Tickets and booking
There is no separate island admission in the listing: access to Three Pools Mirroring The Moon is sold as a cruise ticket. The confirmed fare is 70 RMB per adult for the West Lake cruise luxury boat, which includes the island landing, and it applies daily year-round. The listing flags all pricing as indicative and subject to what the site discloses on the day, so travellers are best served confirming before setting out; the listed contact numbers are 0571-87980202 and 0571-87977767. An ordinary, non-luxury boat class also operates, but no fare for it appears in the listing, so budget on the 70 RMB luxury fare unless a cheaper option is confirmed on site.
Entrance and routes
There is no walk-on gate. The listed address places the island inside the West Lake scenic area at No. 1 Longjing Road, Xihu District, Hangzhou, but the practical entrance is the water: every visit begins at a lakeside pier and crosses the lake by boat. Two boat classes run, a luxury painted pleasure barge with air conditioning and an ordinary cruise boat. The return leg is flexible: the ticket allows a boat back to any one of four piers, Huagang, Hubin, Zhongshan, or Yue Fei Temple, so the exit point does not have to match the departure point. Treat that open return as the key routing detail when planning what to see on the shore afterwards.
Photo spots
The name is the shot list: Three Pools Mirroring The Moon refers to moonlight mirrored on the water, but the listed hours run from 08:00 to a mid-to-late afternoon close depending on season, so the reflections most travellers actually capture are daylight ones. The crossing itself is the first photo opportunity, with open-water views of West Lake from the boat deck on the way out. No specific vantage points appear in the source information, so on the island the general scenery is the draw. The return leg doubles as a second run: because the ticket allows a return to Huagang, Hubin, Zhongshan, or Yue Fei Temple pier, each choice frames a different stretch of shoreline on the way back.
Timing and crowds
Posted hours shift with the seasons: 08:00-17:00 from April 1 to August 31, 08:00-16:30 from February 16 to March 31 and from September 1 to November 15, and a 08:00-16:00 schedule is also listed on a year-round basis. The listing itself cautions that hours are indicative and to defer to actual opening conditions on the day, which matters here because the island can only be entered and exited by boat. Plan around the suggested duration of 1-3 hours and aim to be back at a pier comfortably before the afternoon close. No crowd forecasts appear in the listing, so the seasonal hours and the boat-dependent access are the only timing anchors available; travellers who want certainty can call 0571-87980202 or 0571-87977767 ahead.
Walking and effort
This is not a hike. The visit is a boat crossing, an island stroll, and a boat back out, and the suggested duration of 1-3 hours is the best measure of effort, pointing to a relaxed walk rather than a trek. No trail lengths, elevation figures, or terrain notes appear in the listing. The only physical requirement worth flagging is the boat itself: boarding and disembarking at the piers, twice in one visit.
Getting there
Boats are the transit that matters here. The island can only be reached by cruise boat, in two classes: the luxury painted pleasure barge, which is air conditioned, and an ordinary cruise boat. The return is built into the ticket, as travellers may boat back to any one of four piers: Huagang, Hubin, Zhongshan, or Yue Fei Temple. The listing gives no bus, metro, or taxi details for reaching those piers, so plan the lakeside approach separately and treat the pier network as the island’s transport system. For anything the listing does not cover, the site’s phone lines are 0571-87980202 and 0571-87977767.
Cost breakdown
The single confirmed cost is the boat-and-island fare: 70 RMB per adult for the West Lake cruise luxury boat, which includes the island landing, charged daily year-round. There is no separate island admission in the listing, so the cruise ticket is the ticket. An ordinary boat class also operates, but no fare for it is listed, making the 70 RMB figure the only safe budget line. The listing marks all prices as indicative and subject to on-site disclosure, and it lists no costs beyond the fare, nothing for food, guides, or extras, so an honest total is 70 RMB per adult plus whatever the lakeside journey to the pier costs.