2-Day Thousand Island Lake and Qinchuan Old Town Tour from Hangzhou

Day 1:
In the morning, the guide will pick you up at the hotel in Hangzhou at 9:00am, bound for the scenic landmarks of the Qiandao ‘Thousand Island Lake’. Arriving in the town lakeside at noon, our first stop will be a for lunch at a local home-style restaurant, the local specialty: fresh-caught fish head.
After lunch we pick up to head out along the picturesque Qiandao northern line, this time bound for the highlight feature of the tour – the autumn splendor of Red Leaf Bay.
Uneven growth of vegetation gives extra dimension and texture to the wriggling riverside tree line, combining with a diverse palette of exploding red, orange, gold and green.
After the colors of Red Leaf Bay retreat into the Lion City Museum to learn about an thousand-plus-year-old city that now lies submerged under the waters of Thousand Island Lake. Learn what happened, see the layout of the old town, and climb the museum tower to get a beautiful sweeping view of the water’s limits.
As evening falls, we’ll be stepping onto a ship. Under a powdered pink-orange early evening sky, with island and shoreline trees bleeding color onto the shining Qiandao waters, we glide across the lake to arrive at Long Chun Bay island. You’ll be staying at the resort hotel here this evening.
Day 2:
Sleep in and wake up without the alarm, then take your time to breathe the lake air and enjoy the morning in this little island paradise on day two. At around nine o’clock we will check out and leave the island behind for the ancient town of Qinchuan.
This is a great spot to get lost in a type of rare-found rustic charm – a river splits and winds through the town with country children play noisily on the banks, the ancient buildings that dot the town behind them. The various bridges, fish ponds and calligraphy supply shops give the town a distinct Ming-Qing Dynasty character.
When we’ve seen all we can we return to Qiandao for lunch before arriving back in Hangzhou in the early evening.