Cape Town Craft Markets

Greenmarket Square

Shopping is one of those small joys in life. Although there's a lot to be said for the simple things in life that don't require money, some­times noth­ing makes you feel quite as good as buy­ing some new stuff. That said, big shop­ping centres offer the same thing all over the world and find­ing some­thing unique to an area is becom­ing more and more dif­fi­cult. Craft mar­kets have long been a part of Cape Town's way of offer­ing altern­at­ives to main­stream shop­ping. Several mar­kets exists, each com­pletely dif­fer­ent to one another, and each offer­ing a spe­cial little piece of Capetonian lifestyle.

Greenmarket Square is argu­ably the most well-known of Cape Town's mar­kets. Filled with African curios, hand­craf­ted fash­ion and jew­ellery, this bust­ling hub of informal trad­ing is in the middle of the Central Business District in Cape Town. Going to Greenmarket Square is an exper­i­ence in itself. Don't be sur­prised to find drum­mers, dan­cers and traders of all kinds in the cobbled square that houses the mar­ket. Be warned, how­ever, the traders are voci­fer­ously friendly and learn­ing a few of the golden rules will stand you in good stead.

1. Always look through the whole mar­ket before buy­ing any­thing as prices vary greatly amongst traders.
2. Never look par­tic­u­larly inter­ested in any­thing. A glim­mer of interest is like the kiss of death to a poten­tial bargain.
3. Always say you have very little money on you. Flashing cash around only serves to remind a trader just how spe­cial and unique his wares are.

With that in mind, soak in the mar­ket exper­i­ence, and see what treas­ures you can find.

Rondebosch mar­ket is a slightly dif­fer­ent affair. Situated in a leafy park in the sub­urbs, this craft mar­ket is the anti­thesis of Greenmarket's mar­ket buzz. It's a sleepy family-orientated mar­ket with a mix of reg­u­lar stalls, focus­ing mainly on pot­tery, craft and homemade baked good. It's relaxed and prices are reas­on­able. If eat­ing pan­cakes on the grass while the kids play sounds like a great lazy Saturday after­noon then this one's for you.

Craft Markets

The Holistic Fair is the place to go for everything New-Age. Taking place on the first Sunday of every month, here you can have a mas­sage, con­sult a psychic and have a healthy lunch, all in the same place. There's plenty of inter­est­ing things hap­pen­ing too, includ­ing Tai Chi, Yoga and Capoeira demon­stra­tions. It's a good place to go to find some of the more unusual of Cape Town's offer­ings. Uniquely South African essen­tial oils or con­sulta­tion with a tra­di­tional African medi­cine woman for instance.

The Neighbourhood Goods Market in Woodstock is the place to be if you like good food. Gourmet organic fare is the order of the day and there are some truly amaz­ing products to be had. Wandering round the mar­ket while retro, jazzy clas­sics play on the record player is a thera­peutic exper­i­ence. Taste a little wine, pesto or geranium infused chocol­ate from the many taste test­ers avail­able. The mar­ket is situ­ated in a com­plex of build­ings known as The Old Biscuit Mill, which also house an inter­est­ing mix of gal­ler­ies and decor shops so you can browse the whole day away. The only pro­vi­sion for this delight­ful mar­ket is to make sure you take enough money!

The Milnerton Market is a law unto itself. In fact, part of the attrac­tion of going to the mar­ket are the traders them­selves. From sun-bronzed old ladies in bright 80s inspired sportswear hawk­ing bath­room accessor­ies to large, beefy men with handle­bar mous­taches selling used elec­tronic equip­ment, the mys­tical inhab­it­ants of the mar­ket will always keep you enter­tained. At Milnerton mar­ket, you never know what you're going to get. You may end up with rare por­cel­ain pur­chased for a song. Alternatively a trader may have con­vinced you that their little knick-knack is an antique of rare value when really it's a Chinese import. Whatever the case, more often than not the items have some kind of his­tory. An ancient set of doc­tors saws used for ampu­ta­tion, a sword used by the hordes of Genghis Kahn? The the wild & enter­tain­ing storytelling of the traders makes this a bizarre bazaar worth check­ing out.

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For more des­tin­a­tion inform­a­tion see:
Cape Town Shopping
Cape Town Attractions
Cape Town Accommodation