If you’re anything like me, then you love meeting up with your friends at the market. I like nothing more than popping off to one of the buzzing markets in Cape Town for a great cup of perfectly frothed cappuccino and a delicious freshly-baked croissant with scrambled egg and bacon. I’m already salivating! Read on for the best markets in Cape Town…
In the past few years Cape Town has become well-known for its markets which are the perfect meeting point for young and old, foreign and local. There is a certain excitement in the air, a low hum of people chatting, a community feeling, with a concoction of different smells and local South African flavors from coffee, spicy pastries, grass-fed beef burgers, craft beer to locally farmed organic products. It is also a great melting pot of the cosmopolitan mix that is Cape Town with its hipsters, young families, hippies, overseas visitors and the occasional individual who looks like they have been up all night!
When you are next in the Mother City make a point of sampling one of these Cape Town markets. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
The Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill
The brainchild of entrepreneurs Cameron Munro and Justin Rhodes, the Neighbourgoods Market is located in Cape Town’s up-and-coming Woodstock, an area that has rapidly regenerated itself from a run-down, industrial area to a thriving and edgy, creative hub full of grungy colorful streets. This award-winning market reminiscent of London’s Borough Street Market has the same vibrant feel.
It is housed in an old warehouse (so even great for those stormy Cape Town winter days!) and the adjacent courtyard at the Old Biscuit Mill which is filled with funky collectables. With over a hundred specialty traders there is something for everyone from locally sourced organic foods to bakers, mongers, artisan producers, butchers and even jewelers. Open every Saturday from 9am to 2pm, this market at the Biscuit Mill is one of my favorites and well-worth a visit!
Bay Harbour Market in Hout Bay
The Bay Harbour Market is also at the top of my list. Not only is it located in my valley (the valley of Hout Bay that is), but it has a vibrancy come rain or shine that is hard to beat.
Located in a disused fish factory building right in the heart of Hout Bay’s working harbour, the Hout Bay market is open on Fridays from 5pm to 9pm (perfect for that week-end drink) as well as Saturday and Sunday from 9:30am to 4pm. It’s the best place to meet over coffee, a glass of bubbly or a craft beer in winter as it has a great program of live music featuring local talent and a huge crackling fireplace that seems to magically burn forever.
The Hout Bay Harbour Market is an eclectic wonderland filled with uniquely South African curios, arts and crafts, fashion, jewelry and of course culinary delights, baked goods, freshly squeezed health juices and some of the best pizza that Cape Town has to offer.
Founded by two friends Anthony Stroebel and Paul Rutzen this market is a great community upliftment initiative that has put Hout Bay firmly on the tourist map. It’s a must for its unique setting and colorful mix of patrons.
Oranjezicht City Farm Organic Market
Situated on a disused bowling green (once part of one of the largest farms in the Upper Table Valley) Oranjezicht City Farm has an enviable position perched at the foot of Table Mountain in one of Cape Town’s most affluent suburbs.
Created by Sheryl Ozinsky (the enterprising former head of Tourism in Cape Town) this neighborhood market celebrates local food and community. The farm is open to visitors from 08:00 – 16:00 Monday to Friday and from 08:00 to 13:00 on Saturdays, giving families a wonderful chance to see where their food comes from first hand. Once a disused piece of land where vagrants slept rough, Sheryl has created a fresh produce market which has empowered homeless people to become gardeners themselves and sell the fruits of their labor.
The produce from the farm is made available at the weekly Market Day in Granger Bay (near the V&A Waterfront) every Saturday from 09:00 to 14:00. Here you can buy anything from raw honey, muesli, organic vegetables and fruit to artisan breads, organic dairy products and free-range eggs. Combine a visit to the farm on Saturday morning with a visit to the market on Saturday afternoon for the complete farm-to-table experience.
Slow Food Market at the Oude Libertas Estate in Stellenbosch
Set on the historic Oude Libertas Estate in Stellenbosch right in the heart of the Cape Town Winelands, this Cape Town market is a no-brainer when it comes to authentic, locally grown and harvested food, not to mention the wines.
Only 25 mins from Cape Town, and surrounded by vineyards, oak trees and mountains, this is a food-lover’s delight full of hidden gems. Here you can stroll through the stalls sampling anything from dark chocolates, biltong, Belgium stroopwaffles to organic salads, artisan breads and award-winning olive oil. Part of the worldwide Slow Food movement, the market is open every Saturday from 9am to 2pm under rainproof Bedouin tents so perfect (even in winter) for picking up your weekly vegetables and bread plus a bottle or two of incredible wine. A foodie and wine lovers delight!
