Soil water repellency affects soil water movement during infiltration significantly. The HYDRUS software has been popularly applied in soil water dynamics simulation for many years, but its performance in water-repellent (WR) soils has not been assessed thoroughly. Our objectives are to assess the performance of HYDRYUS-1D for cumulative infiltration (CI), wetting front (Z_f), and volumetric soil water content (θ_v) during horizontal imbibition and vertical infiltration in wettable, slightly WR, and strongly WR soils. The key parameters of α and n in water retention curves were inversely estimated by RETension Curve software. The α and n were calibrated inversely until the observed data fitted the simulated values well enough. The α and n were then used for validation using three statistical parameters including relative root-mean-square error, R², and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient. The performances of calibration and validation for wettable, slightly, and strongly WR soils were good enough to be used for further simulations (RRMSE ≤20.2% for calibration and ≤21.1% for validation). Soil water movements for strongly WR soils of variable ponded depth during vertical infiltration were simulated. For Lou soil, as the ponded depth increased from 4 to 10 cm, the CI and Z_f increased 2.08 and 5.5 cm, respectively. The simulations for the other three soils also showed gradually increased CI and Z_f values. In conclusion, the performances of HYDRUS-1D in four different soil types with changing WR levels were good, which confirmed the application of HYDRUS-1D in WR soils.