Changsha's nightlife is varied and vibrant, generally not really warming up until one or two in the morning. Hawkers selling snacks and knickknacks off the back of small carts fight for space with cars and pedestrians in the busy streets around the city's bars and KTVs, the most popular of which line Jiefang Xilu. Jiefang Road is home to a disco and KTV bar named Golden Time which is popular with locals and affluent locals, as is the Hot Dance Club where the eclectic music and live performances attract a similarly diverse crowd.

Visitors who have not experienced traditional Chinese entertainment before will be able to discover a range of performance arts in Changsha, though in recent years, the performances are becoming less frequent. Theatres such as the Hunan Theater, the Tianhan Grand Theater or the Hunan Xiang Opera Theater all stage a variety of performing arts including the local Geju Opera, Zaji which is a form of acrobatics and storytelling using shadow puppets in a style known as Piying Xi.

One of the unique festivals in Changsha is the Zhangjiajie International Forest Protection Festival which is hosted in the beautiful forests in Zhangjiajie Park every March. The festival aims to encourage visitors to enjoy the park and its resources responsibly and incorporates many activities. The city's founder is remembered in another festival: the Yueyang International Dragon Boat Festival during which locals race boats in a ritual remembrance of the rush to save Qu Yuan from death by his own hands when he drowned himself in the Miluo River not far from Changsha. The city also holds the magnificent China Liuyang International Fireworks Festival with the neighboring city of Liuyang, the China Golden Eagle TV Art Festival and the China Zhuzhou Yandi Festival among the calendar of observances.