Airport guide · Hangzhou
Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport (HGH) 2026: terminals, the metro, and the Shanghai mix-up
Every international flight now uses T4 — T1 and T2 have been shut since 2022 and 2023. One metro line does almost all the work, and the coach station on 1F goes straight to Wuzhen and Hengdian without entering the city.
China for Travelers EditorialUpdated Save this — opening times and closures changeAmap routing checked Aug 2026
- International
- T4 only
- since Sept 2022
- To Hangzhou East
- ~26 min
- Line 19, 5 stops
- To West Lake
- ~53 min
- Line 19 + Line 1
- Ride-hail
- B2
- bays K2/K3/K4
If a guide tells you to use T1 for an international flight, it is out of date. T1 has been a building site since November 2022; everything international moved to T4.
Which terminal — and why most guides are wrong
This is the single most out-of-date fact in English coverage of Hangzhou. The airport had four terminals; it now runs two, and the international one is not the one older guides name.
ALL international and Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan flights, plus some domestic — Opened 8 September 2022 and took over every international departure a week later, on 16 September. It runs international and domestic side by side in one building — the international/HK-Macau-Taiwan departures area is right next to the domestic one, so read the signage rather than assuming a whole terminal is yours.
Domestic — Absorbed the traffic of the old T1 when that building closed.
CLOSED — under reconstruction since 22 November 2022 — Widely still listed as the international terminal in English sources. It is not; it is a building site.
CLOSED — shut 7 April 2023, being rebuilt for domestic use — No announced reopening date. Amap still returns the POI as 2号航站楼(暂停营业). A new southern area using the old T2 gates is scheduled for December 2026.
If you are flying international, or to Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, you want T4. If it is a domestic flight, check the boarding pass — it is T3 or T4 depending on the airline.
It is not a Shanghai airport
More people arrive at this question than at any other one about HGH, and the confusion runs both ways: some are looking at a Hangzhou flight as a cheap way into Shanghai, others have a Shanghai ticket and a West Lake hotel. The short version is that these are two cities about 170-200 km apart, not two airports serving one place.
| You have | You want | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Landed at HGH | Shanghai | Metro Line 19 to Hangzhou East (~26 min), then a high-speed train to Shanghai Hongqiao — 45-60 min, several an hour |
| Landed at PVG or SHA | West Lake | Metro or Maglev to Hongqiao, then the train to Hangzhou East — do not book a domestic flight to HGH |
| Choosing a flight | Both cities | Fly into whichever is cheaper and take the train between them; the rail link is fast enough that the airports are interchangeable for planning |
The corridor itself is covered in our Shanghai → Hangzhou guide — it is one of the busiest high-speed lines in the country, which is exactly why nobody flies between them.
Into the city
Three metro lines share one airport station and all of them exit into the B2 transport centre — but they are not one platform, so follow the line signs down to the right level. Coming the other way, off the train and out of the gateline: left for T3, right for T4. Picking the right line is the only real decision here.
→ Hangzhou East Railway Station, then on to Hangzhou West. Only five stops — it is the express line and the reason to ignore Line 1 here. Pick it if you are connecting to a high-speed train, or staying east of the centre.
→ West Lake (龙翔桥 Longxiangqiao). Line 19 seven stops to 西湖文化广场, then Line 1 three stops. One change, and much faster than riding Line 1 the whole way. Pick it if you are heading straight to the lake.
→ West Lake (龙翔桥) without changing. ⚠️ Line 1 starts at the airport and needs no change, which is exactly why people take it by mistake. It is a local service that stops everywhere; the Line 19 route above saves roughly a quarter of an hour for the same fare.
→ West Lake area. Hangzhou East is closer and cheaper at about ¥89. Pick it if late arrival, heavy luggage, or a group splitting the fare.
→ Wulinmen, in the downtown core. Coaches leave from the ground-floor bus station inside the airport. Several other city and regional lines leave from the same place — see the onward routes. Pick it if you would rather not change trains with luggage.
Taxis and ride-hail
The official pickup is the B2 transport centre, bays K1 to K4, with boards showing which cars have arrived — about 5-10 minutes on foot from arrivals. Set the bay as your pickup point in the app rather than “the airport”; the building is big enough for that to matter.
The move locals use: the B2 lifts back up badly at peak — roughly 20:00 to 23:00 — and queueing for them with luggage is grim. Instead go up to the departures level and have the driver come to you: T3 door 11, T4 door 25, telling them the door number by phone. ⚠️ Some T3 exits shut after midnight, so a very late arrival should use the T4 departures level or simply take B2.
⚠️ Ignore anyone steering you from a desk in the arrivals hall. Travellers report being walked a long way to a shuttle transfer and charged more than an ordinary ride-hail car would have cost. The B2 bays and the taxi rank are signposted; you do not need a helper.
Straight to Wuzhen, Hengdian and Yiwu — without entering Hangzhou
The most under-covered thing about this airport: the long-distance coach station is inside it, on level 1F, and its network reaches the places most visitors are actually heading. If the water towns are your trip, you never have to go into the city at all.
roughly hourly, last around 20:00-21:00. Two services — one to the town coach station, one straight to the West Scenic Zone visitor centre, which puts you at the gate with your bags
every 2-3 h, last around 17:00-18:00. ⚠️ The ¥38 and ¥70 fares still quoted online are old
sparse, sometimes suspended. Take Line 19 to Hangzhou East and a 30-40 min high-speed train instead — far more reliable
regular. Also has an off-site terminal where you can check in before travelling out
regular. The wider regional network, from the same 1F station
Boarding and tickets: the coaches leave from the station on level 1F — from the T3 arrivals level, follow the 汽车客运站 signs to the stand opposite door 14, about 10-15 minutes' walk. Buy at the counter or the machines on the spot. Advance booking exists but runs through Chinese WeChat mini-programmes, so the counter is the practical route for a foreign visitor. ⚠️ Fares and last departures are traveller-reported and drift — treat them as bands and check the board on the day.
Several lines have been withdrawn — among them the services to Qiandao Lake, Xitang, Lin'an and Yuyao. Older blog posts still list them. Check the departure board on the day rather than planning around a route that no longer runs.
For rail, Metro Line 19 direct — five stops, no change — the timings are in the transfer list above. This is the fastest airport-to-HSR connection in the city and the reason a Hangzhou arrival works well as the start of a rail trip. Line 1 also reaches Hangzhou East but takes about 51 minutes over seventeen stops. Use Hangzhou West instead when you are heading down the Wenzhou or Quzhou high-speed lines, or your ticket says 杭州西 — the same Line 19 continues there in about 57 minutes.
Fast facts
- Chinese name
- 杭州萧山国际机场 — show a driver these characters
- IATA
- HGH
- Location
- About 27 km east-south-east of West Lake in Xiaoshan district, on the far side of the Qiantang River from the city centre.
- Terminals in use
- T4 (all international + HK/Macau/Taiwan, some domestic) · T3 (domestic)
- Closed
- T1 since 22 Nov 2022 · T2 since 7 Apr 2023 — both under reconstruction
- Metro
- Lines 19, 1 and 7 share one airport station
- To Hangzhou East
- ~26 min riding on Line 19 — five stops, ¥7
- To West Lake
- ~53 min via Line 19 + Line 1 (¥7) — NOT the 65-min direct Line 1
- Taxi to the lake
- ~¥96 metered, 50-70 min
- Ride-hail
- B2 transport centre, bays K1-K4 — or have the driver meet you on the departures level
- SIM cards
- No operator counter in arrivals — buy an eSIM before you fly
- Coaches
- 1F station — Wuzhen ~¥60, Hengdian ~¥110, plus Keqiao, Jinhua and more
- Free left luggage
- The metro station service desk, if collected by 22:00 the same day
- VAT refund
- T4 level 4, airside — customs stamp landside first
- Reaching Shanghai
- ~170-200 km from PVG and SHA — go by train from Hangzhou East, never by air
VAT refund, left luggage, SIM cards
Departure VAT refund (离境退税)
T4, level 4F — Amap lists a single refund point for the airport, 离境退税(杭州萧山国际机场T4店), which is consistent with T4 being where every international departure now goes.
Two steps, and they are in different places. Landside, before security: show the goods, the receipts, the shop-issued refund form and your passport at the customs desk (海关验核) in the international departures hall for the stamp. Airside, after security and immigration: hand the stamped form in at the refund agent on T4 level 4 to be paid, in cash in yuan or back to the card.
Allow 60-90 minutes on top of a normal international departure buffer, and more for the evening international bank when queues stack up. The threshold is ¥200 per receipt at a participating "Tax Free" retailer, lowered from ¥500 in April 2025.
Left luggage — including a free option nobody mentions
⭐ The metro station's service desk holds bags free of charge, as long as you collect them by 22:00 the same day. That single fact turns a long layover into a usable half-day in the city, and it is the sort of thing that appears in traveller reports and nowhere else.
Paid counters exist too — one on level 3F and one in T4 on level 2 that doubles as lost property, neither of which publishes a price. And if you would rather not carry the bags at all, a forwarding counter (T3 departures opposite door 9; T4 departures just east of check-in island J) sends them on to a city hotel or a railway station for roughly ¥50 for the first item and ¥20 each after.
Connectivity — there is no SIM counter waiting for you
This is the one to plan around. The arrivals hall no longer has mobile-operator counters. Travellers describe walking the arrivals level looking for one and finding nothing, and say the desks that used to be there were withdrawn; what remains sits inside the secure area or has shrunk to the odd SIM pack in a convenience store. So arriving without a plan means going into the city to an operator shop — with no working data to get there.
An eSIM bought before you fly is live the moment you land: no counter, no queue, no Chinese. See the connectivity guide for the eSIM-plus-roaming combination, and set up Alipay too — with it live you scan straight into the metro on arrival with no ticket queue at all.
A long layover — is it worth leaving?
Under 5 hours
Stay airside. The metro is quick but the round trip plus a second security queue eats the margin, and there is nothing within walking distance of the terminals.
5-8 hours
Hangzhou East Railway Station is the realistic outing — Metro Line 19, five stops, about 26 minutes each way, so roughly an hour of travel for two or three hours on the ground. Enough for a meal and a look at the city's east side, not enough for West Lake.
8 hours or more, or overnight
West Lake is reachable: about 53 minutes each way on Line 19 changing to Line 1 at 西湖文化广场, which leaves a genuine afternoon at the lake. Overnight, the in-terminal hotel is worth more than the saving on a city room once you count the return trip.
Hangzhou is a port of entry for China's visa-free transit scheme, which can make a long layover into a real visit — but eligibility depends on your passport, your onward third country and your route. Check it against our 240-hour transit tool rather than assuming. Check the 240-hour transit rules.
Sleeping at the airport
The Hyatt Regency (杭州国际机场凯悦酒店) is inside the airport complex on level 2 at 机场1号路1号 — the option that matters for a red-eye or a very early departure, because you are not leaving the building.
Within the airport precinct: Hyatt Place (凯悦嘉轩) in the transport-centre tower, the Radisson (雷迪森) on 航景路, and Manju (曼居) in the services building on the same road. All are a short shuttle or walk rather than a trip into the city.
Only worth it for the timing. An airport bed earns its place when the flight leaves at an hour the metro cannot reach, and almost never otherwise — the city is under an hour away and a far better place to wake up. For a normal trip, base yourself by the lake instead; see where to stay in Hangzhou.
Frequently asked questions
Which terminal do I need at Hangzhou airport?
Two are open, and this is where most English sources are years out of date. T4 handles ALL international and Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan flights — they transferred there on 16 September 2022 — plus some domestic services; international and domestic run side by side inside the same building, so follow the signage rather than assuming the whole terminal is yours. T3 handles domestic, having absorbed the old T1's traffic. T1 closed for reconstruction on 22 November 2022 and T2 on 7 April 2023, and neither has reopened, so a guide that routes an international arrival through T1 is describing an airport that has not existed for over three years.
Is Hangzhou airport near Shanghai — can I use it to reach Shanghai?
No. Hangzhou Xiaoshan (HGH) is a Hangzhou airport, roughly 170-200 km from both Shanghai Pudong (PVG) and Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) — different cities, not alternative terminals of one hub. If you land at HGH and need Shanghai, you do not fly or transfer between airports: you take Metro Line 19 to Hangzhou East Railway Station (about 26 minutes) and then a high-speed train to Shanghai Hongqiao, which runs 45-60 minutes with several departures an hour. Going the other way, if your ticket says Shanghai and your destination is West Lake, the train from Hongqiao is the answer rather than a domestic hop to HGH.
How do I get from Hangzhou airport to West Lake?
Metro Line 19 seven stops to 西湖文化广场, then change to Line 1 for three stops to 龙翔桥 — about 53 minutes door to door for ¥7. ⚠️ Line 1 also starts at the airport and reaches 龙翔桥 with no change at all, which is exactly why people take it by mistake: it is an all-stops local that takes about 65 minutes over 23 stops. The change costs you nothing and saves a quarter of an hour. A taxi is roughly ¥96 and 50-70 minutes depending on traffic.
How long does Metro Line 19 take to Hangzhou East Railway Station?
About 26 minutes of riding over five stops, ¥7, and roughly 39 minutes door to door once you have walked the airport end — the fastest airport-to-high-speed-rail connection in the city, which is what makes a Hangzhou arrival a sensible start to a rail trip. Line 1 also reaches Hangzhou East but takes about 51 minutes over seventeen stops. The same Line 19 continues to Hangzhou West Railway Station in about 57 minutes if your onward ticket says 杭州西.
Can I go straight from the airport to Wuzhen or Hengdian without entering Hangzhou?
Yes, and it is the most under-covered thing about this airport. The long-distance coach station is inside the airport on level 1F, and the network reaches Wuzhen (two services — one to the town's coach station, one direct to the West Scenic Zone), Hengdian World Studios, Yiwu, Keqiao/Shaoxing, Jinhua, Zhuji, Jiaxing and Deqing. If the water towns are your trip, you never have to enter Hangzhou at all. ⚠️ Several lines have been discontinued, including the ones to Qiandao Lake and Xitang, so check the departure board rather than an old blog post.
Where is the ride-hail pickup at Hangzhou airport?
On level B2, in named bays. Amap lists K2, K3 and K4 as separate pickup areas (杭州萧山国际机场K2/K3/K4网约车上客区), with the ride-hail car park itself at 航景路119号. The bay name is what you set as the pickup point in the app — type or paste the Chinese and the driver will know exactly where to meet you, which matters in a building this size.
How do I claim the departure VAT refund at HGH?
Two steps in two places, both in T4. Landside, before security: present the goods, the receipts, the shop-issued refund form and your passport at the customs desk (海关验核) in the international departures hall for the stamp. Airside, after security and immigration: hand the stamped form to the refund agent on T4 level 4 to be paid, in cash in yuan or back to the original card. Allow 60-90 minutes on top of your normal international buffer. The threshold is ¥200 per receipt at a participating 'Tax Free' retailer, lowered from ¥500 in April 2025.
Is a long layover at Hangzhou airport worth leaving for?
It depends on how long. Under five hours, stay airside — the round trip plus a second security queue eats the margin and there is nothing within walking distance. Between five and eight hours, Hangzhou East Railway Station is the realistic outing at about 26 minutes each way. With eight hours or more, West Lake is genuinely reachable at about 53 minutes each way, which leaves a real afternoon at the lake. Overnight, the Hyatt Regency is inside the airport complex on level 2, which is usually worth more than the saving on a city room once you count the return trip.
Related Hangzhou guides
- Hangzhou East Railway Station — 26 minutes away on Line 19, and where a rail trip starts.
- Hangzhou West Railway Station — the same Line 19 continues there, for the Wenzhou and Quzhou lines.
- Shanghai → Hangzhou by high-speed train — the reason nobody flies between the two cities.
- Hangzhou Metro guide — how to pay with a foreign card, and the lines worth knowing.
- Wuzhen and the Hangzhou city guide — where the airport coaches actually take you.
Sources
Checked 2 August 2026 — the terminal timeline from official and news sources, every measured figure from Amap (高德地图), and the lived layer (pickup trick, touting, the left-for-T3 / right-for-T4 gateline rule) from 2026 traveller reports. ⭐ The SIM answer shows the method: Amap finding no counters is a silence, but travellers describing a fruitless search of the arrivals level is a finding — the two agree, so this page says the desks are gone. Coach fares and last departures are traveller-reported bands that drift; the coach station’s own departure board is the authority on the day.