[2025 Jiaxing ] Travel Guide for Xiaoyingzhou (Updated May)

1 hr from Shanghai❗|||Nanhu Lake is a landmark of Jiaxing. If you visit Jiaxing for the first time, you must take a walk around Nanhu Lake. It is one of the three famous lakes in Zhejiang and a sacred place. To our surprise, compared with the bustling atmosphere of West Lake, there are far fewer people around Nanhu Lake. Sometimes, you can't even see anyone in front of or behind you. It's a paradise for introverts! 🎫Ticket: 🆓 🕰️Opening hours: All day (some attractions 8:00–17:00) ⏱️Tour time: 3–4 hours 🔁Route length: 5.5 km 🚌Transportation 🚘Self-driving: Navigate to the underground parking lot at 2 Nanhu Road, Nanhu Tiandi (free for the first 2 hours, CNY 5/hour thereafter) 🚃Bus: Tram Line 1, Fangong Road Jinghu Road Station 🗺️Route Nanhu Tiandi ➡️ Huijing Garden ➡️ Huxin Island ➡️ Huijing Garden ➡️ Shao Garden ➡️ Chenggong Dike ➡️ Haogu Tower ➡️ Xiaoyingzhou ➡️ Nanhu Tiandi 1️⃣Nanhu Tiandi An open commercial street by Nanhu Lake with many coffee, drink, and food shops. Have lunch here before setting off, and after walking around the lake, come back here for dinner. 2️⃣Huijing Garden Surrounded by water on three sides, it is a great place to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Nanhu Lake. There is Zuixian Tower with an inscription by Jin Yong, and an artificial waterfall made of more than 2,000 tons of yellow stones. 3️⃣Huxin Island A small island on Nanhu Lake, which can be reached by boat from the Huijing Garden Wharf (CNY 20/person). The main attractions are Yanyu Tower and the Red Boat. Yanyu Tower is one of the nine famous towers, and its name comes from the poem "Four hundred and eighty temples of the Southern Dynasties, how many towers and pavilions are in the mist and rain." Qianlong visited Yanyu Tower eight times and wrote more than 20 poems praising it. The garden here is small but exquisite, with strange doors and windows, similar to He Garden in Yangzhou. 4️⃣Shao Garden A small Jiangnan garden with stone bridges, flowing water, rockeries, and pavilions. In spring, you can enjoy flowers such as tulips, cherry blossoms, and crabapples, and in winter, you can enjoy plum blossoms. 5️⃣Chenggong Dike A long and narrow dike with willow trees on the shore. The lake breeze blows, the willow branches sway, and the insects and birds chirp. It's very pleasant! 6️⃣Haogu Tower The tower is seven stories high, and you can climb it for free to overlook the panoramic view of Nanhu Lake. Next to it is Wuxiang Temple. The traditional Dragon Boat Festival in Jiaxing is to commemorate Wu Zixu. 7️⃣Xiaoyingzhou Another small island on Nanhu Lake, known as the Little Yanyu Tower, connected to the north bank by a zigzag bridge.

Water Landscape The lake within Xiaoyingzhou occupies the entire island. |||3. Water Landscape The lake within Xiaoyingzhou occupies the entire island. The Beauty of Gardens·Xiaoyingzhou (II)|||3. Water Landscape The lake within Xiaoyingzhou occupies sixty percent of the island's area. The lake is wide and calm, with pavilions and pavilions standing by the water, and mountains, rocks, and trees depend on the embankment and bridge. Between looking up and down, the water and shore scenes complement each other, and the endless painting is all in it. From the pier on the north side of the island, you can directly pass through the first building named after Xiaoyingzhou to the head of the Nine-Bend Bridge. Walking on the stone bridge over the second building, the Xianxian Temple, a stone peak stands in the water. The stone is called Nine Lion Stone, and there are nine small lions on it that no one can count. Now it is entwined with vines and it is even more invisible. Although this stone peak is not large in volume, its role is very important. After leaving the Xianxian Temple, the entire inner lake is basically within the line of sight. Tourists are first attracted by the stone peak, and there is a focus point. The water scene is not exhausted at a glance, so this stone peak is both a point and a barrier. Then, the bridge has nine bends, and the tourists' line of sight moves with it, unconsciously appreciating the fun of changing scenes with every step. The embankment of the island road, there is a small stone bridge in the east and west, its role is to connect the inner and outer lake water, the inner lake will not be a dead water, on the other hand, the shape of the bridge also adds a sense of layering to the embankment; I especially like to stand in the flower rack between Yingcui Pavilion and Flower and Bird Hall and look east, the east bridge and the trees on both sides form a perspective frame, the reflection of the small bridge and green trees set off the misty outer lake, just like a deep, spiritual, and quiet ink painting. The four waters of the inner lake are also separated but not disconnected. In addition to the curved bridge, straight bridge, and small arch bridge, there are also original stone treading steps, which can be described as the ultimate in change.

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