Renting A Bike to Tour Hangzhou

My family of 4 is in Hangzhou right now and we paid 300 yuan each for our bike cards. The 300 will be returned to us when we return the cards. We were able to get the cards at the Wushan Square station. This is a larger bike station and the booth lady there was very helpful. I'm guessing you can purchase the cards at any of the larger stations or "Main Stations" listed  on this this page ( http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/zhejiang/hangzhou/public-bicycle.htm ).

There is a cutoff time so beware. I just went out tonight and pulled out a bike at around 9pm and rode it down to the lake about 3km away from my hostel and parked it in a station by the lake but when I returned to get another bike to ride home none of the bikes would unlock...so I walked around a lot and was able to get a bike out at Wushan Square however I was unable to return this bike to a station near my hostel so I had to ride it all the way back to Wushan Square to return it. So if you are like me and thinking you would like to check out the night scene of Westlake on one of these bikes than think again. I might try again tomorrow and just walk to Wushan Square to get the bike and keep it for a few hours and pay 3 yuan then return it to Wushan Square and walk back.

Taxis here start at 11 yuan and are 2 yuan per km. Most buses are 2 yuan, some are 3. The bikes are free for an hour and there are lots of stations along the main roads. 1 hour is a long time, you don't have to rush, unlike Paris where you only get 30 minutes and Paris is a big city to navigate. I'm here in July, 2012 and it's humid as hell and it's been cloudy and rainy the whole time.

 More Hangzhou Travel Reviews

1. Hangzhou, West Lake. Chinese dream location. GUNNARF11 from Sweden Aug 9, 2011 08:11

2. Don't bother WALKER from australia May 16, 2011 06:11

3. Hangzhou is still a uncivilized city DAVID from hong kong May 8, 2011 03:13