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Home - City Guide - Cape Town - Nightlife | ||
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Nightlife Cape Town is a party town, especially in summer when tens of thousands of tourists, foreign and local, descend on the city. But even in winter, the action never stops. Much of this is concentrated in a handful of city and suburban blocks, and the Friday editions of the local newspapers, the Cape Times and The Cape Argus, as well as the Friday Mail and Guardian, publish exhaustive listings of what's on where. The city has become an international mecca for disc jockeys running huge rave, trance and ambient parties, often held in stunning locations on beaches or in forests. It is also firmly entrenched on the international rock music tour circuit. There are several distinct nightlife districts, with much of the action conveniently located in the appropriately named Long Street in the city centre. The upper part of the street, from where it intersects with Wale Street, is alive with restaurants, live music clubs, bars, coffee shops and the occasional strip club. The lower part of the street (towards the harbour) is home to a large number of clubs, brothels, escort agencies and strip joints. On the outskirts of the city centre, Somerset Road in Green Point has a string of gay and gay-friendly clubs and restaurants, and, continuing west, this road eventually becomes Sea Point Main Road, another area bursting with nightlife. Further afield, Lower Main Road in the suburb of Observatory and the nearby River Club are the epicentre of a more Bohemian, laid-back style of entertainment. This is the place to look for alternative local music, philosophy, poetry, stand-up comedy and intense conversations about the meaning of life, accompanied by vegetarian food. Ratanga Junction, a theme park on the N1 highway north of the city centre, is an enormous complex that combines a state-of-the-art amusement park with scores of restaurants, several sound stages, and the Dockside multi-level discotheque and live music venue. There are no strict licensing hours, and many clubs stay open until sunrise and beyond. Some of the upmarket hotels do have a smart-casual dress code. In virtually all other establishments, anything goes, although men are encouraged to keep their shirts on. Bars: Although there are a large number of traditional pubs (also called 'off-licences') in and around Cape Town - all of them, by law, attached to hotels - most Capetonians do their drinking in cafÉs or in bars attached to restaurants. In the city centre, the Long Street CafÉ in upper Long Street is one of the trendiest haunts in town, while its sister, CafÉ Bardeli, in the Longkloof Centre off Kloof Street (the upper end of Long Street) is where Cape Town's film, television and modelling community hang out. Also in Kloof Street (on the corner of Camp Street) is the equally trendy CafÉ Camissa, a vibrant, hole-in-the-wall place that often features live music, stand-up comedy and poetry readings. The open-air bar on the verandah of the Holiday Inn on Greenmarket Square is a great place to sit and watch the passing parade. The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is home to dozens of bars and cafÉs, many with beautiful sea and mountain views. One of the best areas to watch the sun go down is the western Atlantic Seaboard. La Med at the Glen Country Club, Victoria Road, Clifton, is one place where bikinis are optional at sundowner time. Clifton Beach House, at 72 The Ridge, Clifton, is another venue favoured by those who've had a trying day sunbathing on the fabulous beach below. Just down the road, Baraza's in Victoria Road, Camps Bay, is one of the newest, and trendiest haunts of the international jet set who summer in Cape Town. But for the best view in town, enjoy the sunset from the Table Mountain Bistro, perched right on top of the mountain - a hooter warns drinkers when the last cable cars are getting ready to leave. Clubs: There are literally hundreds of clubs in Cape Town, varying from discotheques playing standard dance fare, through live music venues to deeply alternative clubs where bouncers assess dress, body piercings and language before deciding whether or not patrons make the grade. Most hotels have dance venues attached, and these tend to stick to safe, formulaic patterns. For the more adventurous, try The Jam, 43 De Villiers Street in Zonnebloem; The River Club, Observatory Road, Observatory; The Purple Turtle, corner of Long and Shortmarket Streets; and the Moomba Club Sociale, 77 Hout Street; all of which run a mixed bag of alternative music, theme nights and live music. Livingstone's at Ratanga Junction (off the N1 highway) specialises in music from the 1970s and 80s, while The Jet Lounge, 72 Long Street, and The Piano Lounge and Groove Bar, corner of Loop and Wale Streets, play a mix of house, jungle, trance and jazz. Detour and Angels in Somerset Road, Green Point, and Bronx and the Blah Bar in the same street, are popular gay clubs. Live music: Again, the best information is obtained from the Friday press, as much of the live music happens at obscure venues on an irregular basis. For regular live jazz, The Green Dolphin at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is probably Cape Town's premier jazz venue. CafÉ Camissa in Kloof Street is a great venue for local music, as is Mama Afrika in Long Street. Big concerts featuring international artists are usually held at the Three Arts Theatre in Main Road, Plumstead, the Bellville Velodrome off the N1 highway, or, for really big stars, at Green Point Stadium in Somerset Road. |