There isn't much of a bar scene in Xi'an, but for an inexpensive drinking session, you're best bet is to head for Mum's, Dad's or any of the restaurants. Chaplins Bar on the first floor of the Bell Tower Hotel is a pleasant place for a quiet drink - features include a full-size snooker table and barmen in bowties, with drinks at Western prices. The snug Salon Bar just east of the Royal Hotel, slightly tucked back from the road on a side street, is run by English-speaking Chinese and has a very Western look. A beer is ¥20. The Entertainers in the Hyatt is a sleek place to spend an evening - the bar serves a variety of cocktails (¥36), as well as pizza. Entertainment includes a live band, dancefloor and there's also a DJ until 2am.

Tuesday is the most popular night to go out, when women get in free to all the discos . Foreigners who enter are likely to attract a lot of attention at first, and can live out all their Saturday Night Fever fantasies on the dance floor, but if you just want to watch you'll be left alone. A favourite spot with foreign students is Didi's on Huangcheng Xi Lu (daily 8pm-midnight; ¥20), where foreigners get in free, presumably because they are exotic and buy drinks (¥15 for a beer). It's a relatively small place and fairly alternative - the music is a mix of hip-hop, dance, rap and slushy love songs from a live singer. Things are a lot livelier after 10.30pm, when the music gets faster and only the serious clubbers are left. Twenty One on Nanyuanmen (daily 8pm-midnight; ¥20) is a bigger, glitzier version.

The restaurant in the Tang Dynasty Hotel (tel 5261633) has a lavish nightly dinner (6.30-8pm) and cultural show (8.30-10pm) - highlights include opera, acrobatics and classical recitals. Tickets can be bought in advance from the theatre lobby on the ground floor; the sumptuous banquet and show costs ¥391, or if you want to skip dinner, the show alone costs ¥155.