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disclaimer: I'm not from Cape Town but I have spent a fair bit of time there as a medium-term tourist and absolutely love the city, so I can field a few of your questions. I've seen some CT locals post in other South Africa threads here, so one might wander by sooner or later hopefully.TapTheForwardAssist posted:- What are some artsy/hip parts of town I should look into finding an AirBnB in? I'm a single 35yr old guy involved in a lot of foreign affairs work and in art and music projects, so it'd be cool to live somewhere walkable where there are cultural venues, good for bicycling, interesting people to meet, etc. Long Street is the mainstream bar area, roughly equivalent to Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Lots of tourists, but also locals at weekends. Just up from it is Kloof Street, which is more hipster and local - think of it as Frenchman Street. Over the hill is Clifton, which is where you get the "jetset" type nightlife. Clifton also has great beaches. I'd recommend Kloof Street if you're into art/music/hipster stuff, since you've said you're not too pushed on the beach front. This is fairly accurate:  quote:- Any absolute "can't miss" experiences for the longer-staying tourist who's here for multiple weeks? I'll read up more on cultural events, volunteer opportunities, etc. to see what I can slide into, and what hobbies of mine might fit into the area. Fortunately the cold local waters thing doesn't bug me since I can go to the beach whenever I want in Liberia, so I'm kinda beached-out and looking forward to doing more cityscape stuff. In no particular order: - Drinking on Kloof St / Long St - Climb the Lions Head - Catch the cable car to the top of Table Mountain - Drive up Signal Hill and watch the sunset - Drive south to Chapman's Peak - Go to the penguin sanctuary at Boulder Beach - Go to the Cape of Good Hope - Go surfing on Muizenberg beach - Drive to the wine country and do wine tasting - Stellenbosch is great - Catch a ferry to Robben Island and visit the museum - Go on safari (it won't be as good as Kruger, but still better than almost anywhere else in the world) - Go diving in a shark cage - Check out the V&A waterfront - Have lunch in Company Gardens near Long Street - Visit the military museum in the Castle of Good Hope (near the CBD) - Drive up the garden route - Hang out on the beaches in Clifton - Go to a professional rugby game (the Western Stormers are the local team) or some cricket - Go to some local gigs by Afrikaans music artists - Visit the Kirstenbosch botanic gardens There are probably lots more, but they were just the ones off the top of my head. Cape Town is possibly the most stunning place I've ever been to. The locals are also extremely friendly. With the Rand depreciating massively its also going to be very cheap for you. Its a great place to spend a month. I probably wouldn't recommend renting a car for the entire duration of your stay if you stay somewhere with lots of things in walking distance like Kloof Street. But its definitely required for a lot of the medium distance touristing on the above list - Chapmans Peak, Boulder beach etc. So I'd say do rent one for a few days here or there. I would add in a word of warning about safety but if you're coming from Liberia I would guess you have your head screwed on OK - you won't go wandering around late at night by yourself while drunk etc. The safety concerns in Cape Town are somewhat overblown by people, I think. If you treat it as you would any other developing world city you'll be fine. Blut fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 18:11
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I should probably have added with the map; Kloof Street is the center of 'hipsters' and Long Street 'Tourists'. I haven't been to Namibia yet but I've heard good things about it. Beautiful scenery and some cool sports like sand boarding. It's definitely a flight to get to though. There are far nicer drives around Cape Town you should do instead (the garden route, or up to the wine country around Stellenbosch etc). I'm not hugely into nature stuff either but the scenery in some of those places is really absolutely stunning. I travel a lot and I've never been anywhere with better scenery. I'd say have a Google of some of them and see if any appeal to you. I've never had any problems with the police in SA. They're a lot closer to an American police force from a poorer part of the US than anything I've experienced anywhere else in the developing world. Underfunded, a bit inefficient, and undermanned, but not so much corrupt like you find in many other countries. Probably not far off another Louisiana comparison, actually. The main safety concern is just crime - theft, muggings, carjackings, property invasion etc. Property crime is just blind luck so you can't do much about it, but rates in SA are a lot higher than in developed countries, so its something to be aware of. Most housing will have much more security than you're used to from the US, though, which helps counteract this somewhat. Muggings/carjackings you just have to be aware of your surroundings - have you ventured into a bad area, are people eyeballing you etc. Its the kind of thing where I'd worry a bit about a middle-aged person who's never left the 1st world before, but from the sounds of it you're a young enough guy with decent life experience so I think you'll be absolutely fine. I think coming from Liberia you're going to find CT an almost American level of development/safety. I'm really labouring the New Orleans comparisons here (mostly because you mentioned having lived there, and I've also spent a decent amount of time there) but Cape Town's safety level/negative reputation is kinda similar. People think NOLA is super dangerous, and sure it is a bit more dangerous than most other developed world cities. But it's not exactly the wild west, a bit of common sense goes very far. The same thing applies in Cape Town.
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Jan 26, 2016 18:48
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