This new city guide is about things to do in my favourite city in the world: Cape Town. Man, if there is a nicer place to live and explore than Cape town, I've not found it yet. What I love about this city is that you have everything around you: beaches, mountains, harbors, gardens, adventure trips, wildlife (the nearest reserve for a safari is an hour and half away), vineyards, history, stunning weather, amazing nightlife ... You can totally hike in the morning, chill at the beach in the afternoon, and party hard in the evening.
1.The best places to eat and drink/ Où manger et sortir
I suggest you to check this Facebook group. Capetonians review the restaurants they've been to. I love it!
To have a drink I suggest going to those neighborhoods depending upon your interests: Kloof street (for hipsters), Lower main road, Observatory (for surfers and students), Camps bay or the Waterfront (for jetsetters), Long street (if you are hidding some moves).
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| Make sure to order a springbokkie/buvez un sprinkbokkie à ma santé |
Pour aller prendre un verre, il y a pas mal de quartiers avec des ambiances différentes: Kloof street (pour les hipsters), Observatory (pour les surfeurs et les étudiants), Camps bay & the Waterfront (les jetsetteurs), et Long street (pour ceux qui aiment danser).
2.Walk through Bo-kaap/ Se balader dans Bo-kaap
This colorful district used to host slaves from Malaysia during the colonial period. Today, this muslim neighborhood hosts the Cape Malay community (they are the descendants of the Indonesian slaves). I love this district and highly recommend it. You will go like "waaaoow" when you will walk through it (I promise!).
Related/à lire aussi: Cape town, As southern as possible
3. Swim at the Sea point pavilion swimming pool/ Nager dans la piscine de Sea point
This beachfront, Olympic-size swimming pool has to be one of the most beautiful public swimming pools in the world. You have the mountain behind you and the sea in front of you. The pool uses filtered seawater that is warmed from the sun, and thanks to the two other kiddie pools, it is pretty clean.
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| Source: grazeblog.com/address: Beach Rd, Sea Point, Cape Town, Afrique du Sud |
Price-prix: 1,60€/$2 (Je suis sérieuse/I kid you not!)
4.Go to a braai in Mzolis/ Aller à un braai dans un township
Townships are reputed to be unsafe but this one is safe and you will see locals and tourists partying together every Sunday. I've had the best braai of my life there and I still need to find out what the secret spice they season the meat with is.
Make sure to arrive early as it is always packed. My friends and I waited for 3 hours and the cook even asked me for a bribe to braai our food faster. As locals say it themselves "T.I.A" (This is Africa).
"Braai" c'est le mot utilisé par les sudafs pour dire "barbecue". Celui-ci est un événement local qui a lieu tous les dimanches dans un township. Les townships étaient les bidonvilles où étaient parqués les non-européens (indiens, asiatiques,noirs, métisses...) pendant l'apartheid. Aujourd'hui c'est toujours des bidonvilles et des gens y habitent dans des conditions très précaires. C'est déconseillé d'y aller (sans guide) mais celui-ci n'est pas dangereux. Locaux comme touristes y vont pour manger tout en faisant la fête. J'y ai mangé le meilleur braai de ma vie et je veux découvrir l'épice secrète qu'ils mettent dans la viande.
Arrivez le plus tôt possible parce que c'est toujours blindé. Mes potes et moi avons attendu 3h pour être servis et le cuisinier m'a même demandé un pot-de-vin pour aller plus vite. Comme les sudafs le disent eux-même T.I.A (= c'est l'Afrique!)
Price:We spent something like €6/$7 per person (we were a group of 6 people) and it included a big bucket of meat, some pap and chakalaka sauce (order those two as well). You can also bring your own drink.
Prix: à 6, on en a eu pour 6€ par personne et ça comprenait aussi du pap et de la sauce chakalaka. (Vous pouvez aussi ramener votre propre boisson.)
5.Go to the Shimmy beach club/ Aller au Shimmy beach club
This beach club is a restaurant during the day and a night club during the night. I would avoid ordering food there as it is not that tasty and waiters take forever to serve you. Just go there for a drink, swim and wait for the sunset.
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| 12 South Arm Road, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town, 8002 |
Ce beach club est un restaurant la journée et une boîte de nuit le soir. En journée je vous conseille de prendre un verre (la bouffe n'est pas terrible) , de nager et t'attendre le coucher du soleil.
Price-prix: Cocktail drinks start at $6./ Les prix des cocktails tournent autour de 5-6€.
6.Take the Cable car or go hiking/Faire de la randonnée ou prendre le téléphérique
If you like hiking, Cape Town will be your happy place. For Table mountain I took the cable car. My friends wanted to climb down but I forgot and showed up with my flip flops (bad idea by the way). They hated me.
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| Top of Table Mountain |
Prix-price Cable car return ticket/Aller-retour: €18/$20
Related/A lire aussi: The craziest things I've done in South Africa / ma montée d'adrenaline en Afrique du sud
7. Go to the Crew club/ Aller au Crew
Cape town is a gay-friendly city. Indeed, South Africa has the most liberal constitution towards gays and lesbians in Africa and gay marriage is legal since 2006.
The Crew is a gay club located in the De Waterkant district. Bartenders work in underwear and are straight.(A friend told me that the manager hired only straight workers so they would not hook up with customers).
Anyway, straight and gay people party in this club and it's a lot of fun.
Make sure to order a bodyshot in there.
L'Afrique du sud est le pays le plus gay-friendly d'Afrique. En effet, le mariage gay est autorisé depuis 2006 et Cape Town est une ville cosmopolite ayant une population ouverte d'esprit . The Crew est un club majoritairement fréquenté par la communauté gay. Les serveurs se baladent en caleçons. Un pote m'a dit que les serveurs étaient hétéros parce que le patron ne voulait pas qu'ils fricotent avec les clients. Mais gays comme hétéros se rendent dans ce club et l'ambiance y est décontractée. Commandez un bodyshot pour pimenter votre soirée.
Address: Napier St, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa
Cape town is a gay-friendly city. Indeed, South Africa has the most liberal constitution towards gays and lesbians in Africa and gay marriage is legal since 2006.
The Crew is a gay club located in the De Waterkant district. Bartenders work in underwear and are straight.(A friend told me that the manager hired only straight workers so they would not hook up with customers).
Anyway, straight and gay people party in this club and it's a lot of fun.
Make sure to order a bodyshot in there.
L'Afrique du sud est le pays le plus gay-friendly d'Afrique. En effet, le mariage gay est autorisé depuis 2006 et Cape Town est une ville cosmopolite ayant une population ouverte d'esprit . The Crew est un club majoritairement fréquenté par la communauté gay. Les serveurs se baladent en caleçons. Un pote m'a dit que les serveurs étaient hétéros parce que le patron ne voulait pas qu'ils fricotent avec les clients. Mais gays comme hétéros se rendent dans ce club et l'ambiance y est décontractée. Commandez un bodyshot pour pimenter votre soirée.
Address: Napier St, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa
8. Go to the spa/ Aller au spa
Going to the spa is not something I would usually do but I stumbled upon this deal and I could not say no. LifedayspaCapetown offers monthly specials. You generally have 2 hours of treatment and an access to all the spa facilities (outdoor pool, hamman, sauna, floatation pool, the gym...). The staff is awesome and the location really fancy. Going there was one of my highlights and I would go back in a heartbeat.
Going to the spa is not something I would usually do but I stumbled upon this deal and I could not say no. LifedayspaCapetown offers monthly specials. You generally have 2 hours of treatment and an access to all the spa facilities (outdoor pool, hamman, sauna, floatation pool, the gym...). The staff is awesome and the location really fancy. Going there was one of my highlights and I would go back in a heartbeat.
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| Lifedayspa: Century Blvd, Century City, Cape Town, 7441 |
C'est pas forcément une activité que j'aurais pu m'offrir en France mais je vous conseille vraiment de vous rendre sur le site de ce spa. Life day spa propose des formules incluant plus ou moins 2h de massage et un accès illimité au sauna, à la piscine extérieure, au hamman, à la salle de sport et à d'autres trucs dont j'ignore le nom. Le personnel est top et le spa se trouve dans le genre d'hôtel où quelqu'un appuie sur les boutons d'ascenseur pour toi.
9.Summer concert at the Kirstenbosch botanical garden/Assister à un concert dans le jardin botanique
During summer, this stunning botanical garden hosts gigs. I went to The Passenger's concert even if I only knew one song (You too, don't lie!). Listening to him singing and being surrounded by mountains were priceless.
The line-up varies so make sure to check who is performing in the program.
Pendant l'été, il y a des concerts en plein air. J'ai assisté à celui de The Passenger même si je ne connaissais qu'une chanson (vous aussi hein, faites pas genre).
La programmation varie d'une saison à l'autre mais je vous conseille d'y jeter un oeil. Les concerts ont lieu dans le jardin botanique de Kirstenbosch et c'est sublime.
During summer, this stunning botanical garden hosts gigs. I went to The Passenger's concert even if I only knew one song (You too, don't lie!). Listening to him singing and being surrounded by mountains were priceless.
The line-up varies so make sure to check who is performing in the program.
La programmation varie d'une saison à l'autre mais je vous conseille d'y jeter un oeil. Les concerts ont lieu dans le jardin botanique de Kirstenbosch et c'est sublime.
Price-Prix: I paid €25/$28 for this concert (again, the price depends on the artist). J'ai payé 25€ pour The Passenger (mais les prix varient d'un artiste à l'autre).
10.Go to the Woodstock Exchange/ Aller au Woodstock Exchange
I used to do my internship in this building (the top floor hosts start-ups) and loved it there! It looks like a hipster place (and it is), but you have awesome shops, restaurants and bars. During my lunch break, I ran into the famous British youtuber Ben Brown (and told him how much I loved his British accent. Guess what, he loved mine too!).
Make sure to go there before 5 o'clock as the building closes quite early and the district is dodgy after a certain hour. (But it is totally safe during the day).
I used to do my internship in this building (the top floor hosts start-ups) and loved it there! It looks like a hipster place (and it is), but you have awesome shops, restaurants and bars. During my lunch break, I ran into the famous British youtuber Ben Brown (and told him how much I loved his British accent. Guess what, he loved mine too!).
Make sure to go there before 5 o'clock as the building closes quite early and the district is dodgy after a certain hour. (But it is totally safe during the day).
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| Source:http://10and5.com/ |
Ne vous rendez pas à Woodstock à pieds après une certaine heure. Non seulement il n'y a rien à faire après 17h mais en plus ça devient dangereux. La journée c'est un quartier agréable et safe.
11.Go to Abantu during a night out on Long street/Prenez un shot à Abantu*
My friends dragged me there during our weekly pub crawl on Long street. Abantu is a backpackers during the day and a shots bar during the night. Make sure to order the Kalachnikov shot (my favorite shot ever). It is made with Vodka and Absinte. The bartender puts cinnamon on the lemon slice and fires at it (see picture below).
*I am slightly annoying but drink responsibly. Keep your wits about you all the time. No need to be completely wasted to have a LOT of fun in Cape Town ;).
Cet établissement est une auberge de jeunesse la journée, et un bar à shots le soir venu. Commandez le shot "Kalashnikov"(meilleur shot du monde). C'est fait à base de Vodka et d'Absynthe. Le serveur saupoudre les tranches de citron avec de la cannelle et y met le feu.
*Séquence relou mais l'alcool est à consommer avec modération. Vous êtes beaucoup plus vulnérable avec de l'alcool dans le sang. Même s'il ne m'est rien arrivée, il y a pas mal de pickpockets sur Long street les soirs de fête.
Price-Prix: Tous les shots sont entre 1-2€/Shots are between 1-$2
Over to you! Have you ever been to Cape Town ? Would you like to go?
A vous les amis! Qui veut venir au Cap avec moi la prochaine fois ?
Psst:For more travel pictures, follow me on Instagram & Facebook. On est aussi sur Instagram & Facebook \o/
My friends dragged me there during our weekly pub crawl on Long street. Abantu is a backpackers during the day and a shots bar during the night. Make sure to order the Kalachnikov shot (my favorite shot ever). It is made with Vodka and Absinte. The bartender puts cinnamon on the lemon slice and fires at it (see picture below).
*I am slightly annoying but drink responsibly. Keep your wits about you all the time. No need to be completely wasted to have a LOT of fun in Cape Town ;).
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177 Long Street, Le Cap 8001, Afrique du Sud
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*Séquence relou mais l'alcool est à consommer avec modération. Vous êtes beaucoup plus vulnérable avec de l'alcool dans le sang. Même s'il ne m'est rien arrivée, il y a pas mal de pickpockets sur Long street les soirs de fête.
Price-Prix: Tous les shots sont entre 1-2€/Shots are between 1-$2
Over to you! Have you ever been to Cape Town ? Would you like to go?
A vous les amis! Qui veut venir au Cap avec moi la prochaine fois ?
Psst:For more travel pictures, follow me on Instagram & Facebook. On est aussi sur Instagram & Facebook \o/
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