Hupao Spring and Guiren Pavilion Walk
Hupao Park main gate (ticket office) 虎跑公园正门·售票处 → Hupao Park main gate (ticket office) 虎跑公园正门·售票处
Plan Your Route
Quick Facts
| Start | Hupao Park main gate (ticket office) 虎跑公园正门·售票处 |
| Finish | Hupao Park main gate (ticket office) 虎跑公园正门·售票处 |
| Area | West Lake |
| Transport | Metro Line 4 to 水澄桥, exit B, then bus 139 to 虎跑 — 22 minutes door to door with 220 m of walking. Or take 4, 180, 194, 197 or 318 straight to the 虎跑 stop at the wall. On foot from the metro it is 2.5 km. |
| Crowd level | The segments contradict each other. The gate and the first 500 m of channel run through a paid park that fills at weekends, thickest at the water tap where locals queue with five and ten litre containers. Past the 玉带池 the courtyards empty out, and the steps above the reliquary pagoda are usually clear in late afternoon. |
When to go
Mid-September to mid-November brings the osmanthus: the park is the second stop on the scenic area's own autumn route, with trees at the gate, at 泊云桥, by the stele and in front of the bell tower. Keep the year-gap in mind: the 2025 peak slid from an official early-October forecast to 31 October, and 2026 was still only opening on 9 October, so follow that autumn's bloom notice rather than a date. March and April give tea, full channels and thin crowds. June and July plum rain slicks the steps and clouds the water; July to September is typhoon season, which closes hill ground at short notice. Winter is quiet, and the steps hold ice after a clear night.
Route Summary
The spring that founded the monastery
Hangzhou has a hundred named springs and one rank worth arguing about. 虎跑泉 sits third under heaven, rated by the man who wrote the first book on tea and repeated by an emperor two centuries later, and it is why this hollow below 大慈山 was built in. A monk named 寰中 was leaving a waterless hillside in the ninth century when, on the story the park carves into its stones, two tigers scratched open a spring for him. Water came first; the monastery, the poems, the tea rooms and the ¥15 gate all followed it.
All three layers survive on one path. The spring sits behind an arhat hall at the top of the park’s gentle ground. The monasteries it founded are now courtyards of tea rooms and two museums, one over the grave of the Mad Saint, 济公, one to the man who became 弘一. Above them is a hill the park hardly advertises: 500 m of stone steps to 贵人阁, a two-storey hexagonal tower on the last shoulder of 大慈山, where West Lake and the Qiantang River arrive in one frame.
The walk is 3.3 km out and back, 1.7 km each way, and it earns its moderate label at the top. The first 877 m is flat park pavement beside a stream, crowded at weekends and good in rain. The last 500 m is a hill: 160 m of steps, 115 m of them inside the final 300, exposed, with no second way down. Anyone who calls this a gentle stroll has stopped at the tea room.
Two things to hold. The water queued for at the bridge is not the famous spring but a collection point built 300 m downstream in 2003, and filling a bucket there is household labour with its own rules. And the quiet is segmented: a Tuesday at four gives you the pavilion, an October Sunday at ten gives you the climb as a mercy.
Step-by-Step Route
The gate and the shaded channel
20 minutes, 337 mBegin at 虎跑正门, which is also the ticket office, at 虎跑路 39 号. Inside, the path runs flat beside a wide channel with hills closing the view at either end, past the archway and a grove of dawn redwoods whose trunks mirror in the water at 129 m, and on to a bronze statue of the legend the place is named for. This stretch is the park's main drag and its busiest, with tour groups at the signposts and children counting fish, and it sets the tone for the whole first kilometre. It is also the coolest ground on the walk, and the last flat ground for a while.
The tap at Boyun Bridge
15 minutes, 195 mAt 507 m the release pool, the bridge, the 含晖亭 and a flight of spring-side steps crowd inside thirty metres, and the public collection point sits just above them at 532 m. This is where Hangzhou arrives for water: people queue with five and ten litre containers, filling under a posted set of rules and the watchful eye of a warden, and the traffic of bottles is the most local thing you will see on this walk. The supply was moved here in 2003, off its original outlet, so the water being loaded into bottles is not the historic eye, which lies some 300 m further up the path.
The monastery's courtyards
30 minutes, 192 mThe abbey arrives as a sequence of walled courtyards rather than one building: the local history museum, then the cell where Li Shutong lodged, then the memorial hall to him with calligraphy by Qi Gong over the door, sharing its yard with the hall of 济公 and the temple gate. Follow the 玉带池 and the path starts to climb. On the right stands the court over 济公's grave, rebuilt in 1924, its stone reliefs refurbished by the actor who played him on television; a second spring is said to lie below it. Roughly 850 m of this walk is courtyard wandering rather than progress.
The spring, the stele, the last level ground
20 minutes, 153 mAbove the arhat hall the ground levels again at the shrine of the spring itself: a rectangular pool of hard, cold water under the rank of third spring under heaven, granted first by Lu Yu and again by the Qianlong Emperor, with a pavilion holding the stone that names the scene. Attendants still do the coin demonstration: lay one flat and the surface holds it, and a cup can be filled above the rim without spilling, which is what makes water this soft worth carrying across a city. Behind the pool stands the hall the map labels 叠翠轩 and the autumn route sheets call 撷翠轩.
Past the reliquary pagoda, the path turns up
15 minutes, 247 mThe last building is 弘一法师塔, the reliquary pagoda of the man who fasted here in 1916 and took vows here in 1918, listed as a provincial protected monument since 2023. Beyond it the promenade ends, the tea rooms fall away behind you, and the surface changes to stone steps under trees. Two hundred and fifty metres later the shade thins and the grade stops pretending. Everything below this point is a park path; from here it is a hill, and the park's own route sheets name the pavilion without ever saying how you reach it, or how tired you will be when you get there.
Guiren Pavilion, and the way back down
35 minutes up, 20 back down, 499 mThe climb is where this walk spends its authority. The steps leave the courtyard level and do not relent until the tower, and the last three hundred metres of them are steepest, so the pitch is constant, the treads dense, and the sun reaches the ground for most of it. At the top 贵人阁 stands on 贵人峰, the last shoulder of 大慈山: a two-storey hexagonal tower with a stair winding up its middle, and from its level West Lake and the Qiantang River sit in one frame with the city beyond the water. One 2024 write-up calls the peak undistinguished and skippable, which is a defensible opinion about a hill that writer never climbed. Coming down is quicker on the lungs and harder on the knees, and it is the same steps.
Getting There & Back
Metro Line 4, then bus 139
BestTake Line 4 to 水澄桥 and leave by exit B. Bus 139 is the connection both the timetable and the stop's own signboard confirm, and the measured door to door from station to ticket office is 22 minutes, of which 220 m is walking. Other lines reach the same stop, but 139 leaves from the kerb by the metro exit, so plan around it.
Straight to the wall on a through bus
The stop named 虎跑 takes 139, 180, 194 and its express variant, 197, 318 and 4, which runs a weekend pattern, plus a seasonal shuttle to 太子湾. Get off here and the park wall is in front of you. Two lines that turn up in online listings, 314 and 315, do not stop at this station, and bus 87 gives up one stop earlier at the zoo.
By car, taxi or from the station
The park's own car park holds around twenty bays and charges by the hour; a cheaper public lot sits a few hundred metres south along 虎跑路, and both fill early on autumn weekends. A taxi from the lake districts or from 杭州西站 is a normal way to arrive. Check the running calendar first: the city marathon and the West Lake half marathon both close sections of this road.
Getting back
ReturnThe way out is the way in: walk back through the ticket office and the buses and the metro link reverse cleanly from the stop at the wall. Plan the descent against the clock rather than the distance. Entry ends at 16:55 and the park closes at 17:30, so a late start spends its last hour feeling the steps down in the dark. A taxi at the gate is the unhurried answer.
Practical Notes
The ticket is for the park, and the park is the walk
¥15 buys the gate, the spring, the courtyards, the museums and the tower: half price for children and students, free on a Hangzhou park card, first admission waived on 24 June. For scale, the Six Harmonies Pagoda park down the road costs ¥20 with another ¥10 to climb.
One distance, one climb
The measured line is 1,623 m drawn and 1,668 m traced one way, so the walk you will report as 3.3 km. The climb is a single +209 m ascent to the pavilion; walking back down does not add a second one, and no figure on this page doubles it.
The last hour is the honest one
Entry ends at 16:55 and the park closes at 17:30. Fit walkers spend about 35 minutes on the steps up and 20 down before resting, so a start after 15:30 means descending in the dark on stone. Come before mid-morning for the courtyards, or around 15:00 for an empty pavilion.
The queue is the local water, not your souvenir
Filling a bucket is household work with a posted etiquette: take turns, keep containers off the path, expect an hour or three for a full one on a weekend morning in season, and note the pool is said to be cleaned on Tuesdays. Watch the scene and leave the water to the people who live by it.
Boil anything you take
The park and Hangzhou households say the same thing about raw spring water: boil it. A 2017 public testing programme raised questions about acidity and bacteria and drew a same-day seven-point rebuttal, which is a way of saying the supply is untreated. It also runs cloudy after heavy rain.
Five names in the park that are not on this map
清音亭, 滴翠崖, 钟楼, 观音殿 and 日月泉 appear on the park's route sheets and in visitor write-ups, and none has a mapped point or a recorded footstep on our line. They are mentioned once, here, and no marker pretends to place them.
Knees, weather, and no second exit
The steps are stone: wet through the June and July plum rain, glazed with leaves in autumn, iced after a clear winter night. Parts of the upper climb have no railing, and there is no way off the ridge but back down into the park.
One photograph, and what it does not show
The picture on this route's card is real: the spring pool with the reclining monk and the two tigers, photographed in 2007, shared on Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0 and credited on our About page. It shows the pool, not the ridge. This site holds no photograph of the stepped climb, 贵人阁, the reliquary pagoda or the collection point, and the map here is drawn from a recorded track rather than photographed.
Safety Notes
- The final kilometre is stone steps with a sustained grade; the climb is the tiring half of this walk, and the descent is where knees and wet stone disagree.
- Steps are slick during the June to July plum rain and icy after clear winter nights. Typhoon warnings between July and September close hill ground in this valley at short notice.
- There is no route off 贵人阁 except back down into the park, so plan the descent against the 16:55 last entry and 17:30 closing.
- Spring water from the public tap is untreated: boil it before drinking, and do not take it when it runs cloudy after rain.
- Water and toilet provision stop below the climb. Carry drinking water past the reliquary pagoda, and use the facilities before entering.
- The spring pool is a protected monument: do not wade in, and do not read the coin demonstration as an invitation to touch the water.
Frequently Asked Questions
Short answers to common planning questions about transport, Chinese place names, timing, and safety for this route.
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Do I have to pay, and what does ¥15 buy?
Yes, and the ticket is for the ground rather than a building. This is a former monastery opened as a park, so ¥15 covers the spring, the courtyards, two museums, the tea rooms and the ridge pavilion, walked at your own pace. Half price is ¥7.5, concessions are free, a Hangzhou park card gets you in free, and 24 June waives first admission. -
How steep is the top, and can I bring a child?
The bottom 877 m is park pavement and easy. Above the reliquary pagoda, 499 m of stone steps gain about 160 m, and 115 of those arrive in the final 300, so the pitch is constant rather than brutal, with no ramp and no bypass. Children who walk well manage it; a pusher does not go past the courtyards. -
Can I take some spring water home?
You can fill your own container at the public tap, if you take your turn in a queue mostly made of locals with buckets, and you should boil whatever you collect, since the water is untreated. Doing it properly is a two-hour errand. A quick tourist fill has drawn complaints from the queue, so drink a cup of tea made with it instead. -
Which bus stops at the gate, and how is the metro link?
Get off at the stop named 虎跑: 139, 180, 194 and its express variant, 197, 318 and 4 all serve it, and the wall is right there. From Metro Line 4 at 水澄桥, exit B puts you on the 139, which reaches the gate in 22 minutes including 220 m of walking. Without the bus it is 2,455 m of pavement, about 32 minutes. -
Is the spring the same place as the water tap?
No, and the 300 m between them causes most of the confusion. The historic pool with the third-spring stele sits at 830 m along the path, behind the arhat hall. The public collection point is downstream at 532 m by 泊云桥, built there in 2003 when the tap moved off the original eye. Two addresses on one stream. -
Can I carry on along the ridge instead of walking back down?
Geographically yes: the crest continues toward the osmanthus terraces, and there is a page on this site for that walk, which reaches the same pavilion from the other side. Administratively it is unsettled. The ridge approach needs no ticket, while coming down lands you inside the paid park, and nobody has confirmed whether a gate meets you there. Plan an out-and-back and budget the ¥15. -
What have 济公 and 弘一 to do with this park, and who is buried here?
济公, the monk behind the Mad Saint legends, died in 1209 and was buried here; the court you pass at 724 m is his tomb-pagoda, rebuilt in 1924. Hupao's guides place his death here too, while earlier records name 净慈寺, so this page states only the burial. 弘一 is Li Shutong, who fasted here in 1916 and took vows here in 1918; his pagoda stands above the spring. -
When do the osmanthus trees peak, and is autumn the only season worth coming?
Autumn is the famous season, and the scenic area's walking route makes this park its second stop, with old trees near the gate, the bridge and the stele. Nobody can hand you a date: the 2025 forecast pointed at early October and the flowers came on 31 October, while 2026 was still opening on 9 October. Spring is many walkers' better visit, with the tea flush and no crowd, though summer turns the steps dangerous in rain. -
Where do I use the toilet on a two-and-a-half-hour walk inside a paid park?
Before the ticket if you can: the accessible block at the visitor service centre stands just outside the wall on 虎跑路 at the 莲花峰路 corner, 470 m from this line. The park runs facilities inside, and in daylight the tea rooms are an answer, but none was located in this survey, so treat the courtyards at 584 m as your last reliable chance. -
Is this a quiet walk, and can I combine it with Liuhe Pagoda or Nine Creeks?
It is quiet in pieces. The gate and the tap are busy every weekend and thickest in osmanthus season; past the Jade Belt Pool the crowd drops away, and the pavilion is usually empty late afternoon. Six Harmonies Pagoda is a short walk or one stop down 虎跑路. Nine Creeks and the tea villages sit on the far side of the ridge, which is its own walk and a longer day.
Nearby Routes
Other trails starting from the same area, worth combining or visiting on another day.
Manjuelong to Nine Creeks
The osmanthus ridge above this valley, arriving at 贵人阁 from the opposite side and continuing down to Nine Creeks.
Longjing to Nine Creeks
The tea-village side of the same hills, and the valley walk most often paired with a southern-hills morning.
Nine Creeks and Yunqi
The full traverse west from the valley below this ridge, ending on the bamboo path of 云栖竹径.