Tonglu
桐庐县
A county of river and hill country on the Fuchun, an hour from Hangzhou by high-speed rail, whose walkable core is a single creek valley: 芦茨溪, with three decorated heritage villages at 石舍, 茆坪 and 芦茨. The other sights are spread out and need a boat or a car, so Tonglu rewards one valley per day rather than a tour.
Tonglu 桐庐县 sits on the Fuchun River south-west of Hangzhou's centre, and the 杭黄高铁 put it inside an hour of the city when it opened in December 2018. The county's line is the river: 范仲淹's phrase 潇洒桐庐 came from this water, 黄公望 painted it in the 富春山居图, and the valley walking does not need either of those to work. For a walker without a car, Tonglu is one place rather than a set of places. The 芦茨溪 valley in 富春江镇 holds a provincial Grade-1 ancient trail, three villages that the state has separately decorated with heritage titles, a 62-square-kilometre rural slow-life experience zone approved by the provincial government in 2012, and a county transport bus, K619, that runs the valley two or four times a day. Everything else is a different problem: 严子陵钓台 across the water is reached by cruise, 白云源 is twenty kilometres of road from the top of that valley, 深澳's old village needs a car, and 大奇山森林公园, the county's forest park, has been closed for renovation since October 2025. The honest shape of a Tonglu day is one valley, walked end to end, with the buses planned before the walk rather than after it.
