THE recreation options can be too many for a short visit to the relaxed and casual city of Hangzhou. You can be seduced by elaborate trips to tea plantations, treks up mountains to temples and pagodas, dedicated sorties into silk shopping markets and high tea at any number of stylish large and small outlets.

Or you can leave all the tour books behind and just hit the pavement on a sunny Sunday afternoon to amble around and see what turns up or takes your fancy.

The in-room magazine's map indicated that Shuguang Road was in the vicinity of the base camp for this brief visit - Oakwood Residence serviced apartments - and it housed a variety of noshing options.

Located near Huanglong Football Stadium and touted as an "up-and-coming" part of town, majestic roadside greenery and off-road precincts cloak Shuguang with a sense of peace and quiet.

The first eatery encountered was Reggae Cafe, near the intersection with Qiushi Road, which benefitted like others in this little strip by being set well off the road. It has an unkempt exterior with grass tufting between the paving stones and a rustic verandah with tables, but don't be deterred because the food is okay and the service professional.

Inside this two-story stand-alone, booth tables are aligned with views through bay windows and leafy over-hanging trees to the busy avenue outside. The respite from bustling bikers, tour buses and other vehicles is pleasant.

A burger is solid value at 38 yuan (US$5.55) with a thick real-meat pattie, cheese, bacon and pickles in a toasted bun plus a side salad. A latte (32 yuan) or a Brazilian coffee (40 yuan) are almost as expensive but the elaborate preparation for the latter - filtered through a siphon percolator with a Bunsen burner-type flame - is built into the price.

A stone's throw away is Vienna Coffee which does Austrian gourmet style and looked a bit more sedate and stylish, so the choice between the two depends on your mood.

Walk to the right along this strip and track along the path that runs parallel with Shuguang and you'll find Baishaquan, a leafy avenue with various eateries and general outlets on the high side beyond which alleyways reach into a local village environment.

The further you walk, the more intriguing this engaging area becomes.

Maya Bar is a cave-like joint with mustard-colored rendered walls and tall tables with high stools.

A tight entry area opens into a small central bar with anterooms left and right, one with a small stage area, the other with dining tables and a wall rack of magazines bearing old copies of The Economist, National Geographic and everything in between.

General stores

No doubt it comes alive at night when the expat crowd blends into the mood created by minimal lighting, rustic fittings, thick exposed beams and stone walls and a menu of beers, nachos and burritos.

But you take a chance by dropping in mid-afternoon and this Sunday there was a rah-rah meeting of shop ladies each taking their turn singing on the PA system. Bring on the night!

Further along the stretch is a cluster of convenience and general stores, including Chinese restaurants, and locals just catching the shade under the trees.

In a stand-alone villa is Provence, a French restaurant whose reputation precedes it and spreads wider than Hangzhou for quality food made on the strict principle of using the freshest-available ingredients.

Crisp and professional inside, this quasi-colonial building with staircase to upstairs dining, specials-of-the-day blackboard, tight little bar and a rack of French and other international wines, evokes style and elegance.

If you want to sloth in a world of French provincial and Mediterranean foods and fantasize for a couple of hours that you're somewhere else, take a table and a gander at the menu. Salivate over salad lyonnaise (48 yuan), duck confit shepherd's pie (138 yuan), crepes and rich desserts.

The foreigners running it are French and the maidan (pay the bill) would embarrass more expensive Shanghai restaurants.

The postprandial walk - Provence is near the end of Baishaquan - snaps you back into reality onto busy Shuguang Road and decisions have to be made.

As a visit to downtown Hangzhou is incomplete without taking in the West Lake, grab a taxi to Nanshan Road where Xihu Tiandi precinct lies en route to the bank. Walkways weave toward the water, over footbridges and past Starbucks, Haagen-Dazs and Costa Coffee as well as small snack food outlets and gift shops.

Grab a seat to take in the mystical charm of the lake as tourists and locals amble by, birds flutter through the trees and children enjoy their accompanying multi-generational guardians. The mood is almost comatose.

Wander down to Nanshan Road and promenade past West Lake museum, restaurants and galleries to the corner with Hefang Street along which you'll eventually find the park beneath majestic Chenghuang (City God) Pavilion at the bustling craft and gifts market.

Here hawkers and established shops push art, candies, antiques, swords, masks, tea and accessories and general junk.

Bargaining is mandatory although a few, like Herbal Heaven, stick to listed prices.

If you've paced the buying and browsing to finish the long market in time for dinner, take the left fork back into Gaoyin Street running parallel with Hefang Street.

It's a food street with dozens of restaurants offering various regional and international cuisine styles. Booking isn't necessary and you can shop a meal from the colorful pictures and competitive prices displayed on the front window menus. Reggae Cafe

87 Shuguang Rd (0571-8659-2191)

Vienna Coffee

91 Shuguang Rd (0571-8796-1207)

Maya Bar

91 Baishaquan, 79 Shuguang Rd (0571-8799-7628)

Provence French Restaurant

1 Baishaquan, Shuguang Rd (0571-8797-6115)

Xihu Tiandi Precinct

147 Nanshan Rd (near corner with West Lake Ave)

Oakwood Residence

28 Jiaogong Rd (0571-8899-3131)