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Voykit pocket guide · China
Lishui
丽水
Give Lishui 2 nights if you want the old villages and terraces, or skip it on a first China trip: it is a small-city base with no airport and thin English.
Lishui is a small Zhejiang prefecture city on the Ou River, 35 min by bullet train from Wenzhou and about 1.5 h from Hangzhou. Its draw is not the city itself but the surrounding villages, terraces and mountain paths. Two nights covers the waterfront museums and one or two day trips; one night is enough if you are only passing through on the rail line.
- Country
- China
- Local name
- 丽水
- Best months
- Mar–May, Oct–Nov
- Avoid
- Jul–Aug (hot, humid, typhoon season), Chinese New Year week
- Stay
- 2 nights
Checked 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change; anything marked (check) is not confirmed.
Essentials
- Currency
- CNY
- Money
- Alipay and WeChat Pay accept Visa, Mastercard, JCB and Amex cards; single payments over ¥200 carry a fee of about 3% on a foreign card (smaller ones are free), and per-payment and yearly caps apply — check the app. Keep a second way to pay.
- Daily spend
- Budget ¥250–450 excl. bed · Mid ¥450–900 excl. bed · High ¥900+ excl. bed (estimate; check)
- SIM and data
- A roaming eSIM from outside China routes traffic through its home network, so Google, WhatsApp and Instagram work without a VPN — the simplest setup.
- Emergency
- Police 110 · Fire 119 · Ambulance 120
- Plugs
- Types A, C, I · 220 V · 50 Hz · Many sockets take flat two-pin (A), round two-pin (C) and angled three-pin (I) plugs; UK plugs need an adapter.
- Tipping
- Restaurants: No tip; upmarket hotels add 10–15% service.; Taxis and DiDi: No tip.; Tour guides and drivers: Expected on organised tours: about ¥100–200 a day for a guide, ¥50–100 for a driver.; Hotel porters: Not expected; ¥10–20 in luxury hotels.
- Water
- Not for drinking from the tap; bottled water ¥2–5, and kettles and free bottles in hotel rooms. Restaurants serve hot water or tea.
- Toilets
- Public toilets are frequent and free; squat toilets outside hotels and malls. Carry tissues — many have no paper.
What things cost
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Coffee or tea in a café | ¥15–35 |
| Noodle or rice bowl | ¥15–35 |
| Vegetarian buffet (adults) | ¥18 |
| Dinner for four at Wandi Plaza | ¥120–300 |
| City bus ride | ¥1.5 (¥3–4 longer routes) |
| Taxi across town | ¥8–25 |
| Museum entry (city and photography museums) | Free |
| Astronomy Tower entry | ¥30 |
Desk estimates, checked 2026-09; check locally.
Get in
By air
- WNZ · Wenzhou Longwan International
- Closest useful airport: taxi to Wenzhou South, then about 35 min by bullet train to Lishui.
- HGH · Hangzhou Xiaoshan International
- Metro or taxi to Hangzhou East, then about 1.5 h by bullet train; direct buses to Lishui run about 4 times a day (check).
- PVG · Shanghai Pudong International
- Longest transfer: about 1.5 h by metro to Hongqiao, then about 3 h by bullet train.
Typical fares
- Wenzhou South → Lishui, bullet train
- about 35 min (check fare)
- Hangzhou East → Lishui, bullet train
- about 1.5 h (check fare)
- Lishui → Hangzhou Xiaoshan airport, direct bus
- about 3 h 15 min, ¥122 (check)
- Taxi across the city
- ¥8–25
Get around
City buses cost ¥1.5 (¥1.2 with a prepaid card) for one- and two-digit routes and ¥3–4 for three-digit routes; coins or notes, no change given. Taxis start at ¥8 and run ¥8–25 across town. Drivers rarely speak English, so show the Chinese name and address. The station is a short taxi or bus ride from the centre.
See and do
Known for
- Ou River waterfront and old city gate
- Ming-dynasty pagodas
- Ancient Weir Painting Village
- Yunhe rice terraces
- Photography museum
Day trips
| Where | How | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient Weir Painting Village (Guyan Huaxiang) | Bus 202, 207 or 203 to the last stop, 35–50 min; taxi about 30 min | About 1–1.5 h |
| East and West Scenic Area (Dongxiyan) | Bus 313 to the last stop, about 45 min; taxi about 20 min | About 1–1.25 h |
| Yunhe rice terraces | Long-distance bus or taxi to Chongtou Town, Yunhe County | 2–3 h |
| Xixi village | Bus 301 from Lishui, then bus 301-1 at the end stop | About 1.5 h |
| Kuocang Ancient Road | Long-distance bus towards Jinyun, ask the driver for Kuocang Gudao; return by bus 305 | Full day |
Sleep
- Liandu waterfront (Dayou Street)
- Museums, riverside park and the old gate on foot; best for a short stay without a car.
- Lishui station area
- Convenient for early trains and buses out to the villages; few sights within walking distance.
- Wandi Plaza area
- Mall dining, cinema and taxis; the most comfortable base if you eat out every night.
Phrase card
| English | Say or show |
|---|---|
| Hello | 你好nǐ hǎo |
| Thank you | 谢谢xièxie |
| How much is it? | 多少钱？duōshao qián |
| Can I pay by card? | 可以刷卡吗？kěyǐ shuākǎ ma |
| Where is the toilet? | 洗手间在哪里？xǐshǒujiān zài nǎlǐ |
| Please take me to this address | 请带我去这个地址qǐng dài wǒ qù zhège dìzhǐ |
Etiquette, safety and scams
Etiquette
- Greeting: Handshake and a nod; use surnames with a title; avoid: Hugs and cheek kisses
- Face: Disagree privately and indirectly; avoid: Correcting or embarrassing someone in front of others
- Gifts: Give with two hands; expect the gift to be refused once or twice and opened later; avoid: Clocks, umbrellas, white flowers, sets of four
- Business cards: Present and receive with both hands, read it, keep it on the table; avoid: Writing on it or pocketing it at once
- Queues and crowds: Hold your ground politely in scrums at buses and lifts; avoid: Taking pushing personally
- Temples: Walk clockwise around Tibetan stupas and prayer wheels; remove hats; avoid: Touching statues or photographing where signs forbid
- Politics: Listen; follow your host's lead; avoid: Raising Tibet, Taiwan, Xinjiang, 1989 or the party leadership
- Numbers and colour: Red and 8 are lucky; red envelopes carry money gifts; avoid: Writing names in red; the number 4
Scams and watch-outs
- Almost no English is spoken outside hotels; keep addresses in Chinese on your phone.
- Pay with Alipay or WeChat Pay set up before you fly; foreign cards work in many places but not all.
- Snakes, including cobras, are active on mountain trails May–October: carry water and a stick, and stay on used paths.
- Summer is hot and humid and the coast can get typhoons; check forecasts before village day trips.
- Some village buses stop running in the late afternoon — confirm the last return bus before you set out.
Lishui is a low-crime city and walking the centre at night is normal. The real risks are mountain trails (snakes May–October, thin signage), summer heat and typhoon-season rain, and taxi or bus drivers who speak no English.
One and two days
No timed day plan for Lishui yet. Suggested stay: 2 nights. Build a day from the list below, mornings for the big sight.
- Ou River waterfront and old city gate
- Ming-dynasty pagodas
- Ancient Weir Painting Village
- Yunhe rice terraces
- Photography museum
Sources
Written by Voykit; facts cross-checked against these sources, last desk check 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change: check on the day.
- Wikivoyage: Lishui, revision 5266471 (CC BY-SA 4.0): en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?oldid=5266471
Pocket card
Cut along the border and keep it in your wallet. Show the local-script lines to a driver.
Lishui丽水
请带我去这个地址
Please take me to this address
My hotel (write the name and address in the local script)
No embassies in Lishui; the US, UK and most others keep embassies in Beijing and consulates-general in Shanghai. Register your trip and keep your embassy's number in your phone (check).
Voykit · checked 2026-09
Printed from Voykit (/lishui). Written by Voykit; checked 2026-09. Estimates only: confirm prices, hours and entry rules on the day.