Xianghu Lakeside Loop — Phase-3 Rainbow Greenway (7.6 km)

The official loop starts at 初阳台, the terrace in 定山景区 where Phase 3's first view opens across the water. 先照寺 on 石岩山 faces it, and the temple's name means first light. The start is not the visitor-centre car park: 老虎洞 is 480 m north, and the first leg runs north along the west shore to meet it before turning east. On the way you pass the 水杉 on 越王路, about 5,000 trees that turn red, orange and yellow in December, and 天马桥, which is context rather than a waypoint. This is the busiest kilometre: car parks, the visitor centre, and the last place to buy water before the north shore.

Caution: The first kilometre crosses car-park entrances and the visitor-centre access road. Cyclists use it too, and they come from behind.

四亭桥 is the first of the two bridges on the official sequence and the one that gives the north shore its postcard: four pavilions on a low crossing, water on both sides, and a view back to the wooded ridge. The leg from here to 政和桥 is only 410 m, the shortest on the loop, so walk it slowly. 政和桥 is the long bridge, a straight line across the northern arm of the basin; on the far side the greenway turns east and the lake opens. This is where the seven colours are most obvious, because the surface runs in long, unbroken bands.

Photo suggestion: The bridge is best in the first two hours after sunrise, when the water is still and the pavilions are a clean silhouette.

The 1.7 km between 政和桥 and 眉山岛 is the longest leg without a bail-out, and the one where the loop feels like a lake walk rather than a park path. The water is on your right for most of it, the far bank is a low green line, and the surface changes colour every kilometre or so. 韩建木, who has run boats on this water for fifteen years, says the lake is open enough that steering is a pleasure rather than a job. 眉山岛 appears as a wooded hump with a ceramics museum on its north-east corner; the museum is about 100 m off the line, and the island's west shore is where the marker sits. There is no shop on this leg, so carry what you need.

Caution: No mapped exit, shop or toilet between 政和桥 and 眉山岛. The next services are at 金沙戏水.

The loop rounds 眉山岛 and drops toward 金沙戏水, the beach park that gives the east shore its summer crowd. The greenway passes the ticket office, the visitor centre and the car park, but not the beach itself: the sand is a separately managed, seasonal, paid attraction, and the free line stops at the fence. This is the clearest place to see what the loop is and is not. Families with children may want the beach; walkers who want the lake should keep going. The 0.6 km between the island and the beach is short, but it is one of the busiest stretches on a summer weekend.

Caution: The ticket booth and the beach are a separate business. Do not plan the walk around a swim unless you have checked the park's season and price.

South of the beach the greenway turns west along 贺公堤, a dike that holds the basin's southern edge. The surface is open here, with thin shade and a long view across the water to the north shore you have just walked. The 水杉 on the 定山广场 side of the dike turn in December, and the dike has one of the loop's two mapped public toilets, about 30 m off the path. 湘湖小隐酒店 sits near the eastern end. This is the quietest long leg on the loop, and the one where the wind is most noticeable. It is also the most exposed: no trees, no buildings, and a straight line of water on both sides for a few minutes.

Photo suggestion: Late afternoon is the honest light here: the dike faces the water, and the far shore goes soft before the sun drops.

定山广场 is the loop's main exit and its only real cluster of services: 湘湖驿, two public toilets and 春风骑士, the one bike rental mapped on the loop (30.115029, 120.208673). The 湘湖驿 is the sort of station building the county built along the greenway system: a roof, a map, a place to fill a bottle, and no published hours. From here a taxi can reach Metro Line 1 in about fifteen minutes, which makes this the sensible place to stop if the weather turns or if little legs have had enough. The leg itself is only 380 m, but it carries more infrastructure than the previous five kilometres.

Caution: The square is also a car park and a road junction. Keep clear of the taxi turn and watch for cars reversing.

The last leg is the longest and the least protected. It runs past 定山岛, whose western shore is the marker, then joins 湘虎路 for the return to 初阳台. 湘虎路 is a road section: the greenway shares the edge with traffic, and there is no barrier between you and the cars. Keep to the edge, walk single file, and do not stop in the lane. The compensation is the light in the late afternoon, when the water on the west side goes flat and the 水杉 on 越王路 come into view again. The final 769 m back to the terrace is the quietest part of the loop.

Caution: Shared with vehicles for the 湘虎路 stretch. No barrier, no pavement in places, and poor visibility at the bends.