24 Hours In: Arusha

Smell the coffee

09.00: Breakfast at Arusha Coffee Lodge (00 255 27 254 06301; tanzania-web.com/lodges_info/arusha_coffee_lodge.htm), a couple of miles outside the centre. This luxury hotel is on the site of Tanzania's largest coffee plantation. Its Victorian-style bungalows are full of Europeans and Americans waiting to go on safari. There are excellent views of Mount Meru. Doubles from $100 (£51) per person per night, including breakfast.

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Savour flavours

10.00: Take a daladala (mini-van taxi) to the Central Market. There you can buy herbs, spices, sandals made from old tyres, colourful kangas, traditional medicines and other produce including baobab seeds and tamarind, both of which can be sucked like sweets. Open daily, 7am-6pm.

Monkey business

11.00: Time for more coffee and the best is to be found at Jambo's next to Makuti Gardens. While you're there, you can take a look at Aang Serian's stall selling "Mazingira Monkeys", cuddly toys stuffed with plastic bags. Or, try the Ice Cream Parlour on Sokoine Road, which does good sundaes.

Cut a gem deal

12.00: Go shopping. Visitors to Arusha usually buy Tingatinga paintings, Masai jewellery and batiks, all of which can be found at the craft shop on Goliondoi Road (they can arrange shipping). Ask about the ethically mined Tanzanite gems and a dealer will come to meet you.

Time for a curry

13.00: It's lunchtime. Arusha Naaz Hotel (00 255 27 250 2087) on Sokoine Road near the Clocktower, serves great Indian food. All you can eat for 4,000 tzs (£1.60).

Head for the hills

14.00: Take a daladala to Ng'iresi Village (about four miles from Arusha) from where you can walk to Lekimana Hill for views of the Masai steppes and, on a clear day, Mount Kilimanjaro. Or try Kivesi Hill, an extinct volcano with forested slopes full of birds. To visit Ng'iresi itself you will need a guide, which costs around £8 for half a day, £2 of which goes to local schools.

Time travel

16.00: Visit the Old Boma Museum at the end of Boma Road. A German fort, built in 1889 (and the centre of disputes between Masai and colonialists), it now houses a small display of animal and hominid fossils unearthed at Olduvai and Laetoli, plus life-size models of man's ancestors. Open 9am-5pm.

The next chapter

17.00: Browse the shelves at Bookmark on Sokoine Road (opposite Twin Peaks Casino), which stocks maps and books about Ernest Hemingway and Karen Blixen. You can also buy maps and guides at stalls clustered around the Clocktower or second-hand books along the alley that connects Boma Road and India Road.

Eat by the water

19.00: Eat dinner at Via Via, part of the Boma complex on the banks of the Themi river. Take a seat overlooking the river and dine on a mixture of European and African food. If Kilimanjaro beer doesn't appeal try Meru banana wine (available sweet or dry). Main courses from just 4,000 tzs (£1.60).

Hit the clubs

21.00: Nightlife options include Colobus Club on the old Moshi Road, which hosts a disco and pool bar, or nearby Rick's Bar. Soweto Gardens has an outdoor bar with live music at weekends. For real night owls ask at Via Via about their "Arusha Nightlife Tour" of the city's outskirts, which costs 5,000 tzs (£2) plus taxi and drinks.