The fervour for markets in South Africa’s Cape Town has a long history. However, the city’s market scene has experienced a renaissance in recent years, with artisan foods, craft beers, and designer goods drawing crowds across the ‘Mother City’.
In the late 18th century in cobbled Greenmarket Square, the city’s second-oldest public site, slaves were traded alongside food staples like fruit and vegetables. Today, the very same site is popular with tourists for its mix of arts, crafts, and curio stalls. Since 1860, vibrant buckets of colourful blooms, including the national flower, the protea, have been hawked at the Trafalgar Place flower market; it remains a great photo opportunity and offers the chance to chat with garrulous sellers whose families have worked here for generations.
Moreover, for years, the Milnerton Flea Market has drawn bargain hunters and those with a keen eye for genuine antiques among the 250 odd stalls set up beside Marine Drive.
The new-style markets share similarities, including live music, whimsical decor (hay bales for seating, milk jugs filled with flowers hanging from the rafters), and children’s play areas. However, each one also offers a subtly different grazing and shopping experience, as well as an ideal opportunity to engage with locals, catch up on the current vibe, and snap up unique items, often sourced directly from the makers themselves. From Thursday through Sunday, explore the following vibrant venues.
Thursday
What better way to cap off a drive from the city along the spectacular, cliff-side Chapman’s Peak Drive than to arrive at Cape Point Vineyards? This boutique winery overlooks the long sweep of Noordhoek beach. Every Thursday evening, the wine tasting room, restaurant, and grounds are transformed by the Noordhoek Community Market (4.30-8.30pm). While the focus is primarily on food—which can be enjoyed alongside the vineyard’s award-winning wines—some stalls also feature fashion, handmade candles, and flowers.
Friday
The prime spot in the southern peninsula community of Muizenberg on Friday night is the Blue Bird Garage Food & Goods Market, rocking from 4pm to 10pm. Located in a 1940s hangar that once served as the base for the first airmail delivery service in the Southern Hemisphere, this is a fun place to shop, graze, and enjoy local wines and ales while grooving to live jazz.
A little further north, check out the Chilled Market on the Range, held in leafy Tokai from 4.30pm to 9.30pm. This delightful venue, edged by vineyards and pine trees, offers a fantastic family night out, featuring live music, a kids’ play area, delicious food, and a selection of boutique beverages.
Saturday
When Justin Rhodes and Cameron Munro started Neighbourgoods Market in 2005, they had little idea it would evolve into the phenomenally popular institution it is today. This expertly curated collection of local producers and micro-entrepreneurs has inspired several more markets featuring crafts, artisan foods, and designer goods around the Mother City. The market runs on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock (arrive early to avoid crowds). Gourmet eats and drinks are found in the main area, where visitors can pick up groceries and edible gifts or graze at leisure. The separate Designer Goods area hosts an excellent selection of local fashions and accessories.
Just as popular, but with a totally different vibe, is Oranjezicht City Farm Market. This market originally started at Homestead Farm, next to a beautifully designed urban farm created in November 2012 on a previously abandoned bowling green. A space you can visit 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday, it has transitioned to Granger Bay, operating from 9am to 2pm on Saturdays and 9am to 3pm on Sundays.
Sunday
For many years, Hout Bay, located on the Atlantic Coast side of the peninsula, has been a Sunday destination for its excellent craft market (10am–5pm), held on the village green. Among the items on offer are beadwork and other trinkets made in the nearby township of Imizamo Yethu.
At the far western end of Hout Bay’s harbour is the newer Bay Harbour Market. This imaginatively designed indoor market, which runs Saturday and Sunday from 9.30am to 4pm (and Friday from 5pm to 9pm between November and February), has become immensely popular. There’s a great range of gifts and crafts, as well as tempting food and drink options complemented by live music.
