival at Shangri-La Hangzhou

I found a good members' deal via the Shangri-la Circle app and booked a Horizon Hillview Room at just CN¥1138 (S$210) per room per night, inclusive of breakfast (more details in the next post), evening canapés, all-day lounge access and other Horizon Club benefits! It was the cheapest Horizon Club room I have ever booked! 🤭

Of course the downside was the dated rooms and the lack of a view from our room. Other than that, the room had all the amenities of a typical Shangri-La hotel.

Our Horizon Hillview room

Amenities in our room, especially the contour pillow for side sleepers that I requested via the app! 😀

Complimentary tea, coffee and fruits

View of the forest from our window
(Almost regretted not choosing a room with the view of West Lake until I remembered how much it cost!)

Bathroom with bathtub

Usual Shangri-La amenities

The hotel had a simple gym and indoor pool but the latter was closed for renovation.

We were super hungry and headed to the Horizon Club at Level 1 for afternoon tea.

Horizon Club with very old school decor!

Simple spread of snacks and drinks

More snacks in the fridge (left);
Tried the famous West Lake Lotus Root Starch dessert and wasn't a fan (right).

Food was good! 😋

Once we were full, we headed out to explore West Lake. Shangri-La Hangzhou was located right beside the Xiling Bridge (see map below).

Photo credit: travelchinaguide.com

We crossed Xiling Bridge to explore the closest island to us on West Lake.

Xiling Bridge is 1 of 3 lovers' bridges in West Lake

Xiling Bridge

View of Shangri-La Hangzhou from Xiling Bridge

View of the Crossing Rainbow Bridge from Xiling Bridge

The best time to see West Lake is just before sunset!
We took so many beautiful photos!

Statue of heroine Qiu Jin, a renowned revolutionary and feminist who advocated for women's independence (left);
China Seal Museum near Xiling Bridge (top right).

Stone Archway at the Back Hill, bearing the words "Xiling Seal Engravers' Society"

Strolling along the shores of the North Inner Lake and enjoying the view of many Weeping Willows; they remind me of the period C-dramas that I love! 😍

Red Plum Blossom Trees in the park were adopted by different individuals/groups

One of the smaller islands in West Lake

You can also pay to ride one of these tour cars that will introduce you to all of the sights of West Lake

The best time to visit West Lake is close to sunset but be warned that it's also when it is the most crowded!

Though I can understand why West Lake is so famous (and crowded); it's really so beautiful!!! 😍🤩

More photos of the lake as the sun was setting

Yuehu Lake

McDonald's and other restaurants at a little town

Of course we had to load up on essentials at Lawson!

Bought souvenir snacks from Hangzhou Gift shop 讧南四雅

We returned to the Horizon Club for evening canapes.

Evening canapes included alcohol 😊

They had my favourite cheese!

Couldn't wait to dig in!

Greater selection of food! Super yummy!

We took a walk along the neighbouring areas of our hotel after our meal to aid with digestion (we were so full!). Compared to the evening, it was much more deserted at night, perfect for those who hate crowds.