Cafes
Jamaica Coffee
In west lake tiandi, is owned by a spanish company and has high quality coffee and tea and some snacks.
Starbucks
Wulin square / hangzhou tower / hangda rd / yanan rd / west lake tiandi / hyatt hotel / hu shu nan rd / hu bin rd / and others.
Chamate
Wulin square / yellow dragon stadium / west lake tiandi south, is a taiwanese version of starbucks where tea replaces coffee as the beverage of choice. an excellent place to sample a wide variety of green and oolong teas from the comprehensive picture menu. each tea is served in its own characteristic style teapot along with plentiful hot mineral water. if the tea isn't enough, shaved ice red bean dessert, stinky tofu and wi-fi access are all available too.
Cafes in Hangzhou normally fit a Hangzhou norm and do not always resemble a cafe in the West. Places like Liangan and UBC serve Western food, which is pretty inedible to a Western palette. Coffee is expensive and usually made over a candle, more for novelty than for good coffee. Some of the more 'international' style cafes are listed here.
Costa Coffee
Located in the west lake tiandi, serves coffee drinks, sandwiches and pastries in a suave atmosphere with free wi-fi. try to score one of the incredibly comfortable couches.
Linglong Town
Located on nanshan road to the west of most of the bars. has large smoothies that are excellent for hot days. the restaurant also has many types of tea and good-tasting taiwanese fare.
Fotoyard
Nanshan rd and qianwangci, is managed by a bunch of photographers who are better at photos than managing a cafe, but the pizza is good, and the coffee by illy. when the weather permits, it's an open air cafe and quite nice in the spring time.
Nightclubs
G+
In the wahaha building on qingchun road. the more sophisticated of the big clubs, catering to slightly better heeled 20-30's crowd.
Coco
Wangtang road and wensan west road. smaller club on the west side that attracts many expats. music is more alternative for hangzhou, and usually there are foreign djs.
There are several large popular clubs in Hangzhou that cater to a generally un-sophisticated house music crowd, although they often have famous DJs visiting. Tables are hard to come by later on at night, and usually you cannot book. Tipping the server may help you find a table. Drinks may take a while to come, so perhaps ordering a bottle of liquor and mixers for the table would reduce the amount of time waiting for drinks. Clubs are generally safe, be safe and have fun ,check about the places before you go.
SOS
Huanglong road and tianmushan road. the big boy of hangzhou, and is truly massive, with advanced sound and light, and is always full. sos has fewer regulars, and more out-of-town clubbers.
Bars
JZ Club
6 liuying road nanshan road, is one of the most sophisticated bars in hangzhou, with live jazz performances every night and a range of beers, cocktails and wines.
Maya Bar
94 baishaquan rd and shuguang rd, is a popular expat watering hole with large servings of drinks and a simple bar menu.
1944
Shuguang rd. good atmosphere with cheap beer and quiet live music.
You To
85 shuguang rd, on the left of l'amour french restaurant. one of the most successful bars in hangzhou, run by a man who has made several bars popular. you to is busy every day with a local drinking crowd. loud live music, busy atmosphere, and cheerful, friendly staff.
7 Club
Shuguang road. located behind the flower shop opposite yellow dragon hotel, is small local pub popular with expats a foreign students alike. normally contains a quieter atmosphere and specializes in hard-to-find imported bottle beers.
Shamrock Irish Pub
Jiefang rd and jianguo rd. more a sports bar, but without the tvs. good pub food on the menu some live music on weeknights.
Reggae Bar
An old hangzhou favourite recently june 2009 moved from shuguang road to xueyuan road, just north of wensan road. big happy bar with lots of reggae music, a strong jamaican motif and experienced staff.one carlsberg draft beer is ¥22.
Cool Bar
On west lake ave by wushan square has budweiser for as low as y5/bottle the wushan square area also has several other bars.
Medusa
Gucui rd. an informal hip-hop club managed by expats. good for a young expat crowd and cheap drinks served in a fun atmosphere. great place to meet other travellers.
Casablanca
On the westlake. pub run by an american, its a good friendly place to hang out and feel at home.
The drink of choice in Hangzhou is tea, as the local Longjing é¾äº, also Lung Ching, literally "Dragon Well" is the most famous green tea in China. Longjing is divided into seven grades, the two top being Superior ææª qiqiang and Special éè queshe, and the rest numbered from 1 down to 5. Prices for the very best stuff are extremely high— in 2005, a mere 100g plucked from Qing Dynasty emperor Qian Long's personal trees sold for over US$17,000 — but a few cups in a local teahouse shouldn't cost you more than a few dozen yuan. There is a wholesale market in Zhuangtang, however, most of the tea comes from trees outside of the "special" fields in Hangzhou. Prices are ¥15-1,000/500g depending on a multitude of variables.
Traditionally, tea from Longjing is best served with spring water from Hupao èè·, "Tiger Run", which is located next to the West Lake. You might have to purchase the tea from the tea shop in Hupao, instead of bringing your own. It's about 20 yuan per cup, but you get a thermal full of hot water with the purchase. Do consider mixing the leaves with bottled water, as construction project run off introduces chemicals other than water into the streams.
For bars, Nanshan Road all night every night should keep any visitor occupied. An up-and-coming part of town is on Shuguang Road has several old and new bars that are a little less hectic than those of Nanshan Road, including local expat hangout Maya Bar, packed-out local You To, rock music bar Travellers, and many more. Shuguang Road runs north from the north-west corner of the Lake. The Huanglong soccer stadium is full of dance / performance bars around the perimeter of the building.