The Mother City is one of the best cities in South Africa in which to be young, single and fancy free.
The whole city is a playground if you’re 20 something in Cape Town.
Whether it’s discovering something cool to do, or heading off along well-trodden paths but doing it differently, to be in Cape Town in your twenties is where it’s at.
Follow this quintessential list of things to do for 20 somethings in Cape Town…
See the sun rise from the top of Lion’s Head
If there’s one thing you do (other than scale Table Mountain) then it’s to climb Lion’s Head in time to see the sun rise.
Honestly, you won’t be sorry. It’s by far the city’s major highlight when it comes to dopamine highs.
Swim with Cape fur seals off Hout Bay
Maybe I was wrong about Lion’s Head…
because swimming with these fellas in icy waters (you’ll have wet suits, don’t sweat) near Duiker Island where they hang out (some 10 000 of them, although not all at once so you don’t have to worry about being overwhelmed) brings you up-close-and-personal with one of the sea’s most curious, and certainly balletic, sea creatures.
Lose a Saturday morning to food markets
By the time you’ve taken in the Biscuit Mill and the Oranjezicht City Farm Market at Granger Bay you’ll only just have time for other greats like the Hope Street Market and Earth Fair Food Market. And come away laden with food.
Hit the V&A’s waterways
SUP mad? Take to the V&A’s private canals, one of the hidden secret waterways of Cape Town. Stand up paddleboarding is a popular occupation in Cape Town.
Why not do it standing up?
Sunbathe on Clifton’s fourth beach
Clifton has four beaches. They’re separate little coves, peppered with huge boulders and largely sheltered from the southeaster (commonly known as the Cape Doctor) that seems to blow all summer.
Usually Clifton’s beaches are jam-packed with beautiful people (not just 20 somethings in Cape Town), particularly 4th beach, where if you’re not people watching then you’re playing volleyball, frisbee or spying on the yacht activity close to shore.
Head to the roof
Cape Town is not short of rooftop bars.
The Grand Daddy, Tjing Tjing, Cloud 9, Sky Bar, La Bottega – the list is fairly substantial, although not so long that you can’t work your way through it during your stay.
Catch an outdoor movie
Movies under the stars is a fairly memorable experience, and the summer months are long, so at least one evening of your stay in Cape Town will bring you a balmy evening perfect for the Galileo Open Air Cinema (various venues), the Pink Flamingo Rooftop Cinema, or Kirstenbosch gardens.
Cycle Sea Point’s promenade as the sun sets
There’s something distinctly cosmopolitan about Sea Point’s promenade (probably all the overseas visitors doing exactly what I’m going to recommend you do).
So, hire a bicycle on one end and ride right the way to the other. But do it in the early evening during summer, around 7pm, or the heat will get you.
Do it by open-top bus
This is one city where open-top bus is the genuine article – you really will experience the sun on your face and the wind in your hair.
Cape Town’s hop-on-hop-off city sightseeing bus takes you right across town and the peninsula, dependent on the ticket you buy.
Hit the gin bars
Bree Street is a good place to start (any bar called Mother’s Ruin deserves a look-see), followed by the Gin Bar just off Bree Street, in Wale Street above Honest Chocolate (you can sample 70% on your way in, and out).
Hobnob with wine aficionados in Constantia
Constantia wine route (also on the hop-on-hop-off bus route) is literally 20 minutes’ from Cape Town’s city centre.
Groot Constantia is the oldest wine estate there is, but it’s only one of 8 estates where you can sample the vine.
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