Xizha is the more atmospheric half of Wuzhen, developed to allow overnight stays in canal-side guesthouses and to showcase traditional crafts. The guesthouses are built directly over the water on stilts, with wooden balconies where you can sit above the canal and watch wooden skiffs pass below. The main canal runs for about a kilometre through the quarter, lined by two-storey buildings with grey tile roofs and carved timber facades.
Craft workshops along the main street demonstrate dyeing with indigo, silk weaving on traditional looms, and the production of Wuzhen's locally famous yellow rice wine. These are real demonstrations rather than performances — the products are sold in adjacent shops — and watching the silk looms at work, with their rhythmic mechanical complexity, is genuinely interesting. The quarter has several good restaurants serving Jiangnan canal-town food: braised pork belly, white shrimp from the surrounding lakes, and freshwater fish.