The lake is inside the city, which is the surprising part. 柳叶湖 Liǔyè Hú — Willow Leaf Lake — sits on the northern edge of 常德 Chángdé, and the hotel towers on its south shore look out over twenty-odd square kilometres of open water with nothing on the far side but reeds and sky. You can walk out of a lift, cross a road, and be on a sand beach in four minutes; you can hire a bicycle and ride the ring road around the whole lake in a couple of hours; and in the evening, when the wind comes off the water, the whole north side of the city smells of it. A room with a lake view runs ¥280–600, and this is the only place in Changde where the view is worth paying extra for.
The lake takes its name from its shape, which is long and pointed like a willow leaf, and it is one of the largest urban lakes in the country — the local claim, that it is the biggest lake inside a Chinese city, is contested by Wuhan and a couple of others and is not worth arguing about. What is not contested is that Changde has done the work: the shoreline has a continuous greenway and cycle path, there are beaches and swimming areas in summer, a rowing course, and a water-sports centre, and the whole thing is used by residents as an ordinary park rather than treated as an attraction.
Two things on the shoreline are worth the walk. 司马楼 Sīmǎ Lóu, the Scribe’s Tower, is a reconstruction of the pavilion associated with 刘禹锡 Liú Yǔxī, the Tang poet who was exiled to Changde as a 司马 sīmǎ — the same nominal military post that 柳宗元 held in Yongzhou — and who wrote the famous 竹枝词 zhúzhīcí poems based on the boatmen’s songs of this river. And the beach park at the western end has, strangely for inland Hunan, real sand: it was imported, but the effect on a hot afternoon is convincing.
What You Are Paying For
Price. ¥280–600 for a lake-view double. The high end is the international-brand tower on the south shore; the middle is a cluster of Chinese chains with decent rooms and a partial view; the low end is a business hotel one block back, which costs half and sees a car park.
Address. 柳叶湖旅游度假区 Liǔyè Hú Lǚyóu Dùjiàqū, 武陵区 Wǔlíng Qū, 常德市 Chángdéshì — the hotels line the southern shore along 柳叶大道 Liǔyè Dàdào.
Rooms. A few hundred across the cluster. Ask for 湖景房 hújǐng fáng, lake view, and ask for a floor above the tenth, because the ring road has traffic and the trees are tall.
Getting there. 常德站 Chángdé Zhàn on the high-speed line is about 20 minutes and ¥30–45 by taxi from the lakefront. The airport, 常德桃花源机场 Chángdé Táohuāyuán Jīchǎng, is about 30 minutes south. There is no metro, but the ring road has buses and the greenway is walkable.
What the Locals Know
Time your visit to the evening. Changde in summer is hot and humid, and the whole city comes out to the lake after six. The greenway at sunset is the best free thing in the city.
Ride the ring road early. Bicycles can be hired by the hour at several points; the full circuit is around 40 kilometres and takes two to three hours at a comfortable pace. Do it before nine in summer.
Eat by the water, but not at the water. The restaurants on the shoreline proper are priced for the view. Walk one block inland and the same 钵子菜 bōzicài is a third cheaper.
Go the other way for the old city. 常德河街 Chángdé Héjiē and the 诗墙 shīqiáng, the poetry wall, are a twenty-minute taxi ride along the river on the south side of the city. Two evenings, one each.
Where to Stay
The lake is for the view and the quiet; the river street is for the food and the walk. If you are in Changde for one night and want to eat, stay downtown near 常德河街 Chángdé Héjiē; if you have two nights and want to slow down, take the lake. In July and August, and over the Lunar New Year, the lake hotels fill with Changsha families and the price goes to the top of the range.
flowcloud would say that a city which put twenty square kilometres of water on the inside of its own ring road, and then built a bicycle path around it and called it a park, has understood something about urban life that cities with far better scenery have not.
Where to stay: 柳叶湖 (Liǔyè Hú), 武陵区 (Wǔlíng Qū), 常德市 (Chángdéshì), 湖南 (Húnán). Lake-view doubles ¥280–600. About 20 minutes and ¥30–45 by taxi from 常德站 (Chángdé Zhàn). Ask for a lake-facing room above the tenth floor, ride the ring road before 09:00, and go out at six in the evening when the city does.