Shaoxing · Zhejiang

Shaoxing Tours & Private Tour Packages 2026 | Lu Xun's Home Town, Lan Ting, Shen Garden | JoyoTour

Shaoxing is 2,500 years of water-town China an hour from Hangzhou — Lu Xun's residence free with your ID, ¥40 Shen Garden, a black-awning boat down the old canals, and a bowl of warm yellow wine at Xianheng.

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The short version

Shaoxing is a 2,500-year-old water city in Zhejiang, 50 minutes by train from Hangzhou, and two days covers it for around ¥600–1,000. Lu Xun's former residence is free with your ID, Shen Garden is ¥40 by day and ¥70 for the night show, and a black-awning wupeng boat is charged by the boat rather than by the seat — ¥50 to ¥100 for up to three people depending on the route.

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Prefer it arranged for you? Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free. Shaoxing travel guide →

The place itself

What Shaoxing is actually like

Shaoxing is the city you first met in a school textbook. Lu Xun set most of his best-known writing here, and people come to walk the road he walked and touch the wall he touched — the residence, the ancestral house, Sanwei Study where he sat as a boy, and Baicao Garden behind it with its vegetable beds and the smooth stone well rim. All of it is free, all of it is in the middle of town, and all of it is best before the tour groups arrive at ten.

But it was a city long before Lu Xun. It was founded in 490 BC as the capital of the state of Yue, which is why Goujian's story of sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall belongs here; Qin Shi Huang made it the seat of Kuaiji commandery in 222 BC and the name stuck in one form or another until 1983. Two and a half thousand years of that sit inside a town small enough to cross by bus for ¥1.

It is a water city before anything else. The Jianhu system gathers the streams off Kuaiji Mountain and lifts the whole place slightly off the ground, and along it sit the things the guide calls the character of Shaoxing: black-tiled lanes, stone bridges, old stage platforms, a towpath, and the black-awninged boats. Take one. It is the single thing here you cannot do anywhere else.

Then there is the ink and the wine. At Lan Ting, Wang Xizhi wrote the preface that every Chinese schoolchild copies; at Shen Garden, Lu You and Tang Wan wrote the poems that made a failed love story last nine hundred years. And the yellow wine — brewed with Jianhu water, sold warm in a blue-and-white cup — is the thing that ties the place together. Two days does the classics; three if you want Keyan or the Wuxie waterfalls as well.

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What not to miss — Shaoxing

01

Lu Xun's former residence, free with ID

The best-preserved historic block in the city centre and the reason most people come. It restores the house, the ancestral home, Sanwei Study and Baicao Garden as they were, and adds the parts that were never open before — the west wing of the ancestral house, the restored Zhou and Shou family gatehouses, the Tugu shrine where Ah Q slept, and the Lu Xun Folk Customs Garden. Entry is free; tickets are collected 08:20–16:00; a guide costs extra. Book online at the memorial museum site, 2,000 places a day.

02

Shen Garden, by day and again at night

A Song-dynasty private garden, small and precise, famous for the love story of Lu You and Tang Wan. The gourd pond, the Song well and the earthen mound in the grounds are genuine Song remains; the Lu You memorial hall sits in the north-east corner. Day entry ¥40, 08:00–17:00. Shen Garden by Night is ¥70, 18:30–21:30, with the formal show starting at 19:40 — a Song-style opening ceremony, a night market, lantern-lit garden walking and the Shuanggui hall performance. Heavy rain cancels it.

03

Lan Ting, where Chinese calligraphy starts

The reason is one afternoon in 353 AD, when Wang Xizhi and forty-one friends held a purification rite by a winding stream, floated cups of wine down it and wrote poems, and Wang wrote the preface to the collection — the most copied piece of calligraphy in the language. The Goose Pool, the Curving Water Pavilion, the Lan Ting stele and the Imperial Stele Pavilion remain; the pavilion's front face carries Kangxi's copy of the whole preface, the back Qianlong's poem on it. Tickets ¥40, 08:00–17:00. There are sand and stone tables inside where you can practise.

04

East Lake by boat, and out on foot

A former quarry at the foot of Ruokui Mountain that flooded into a lake of cliffs, caves, stone bridges and black water — Qin Shi Huang is said to have watered his horses here on his eastern progress. The right way to do it is to take a wupeng boat in and walk back out along the shore, so you see it from both levels. Boats hold three, run about 20 minutes, ¥85 on line A and ¥75 on line B, and the boatman must give the full commentary free. Water-side opera is performed on the lake. ¥40, 08:00–17:00.

05

Cangqiao Straight Street, Baziqiao and the free old town

The best hours in Shaoxing cost nothing. Cangqiao Straight Street is river, houses and stone paving running north to south under Cangqiao, Longmen, Baozhu, Fuqiao and Huangyi bridges, and it has been called a living display of Chinese heritage because people still live in it. Baziqiao, at the east end of its own lane, is a Song bridge shaped like the character for eight — an ancient grade separation, land on three roads, water north to south. Add Xixiaohe and Shimenkan and you have an afternoon.

06

Warm wine, and the food that goes with it

Shaoxing wine is made with Jianhu water and has been since the Spring and Autumn period; locals call it laojiu, old wine. Sit in a canalside tavern on an old street, have a pot warmed, and drink it from a small blue-and-white cup with fennel beans, drunken chicken and stinky tofu. Xianheng, on Lu Xun Middle Road, is where Kong Yiji drank — a bowl of wine is about ¥24 and a plate of fennel beans ¥10.

Getting there and away

Shaoxing has no airport of its own and does not need one — Hangzhou Xiaoshan is only about 30 km away and a 30-minute drive. The airport bus runs to Shaoxing city and to Keqiao new district: from the airport at 07:20, 08:20, 09:40, 10:30, 11:20, 12:10, 13:00, 13:50, 14:40, 15:30, 16:20, 17:10, 18:00, 18:50 and 20:00, from Shaoxing at 06:00, 08:00, 08:50 and then every 50 minutes to 18:30. It stops at Keqiao (by Jinghu Hotel) and in the city by Margaret Hotel near the railway station square; ¥30 to the city, ¥20 to Keqiao, 40–50 minutes. By rail, Shaoxing station is north of Margaret shopping centre: about 37 trains a day, 28 minutes to 2 hours to Hangzhou, about 1 hour 40 minutes east to Ningbo, and every train out of Ningbo stops here. Coaches from Hangzhou East station are ¥20 for the ordinary service, which lets you break the journey at Keyan, or ¥24 for the express that runs straight through to the central station.

Once in town, Shaoxing is small. Taxis start at ¥7 for 2.5 km, then ¥2 a kilometre plus ¥1 fuel surcharge, and the flag fall covers most city trips — though Keyan out in the suburbs is about ¥35 each way. Buses are ¥1 to start and ¥2 for a full ride; the useful ones are 8 and 88 to Lu Xun's home, 1 to East Lake, 3 and 23 and 303 to Lan Ting, and the 7 and 10 city loops. Two sightseeing bus lines run from the railway station: the east line to Houshan via Zhou Enlai's ancestral home and East Lake, returning past Qingteng Studio, the Lu Xun memorial, Shen Garden, Dayu's mausoleum and Incense Burner Peak; the west line to Lan Ting via Zhou Enlai's home, the Lu Xun memorial, Tashan and Qiu Jin's former home. One warning worth repeating: conductors call the stops in Shaoxing dialect. Tell the conductor where you are going when you board, watch for the stop signs, and note the last bus back.

Best time to visit — Shaoxing

MonthWeatherCrowdsVerdict
January12°C / 4°C · cool, dampQuietGood
February14°C / 6°C · cool, dampVery busyGood
March18°C / 10°C · clear and mildModerateBest
April24°C / 16°C · clear and mildModerateBest
May28°C / 21°C · cool, dampBusyOK
June32°C / 25°C · very hot, humidModerateOK
July35°C / 28°C · cool, dampBusyAvoid
August34°C / 27°C · cool, dampBusyAvoid
September29°C / 23°C · very hot, humidModerateOK
October24°C / 17°C · clear and mildVery busyBest
November18°C / 11°C · clear and mildQuietBest
December13°C / 6°C · cool, dampQuietGood

How many days do you need?

Two days, three if you want the countryside. Day one is the literary axis: Lu Xun's residence in the morning, lunch nearby, Shen Garden five minutes' walk away, and Cangqiao Straight Street in the evening. Day two is the ink and the water — Dayu's mausoleum on Kuaiji Mountain in the morning, Lan Ting in the afternoon, East Lake with a boat if there is time. A third day goes west to the ¥115 Keyan–Jianhu–Luzhen combined ticket, where the Keyan quarry faces and the Cloud Bone monolith need four to six hours, or south-west to Zhuji for the Wuxie five-stage falls. One day is possible and the guide writes it out — Lu Xun's home, Shen Garden, East Lake, Lan Ting — but you will be moving fast.

Plan these days properly

Combine it with

Hangzhou Zhejiang · 2 tours Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, is built around West Lake — willow banks, causeways and pagodas that poets have been writing about for 1,2 Ningbo Zhejiang · 4 tours Ningbo is a 7,000-year-old harbour city on China's east coast and the mainland gateway to Mount Putuo, and 2 days covers the headline sights — Tianyi Mount Putuo Zhejiang · 4 tours Mount Putuo is a small sacred island in the Zhoushan archipelago off Zhejiang and one of China's four great Buddhist mountains, the home of Guanyin — Qiandao Lake Zhejiang · 4 tours Qiandao Lake is a man-made reservoir of 1,078 islands in Chun'an county, Zhejiang, 129 km west of Hangzhou — the water that made the Nongfu Spring slo

Frequently asked questions

When is the best time to visit Shaoxing?

April to June and September to November. April to June is the high-water season, when the canals look their best and the Lan Ting international calligraphy festival and the Houshan peach blossom festival both fall. September to November has the heat receding, and carries the Shaoxing yellow-wine festival and the Hutang osmanthus festival. The city works year-round — four clear seasons, an annual mean of 16.5°C — but summer is hot and humid enough that you want sunscreen, a fan and insect repellent.

Which Shaoxing sights are free?

More than you would expect. Lu Xun's former residence is free on presentation of ID, and the ticket covers the memorial museum, the ancestral home, the house with Baicao Garden, the folk-customs exhibition, the Zhu family gatehouse and Sanwei Study. The old streets cost nothing because people live on them — Cangqiao Straight Street, Xixiaohe, Baziqiao Straight Street, the Lu Xun neighbourhood, Shimenkan. Baziqiao and its lane are free and open all day. Even on a second visit these are the places that hold up; the guide's advice for returning visitors is to skip the commentary and just walk the lanes.

How much does a wupeng boat cost?

The boat is hired whole, not by the seat, and takes three people including a baby in arms — four on the larger presentation boats. From Lu Xun's home it is ¥50 east to Shen Garden or ¥50 west to Xianheng. On the City Square lines it is ¥100 north A, ¥80 north B, ¥100 south A, ¥60 south B and ¥180 for the presentation boat. East Lake is ¥85 on line A and ¥75 on line B, about 20 minutes. Baziqiao is ¥60 south and ¥80 north; Dayu's mausoleum is ¥50 either way, with a sculled boat at ¥10 a head. From the front-guan lane landing it is a 10-minute walk to Lu Xun's home. Operations are contracted out and prices drift upward, so ask at the pier. Sit in the middle and do not stand up.

How do I get to Shaoxing from Hangzhou?

Train is easiest — about 37 departures a day from Shaoxing to Hangzhou station or Hangzhou South, 28 minutes on a fast train to two hours on a slow one. Coaches from Hangzhou East station are ¥20 ordinary or ¥24 express and take about an hour; the ordinary one lets you get off at Keyan on the way. Driving is the Hangzhou ring road onto the Hangyong expressway and off at the Shaoxing exit, about 1 hour 20 minutes from Hangzhou, 180 km and 2–2.5 hours from Shanghai, about 4 hours from Nanjing. If you are landing at Xiaoshan, the airport bus is ¥30 and takes 40–50 minutes.

What should I eat in Shaoxing?

Start with fennel beans — the snack Kong Yiji made famous, cheap, salty, designed to go with wine. Then drunken chicken, poached and steeped in huadiao until it smells of the wine; pork belly with dried mustard greens, dark, salty and falling apart; and stinky tofu, fermented in amaranth-stem brine and either fried or steamed. Try cream xiaopan, a local thing like a small tart with a meringue cap over an egg-custard shell. Drink yellow wine warmed. Xianheng on Lu Xun Middle Road is about ¥77 a head; Xunbaoji Zhuangyuanlou on Cangqiao Straight Street is about ¥46 and lets you order half portions.

Is there still a free shuttle between the city sights?

No. A free bus linking Lu Xun's home, Kuaiji Mountain and Lan Ting ran over Spring Festival 2012 and has since been withdrawn. Ordinary buses still connect the sights for ¥1–2, which is nothing, and the two sightseeing lines from the railway station cover the same ground. Two practical notes: buy water before you go into a scenic area, because a bottle inside runs about ¥8; and buy local specialities — felt hats, pearls, fermented tofu, xianggao crackers, dried mustard greens, Yue celadon — at a supermarket or a proper shop rather than from the shoulder-carrying sellers who work the scenic areas, whose goods are usually neither good nor cheap.

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