April 1, 2026
PhotosFor the past 14 months or so, I've longed for one place and one place only - Hangzhou, specifically during the last week of March.
Known for its Longjing tea grown only in the 168 square kilometeres around the famous West Lake, the city is a convenient trip for anyone already visiting Shanghai. It is regarded as a place that is beautful through all seasons, which I whole-heartedly agree with. A respectively large, yet still walkable lake surrounded by full green mountains and a highly developed downtown make this the ideal place for those who love both the slow, tranquil nature & scenery of Kyoto as well as the urban environment of New York. This is precisely what drew me to the city.
The strongest contributor to my longing for seeing Hangzhou was not seeing the West Lake itself, but rather all the hidden corners that lie around its edges. During the last week of March, the scenery is known to be especially beautiful as the Somei Yoshino breed of cherry blossoms begin to open. For the month leading up to my arrival, I spent every morning tracking the end of day updates from locals on the bloom progress.
Luck was not always on my side however; weather in the Zhejiang region fluctuates daily, if not hourly. On March 5th, a local on 小红书 posted how the budding phase occurred 5 days earlier compared to the previous year. This suggested an estimated opening around the 15th, with full bloom by the 22nd. Upon hearing this news, I scrambled to shift the Hangzhou portion of my trip before Shanghai instead of after.
Two weeks later, the clouds had set in, with overcast, cold weather forecasted for the next three weeks. I questioned whether I had made the right choice - whether I would miss the peak bloom. Now, it was too late; I couldn’t cancel any hotel, and I was to hop on a plane the following afternoon. Through my first three days in Hangzhou, my anxiety relieved itself as a majority of the flowers had opened. The feeling of seeing what I had longed for the past year was a satisfaction I may only feel a few times in my life.
If I were to recommend three places to view cherry blossoms, specifically the Somei Yoshino kind, they would all be in Hangzhou. The first is the China Courtyard Mengxi Garden (中国院子·梦溪苑). At Mengxi Garden, you can observe over a hundred deliberately planted cherry trees alongside traditional Hui style architecture. This may actually be the most beautiful garden I have every been - no exaggerating. The highlight of the garden is arguably the stone bridge near the entrance, where lights underneath during blue hour create a golden crescent reflecting on the water below, with the flowers creating a canopy above. As far as I know, this is the only place in the world where a “moon reflecting” bridge and cherry blossoms barely above one’s head meet. The only thing that stops this place from being a 10/10 is that it is an hour commute from West Lake, so it is quite a trip. Even then, it may still be a perfect 10.
梦溪苑The second place is Quyuan Fenghe (曲院风荷）which roughly translates to Breezy Lotus at Crooked Courtyard. Although the lotus aren’t in bloom at this time, many cherry trees are, lining the small river and edge of the bay just along the northwestern edge of West Lake. There are a few stone bridges that also catch they eye; viewing the bridges with the flowers from a far is a calming view, just as is viewing the flowers lining the river from below the bridge. If you have a rainy day on your trip, this is the place to go.
曲院风荷The last place could be any of Prince Bay Park (太子湾), Manao Temple (玛瑙寺), or Yunsong Study (云松书舍). These each have their own charm, and to keep the reader curious, I leave these as places for one to lookup and discover Hangzhou’s charm.
玛瑙寺
