Here's why you should avoid Hangzhou for the next month

Hangzhou, home of the famous West Lake, is normally an easy day trip or weekend visit from Shanghai (if you can battle past the flag-waving tour groups). There's some fabulous mountain scenery to explore and pretty places to relax around the lake, but if you're planning a trip in the coming weeks, our advice is this: don’t go. At least, not until after the end of September.

In case you managed to miss it, the G20 group of international finance leaders are coming to Hangzhou for their next meeting at the beginning of September, and it seems as though the city is already going into 'no fun' overdrive. We were there last weekend, and aside from our hotel spa being closed (when we asked the staff why, they just said 'G20'), there are already traffic restrictions in place and huge projects ongoing to tidy up the city. While the latter in particular might sound like a plus, it means that for now there are parts of the scenic West Lake hidden behind some not-very-scenic hoardings and there's a bigger police presence than normal, which does rather interrupt the romantic flow of things.

And it seems it’s only going to get worse. According to the local government bulletins and news reports, you can expect the following in Hangzhou:

• From September 2 to 7, all businesses in Hangzhou's central business area that are not relevant to G20 will close. So that's most of them then.

• In the same period, all schools will close. Good news for the kids.

• There will be restrictions on cars entering the inner city areas - unless they’re nice blacked out Audis for the G20, of course.

• Tour groups won’t be allowed to visit a number of city attractions between August 28 and September 7. Actually, that's not so bad.

• Already, a number of live music venues and bars have essentially shut up shop until after the visiting dignitaries have done their thing, so if you were hoping to catch Theresa May and Vladimir Putin rocking out to some of Hangzhou's finest local bands, prepare to be disappointed.

In a bid to free up the city, Hangzhou citizens will reportedly be able to enter tourist attractions in other parts of Zhejiang for free. In other words: 'get lost'. So Zhejiang as a whole might be best given a wide berth until mid-September.

So there you have it. Don’t plan any trips to Hangzhou over the next four weeks, unless you want to get stuck in terrible traffic and general bureaucratic mayhem or enjoy rocking up at closed bars and restaurants.

But should you be here in Shanghai, there is one plus to look forward to: blue skies. With factories and business being shut down in advance of the big meeting in an effort to show world leaders that, hey, the weather's always like this, there will be less fumes drifting our way, and you can look forward to some nice fresh air, just as the temperature (hopefully) drops a notch or two in September. Here's a list of our favourite outside terrace spots to help you celebrate.