School Trip to Hangzhou

The sample day starts at West Lake on foot from the hotel door and crosses the middle of it by boat. In 2026 the boat trip ran in rain, which was one of the seven situations listed on the safety page, and it ended without harm. The old shopping street, Hefang Street, lies under Wushan hill, about forty minutes back east from the tea hills.

The photographs of the group are PreeChina's own, taken on the 2026 trip, and are used with the permission of the school and of the people shown. No names are given.

The tea hills west of the city host a pan-firing masterclass and tasting, which for a group of sixty runs as two sittings of thirty. The main picking of West Lake Longjing tea ends in April, so by early May the picking is over. What the hills give in May is the better half for a student group: the leaf fired by hand in a hot wok, grades side by side in the cup, and growers who have time to talk. A group that expects to pick leaves is told so in advance.

In 2026 the group spent a morning in a university classroom, where the students gave short presentations and received certificates, and then took part in a heritage craft workshop. The sample route uses the Zhijiang campus of Zhejiang University, on the hillside above the Qiantang river, and the Zhejiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum, ten minutes away, which has halls for traditional crafts and for opera. Visiting groups are registered with the university in advance, and the museum's group booking is confirmed in advance.

A banquet theatre dinner with a staged Han and Song programme closes the day. Show times are fixed and the menu changes, so seating for the whole group in one sitting is confirmed first. The day that leaves Hangzhou for Beijing is the tightest of the week, with two indoor visits and a high-speed rail ride of four and three quarter to six hours. The stated alternative is a morning train, with the university and the museum moved to the previous afternoon.

• Hangzhou travel guide for the city as a whole.
• Things to do near West Lake
• Wuzhen day trip from Hangzhou
• Seven day sample itinerary
• Student safety on China group tours
• Cost of a school trip to China

What do students do in Hangzhou?

Cross West Lake by boat, join a pan-firing tea masterclass and tasting, spend a morning on a university campus giving short presentations, and visit a heritage museum or craft workshop.

Can students pick tea?

Not in early May. The main picking of West Lake Longjing ends in April. In May the group fires leaf by hand and tastes grades side by side.