The university district in eastern Hohhot — particularly the streets around Inner Mongolia Normal University on Xinchengxi Street and Inner Mongolia University further east — supports the kind of inexpensive cafe and bar scene that forms wherever large numbers of students concentrate. Coffee shops, board game cafes, craft beer bars, and late-night noodle joints fill the streets around both campuses, staying open until well past midnight during term time.
The coffee shops here are indistinguishable from their counterparts in any other Chinese university city — exposed brick, lo-fi hip-hop, cold brew in mason jars — but they are inexpensive and provide reliable wifi. The bars are more interesting: several serve locally-produced craft beer made with Inner Mongolian barley, and a few specialize in baijiu tastings with regional spirits from the surrounding area. This district is where Hohhot's younger residents actually spend their evenings.