Huagang Park in Hangzhou

Why is Huagang Park So Special?

Huagang Park, 花港公园 in Chinese, was originally built as a private garden in the early Song Dynasty in Hangzhou. Today it is a public park to visitors by the West Lake. The main attractions in the park are its Peony gardens and Red Carp Pond, 花港观鱼 in Chinese, the entry if free of charge. You can walk to here along the causeway on the bank of West Lake.

Brief Introduction of Huagang Park

Huagang Park, or Viewing Fish in a Flowering Harbour, is located on a peninsula between the Inner Lake and the Small Southern Lake. As a private garden of a court attendant in the Southern Song Dynasty(1127-1279) when a small creak flowed down from the nearby Huajiashan Hill, its fish and flower views inspired some of the Imperial painters to chose for landscape paintings, hence the name.

Main Attractions of Huagang Park

There are four sections in the park: the Peony Yard, the Red Fish Pool, the Thick Forest Zone and the New Flower Harbor.

Huagang Park is a recreation resort for viewing goldfishes. The Red Fish Pool is full of flowers and plants. The fish are playing in the water and breeze is bringing petals, forming a poetic scene of “flowers touching the fish and the fish kissing the flowers”. With reconstructions, the garden has been enlarged to 21. 3 hectares since 1949. Now the garden consists of seven sections, such as the Old Site of the Fishpond, the Golden Fishpond the Peony Garden etc. Beautifully decorated, especially the noted ‘fish view’, Huagang Park remains as one of top attractions in Hangzhou.

With reconstructions, the garden has been enlarged to 21. 3 hectares since 1949. Now the garden consists of seven sections, such as the Old Site of the Fishpond, the Golden Fishpond the Peony Garden etc. Beautifully decorated, especially the noted ‘fish view’, Huagang Park remains as one of top attractions in Hangzhou.

Recommended Tour Packages

Best Seasons to Visit Hangzhou

  • Many people in China believe that spring and autumn are the two best seasonsto visit Hangzhou, specially late March-May and September-mid November.
  • In these seasons, temperature is warm but not hot. Daytime temperature ranges from mid 10s to mid 20s centigrade, and night time temperature ranges from low 10s to low 20s.
  • Spring is the best season to visit the West Lakebecause all kinds of flowers are blossoming that time. In order: plum blossom, peach blossom, and cherry blossom.
  • Autumn is also very nice and my favorite because of the yellow and red leaves.
  • However, I suggest avoiding the last week of September and the first 2 weeks of October because that’s when the city becomes packed with tourists from the golden week holidays.

How to get to Huagang Park From Hangzhou

Travel with ChinaDragonTours (top recommended)

If you want to get out of the traffic and hassle of navigation, you can book a private tour package that includes visiting, dining and transfer from us. Our local guide and driver will escort you to Huagang Park in Hangzhou in the fastest and most convenient way and take care of all the details. You just have to focus on the visiting.

Independent Traveler

You can take bus to the Xihu Station.

Useful Travel Tips

  1. Avoid visiting during school holidays and Golden Week in October as there will be large numbers of local tourists.
  2. Accommodation
    There are hotels both inside and outside the scenic area. It’s close to West Lake. You can also choose to book a hotel near West Lake.

Nearby Attractions

Edited by Bella Ren/任新月