Hangzhou Xiaoshan (HGH) Airport Guide 2026 — Terminal 4, Visa-Free Entry & Metro

Hangzhou Xiaoshan (HGH) — The Complete 2026 Airport Guide

Two things decide your Hangzhou arrival, and both trip up first-timers. One: in 2026 every international flight uses Terminal 4 — not the older terminals your saved map may point at. Two: whether you can walk in visa-free depends entirely on your passport. EU, UK and Canadian travellers get 30 days on arrival; Americans do not, and instead lean on the 240-hour transit rule. Get those two right and Hangzhou is one of the easiest big-city arrivals in China.

Last verified: July 2026. China’s visa-free rules, terminal assignments and transport fares change often — confirm the specifics on your ticket and on official signage before you travel.

Quick reference

The 2026 rule: international flights are in Terminal 4

Hangzhou has been building fast, and the terminal you want has changed. Every international and regional flight — including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan — now uses Terminal 4, the huge newest terminal at about 720,000 square metres. If you are flying in on Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Korean Air or any of the East and Southeast Asian carriers, T4 is your building, arriving and departing. Older guides and maps that route international traffic through Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 are out of date.

The rest of the picture: Terminal 3 handles domestic flights (Loong Air and the big Chinese carriers), and the original Terminals 1 and 2 are older and being redeveloped as the airport consolidates around T3 and T4. For a foreign visitor, the practical takeaway is simple — you will almost always be in T4, and if you connect onto a domestic flight you may move to T3.

One quirk of the layout: Terminal 4 sits roughly 800 metres southwest of the older T1–T2–T3 cluster. It is not a single connected concourse, so a same-airport transfer between T4 and T3 is a short ride, not a walk through one building. Crucially, the Metro station is built underneath T4, on the B2 level of its transport centre — so for arrivals and departures alike, T4 is also where the trains are.

Getting into Hangzhou

The airport is 27 km out on the far side of the Qiantang River, so the transfer is a real leg of the journey. The good news: the Metro reaches straight into the terminal, and it is cheap. Here is the honest comparison from Terminal 4.

The Metro — the sane default

Three lines meet at the airport station beneath Terminal 4: Line 1, Line 7 and Line 19. For the tourist heartland around West Lake, the network gets you within a short walk for roughly CNY 8 (about $1.10), typically in about an hour with one change — fares run on distance, starting at CNY 2 for the first few kilometres and topping out around CNY 9 across the city. If your onward plan is a bullet train, Line 19 is the express play: it reaches Hangzhou East Railway Station in about 20 minutes and also serves Hangzhou West, the two hubs for high-speed rail to Shanghai and beyond.

Two practical notes. The Metro does not run all night — services wind down in the late evening (Line 1 roughly until 22:30, the airport express a little later), so a late landing means bus or taxi. And you rarely need paper tickets: tap in with a linked Alipay or WeChat Pay QR code (more on that below), or buy a single-journey token at the machines, where foreign cards are increasingly accepted.

Buses and taxis

Airport buses run to a handful of fixed points — Wulin Gate in the city centre for about CNY 20, Hangzhou East Railway Station for about CNY 35 — and are handy if one happens to end near your hotel, though they’re at the mercy of traffic. A taxi to the centre is around CNY 150 including tolls and about 40 minutes when the roads are clear, with a late-night surcharge. Use the official taxi rank rather than a tout, and note that many drivers will expect a QR-code payment as readily as cash.

Entry: two very different doors into China

This is the section to read twice, because which rule applies to you depends on your passport — and getting it wrong can mean being turned away at check-in. There are two separate visa-free routes into China through Hangzhou, and they do not cover the same nationalities.

Route 1 — 30-day visa-free entry (EU, UK, Canada and more)

Under China’s unilateral visa-free policy, ordinary-passport holders from most European countries — all 27 EU states plus the UK, Switzerland, Norway and others — and Canada can enter for up to 30 days without a visa, for tourism, business or visiting family. The scheme has been extended through 23:59 on 31 December 2026, and the UK and Canada were added in early 2026. You need a passport valid for at least six months, and that’s essentially it — no visa, no advance application, no onward-ticket requirement.

Route 2 — 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit

If you’re not covered by the 30-day rule — or you simply want the transit route — Hangzhou Xiaoshan is one of the ports approved for China’s 240-hour visa-free transit. This covers over 50 nationalities, including the United States, the UK, most of the EU, Australia and Japan, and it lets you stay up to 10 days across a large group of eligible provinces, Zhejiang (where Hangzhou sits) among them. The essential conditions:

• You must be genuinely transiting: arriving from one country or region and holding a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region within 240 hours. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as separate “third” regions for this purpose.
• The 240 hours start at 00:00 on the day after you enter, not the moment you land — so you effectively get a little more than 10 calendar days of margin.
• You apply for it on arrival at immigration, at the transit counter — there’s no online pre-approval — so have your onward booking ready to show.
• Within the eligible provinces you’re free to travel (Hangzhou to Shanghai by bullet train is the classic move), but you must exit from an approved port to your third country.

The paperwork every arrival now does

• Online arrival card. Since late 2025 China uses a digital arrival card: fill it in before you land through the National Immigration Administration website, the “NIA 12367” app, or the WeChat/Alipay mini-programs, and you’ll get a QR code that speeds you through the border. This applies to visa-free entrants too (the narrow exception is passengers transiting under 24 hours who never leave the port’s restricted zone).
• Fingerprints. Most travellers aged 14–70 have fingerprints taken at self-service kiosks just before the immigration counters — scan your passport, place your fingers, done in seconds.
• 24-hour registration. China requires foreigners to register their accommodation with local police within 24 hours of arrival. Hotels do this automatically at check-in — but if you’re staying in a private flat or with friends, you need to register in person at the local police station, so keep that in mind before booking a homestay.

Cashless China: set up Alipay or WeChat before you need it

Hangzhou is the home city of Alibaba, and it shows: this is one of the most thoroughly cashless places you will ever visit. Cash (renminbi) is still legal tender and small vendors will take it, but the smooth path — the Metro, taxis, convenience stores, restaurants, tickets — runs on Alipay and WeChat Pay QR codes.

The good news for 2026 is that foreigners no longer need a Chinese bank account. You can link an international Visa, Mastercard, JCB or Diners Club card directly to Alipay or WeChat Pay, then pay by scanning or being scanned like a local. Set this up before you fly, or right on arrival — there’s an Overseas Visitor Payment Service Center in Terminal 4 near the international arrivals area that will walk you through it. Do it before you’re standing hungry at a counter, because a first-time identity verification can take anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour.

Two more money notes: use bank ATMs rather than exchange booths for the best rate, and if a machine or terminal offers to bill you in your home currency, decline and choose renminbi. And remember the great firewall — Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and the like are blocked, so install a working VPN and an eSIM before you arrive; sorting either out from inside China is far harder.

Lounges

Terminal 4’s international departures side is airside on the upper level: after security, the XIYUE No. 25 VIP Lounge, run by Plaza Premium, is reached by turning left and taking the escalator up to the 5th floor. It’s the reliable pay-in or membership option here and it accepts Priority Pass. If you’re flying a premium cabin, your airline will point you to its own contract lounge.

On the domestic side of T4 there are further contract lounges (VIP Lounge 16 and 26). As always in China, “VIP lounge” branding covers a rotating cast of contract operators, so confirm your specific card is accepted at the door rather than assuming — and check whether your lounge sits on the international or domestic side, since the two are separated by immigration.

Connections, onward travel and timing

Because international traffic is consolidated in Terminal 4, an international-to-international connection stays within one building, which keeps it manageable. The awkward case is international-to-domestic: you clear immigration and customs, collect and re-check your bag, and may move from T4 across to T3 — so give that kind of connection generous time, well beyond an hour, especially with checked luggage.

Hangzhou’s real strength is onward rail. Metro Line 19 links the airport to Hangzhou East and Hangzhou West railway stations, and from there high-speed trains reach Shanghai in about an hour and cities across eastern China. For a 240-hour transit itinerary, that makes Hangzhou an excellent base: land at HGH, ride the bullet train to Shanghai or Suzhou, and fly out from wherever suits your onward ticket.

Food, SIM and practicalities

Food: Terminal 4 has the usual mix of noodle bars, Chinese fast food and coffee chains, with the wider spread and better sit-down restaurants on the domestic side. It’s a functional airport for eating rather than a destination — save your appetite for the city, where a proper Hangzhou meal (the sweet-savoury local cuisine, Longjing tea-smoked dishes, West Lake fish) is one of the best reasons to visit.

SIM and Wi-Fi: free airport Wi-Fi is available, but it usually needs a mobile number or a self-service kiosk to authenticate, and it sits behind the firewall like everything else. A local prepaid SIM in T4 runs about CNY 50 (~$7) for a generous data bundle — but an eSIM bought before you land, ideally one that tunnels past the firewall, is the least-hassle route to a working phone the moment you step off the plane.

Money and help: ATMs and the Overseas Visitor Payment Service Center are in the T4 arrivals area; keep a modest amount of cash for the rare vendor who won’t scan a foreign-linked wallet, but expect to pay for almost everything by phone.

Frequently asked questions

At a glance

Before you fly

• 📊 Check what a good fare to China looks like — our price-check tool shows the typical deal range so you know a bargain when you see one.
• 🧳 Baggage checker — confirm your airline’s carry-on and checked allowance before you pack.
• 🌏 China travel guide — best time to go, regions, and how to get around.