Su Causeway became a tourist attraction as early as 1090 when Su Dongpo, a celebrated Chinese man of letters, supervised the dredging of the lake as the garrison commander of Hangzhou. He had the West Lake dredged and the mud scooped up for this purpose piled up to form a 2.8-kilometres-long causeway, with grass and peach and willow trees planted along its entire length, and six bridges built on the causeway. The causeway has thus become the centerpiece of dainty scenery. On the morning of a spring day, the place looks exceptionally beautiful.

The Su causeway is also one of the 'Ten Sights of the West Lake'.