"Travel Notes from Xitang (Zhejiang Province)" Xitang by gdilieto

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Xitang is my favorite choice in the landscape of the Yangtze Delta watertowns. It is picturesque and intriguing, large enough not to get bored after 15 minutes you are in town and with decently developed tourist infrastructures. Xitang is also probably the most-photographed of all the watertowns of this part of China. Unfortunately, while supposedly "less touristy", Xitang is affected by the same problem affecting the other more traveled watertowns, that may spoil your visit up to make it unbearable: the overwhelming crowd of day-trippers in weekend and holidays clogging its narrow streets well beyond capacity. Best way to enjoy Xitang is to avoid those dates and, if you have no choice, try to get into town after 3:00-4:00 pm, where the tourist buses start leaving. Not a bad idea staying overnight since night and early-morning hours are supposed to give the most scenic views of the town with the mist over the houses an the canals.

The Xitang Official Website and TravelChinaGuide's Xitang Page provide good introduction to the town. The covered corridors and the narrow lanes (as narrow as 80 cm/30 in) are the distinctive features of Xitang that you will not find in other watertowns.

• In a nutshell:Nice but avoid weekend and holidays