A friend's upcoming wedding in late October presented the ideal opportunity for an extended visit to a city that had always piqued my curiosity, yet never found its way into my plans.
Plan ahead and avoid peak season in December and you should find an array of high-quality accommodations on Airbnb at reasonable prices.
Prices tend to rise sharply during the summer months, particularly in popular tourist areas like Camp Bay. Excellent deals can be found in the CBD, especially when booking for extended periods of a month or more.
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New legislation
Recent changes introduced by the Turkish government has made short-term rentals for under 100 days more restricted. Keep an eye on Reddit threads for up-to-date assessments of how the new legislation is impacting short-term rentals in practice.
Cape Town stands out among other cities with its vast array of coworking spaces, offering an unparalleled variety of options. Throughout the city, you'll find numerous high-quality spaces at affordable prices.
However, when it comes to coffee shops, few create an ideal serious work environment, with their early closing times and the possibility of power outages due to loadshedding.
With a favorable exchange rate against the rand, Cape Town offers exceptional value for travellers coming from abroad. The cost of food and drink is roughly half of what you would typically encounter in Western Europe for comparable meals and drinks.
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The yen is currently at a 34-year low
While this is undoubtedly a negative for the Japanese, it makes for an exceptionally good time to visit Japan from abroad. Although this trend is unlikely to reverse significantly in the short term, it's still worth checking before visiting.
Read moreIt’s challenging to provide a definitive verdict on Cape Town, as the experience can vary greatly depending on where you stay. The city undeniably offers a range of experiences, with enough restaurants, events, and world-class scenery to explore over several months. If I were to offer any advice, it would be to choose an area that aligns with your risk appetite.
The CBD bears little resemblance to a typical urban centre, with its omnipresent security being both intriguing and somewhat concerning. Areas such as the V&A Waterfront and Camps Bay are exceptionally safe and pleasant, though they lack some of the city's distinctive character and vibrancy.
A significant drawback is that, regardless of your location in the city, the streets become remarkably quiet after sunset. With most journeys undertaken by taxi, there’s a notable lack of nighttime ambience.
South Africa is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+2); South Africa doesn't operate daylight saving time, so there's no time difference between the summer and winter months.
I've written a guide on how to structure your day to get the most out of the time difference.
Without doubt, being able to speak Spanish with a degree of fluency is a huge asset when visiting South America. I had always put off visiting the continent due to my Spanish skills not extending beyond requesting a "cerveza grande".
But even with my incredibly primitive linguistic capabilities, it was not in any way to the detriment of the trip. English is spoken sparsely, but armed with a few phrases, some polite enthusiasm and a translator, it shouldn't deter you from visiting.
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Clifton 1st is one of the best options for easy beach access within the city, just farther south from Sea Point.
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Sea Point Promenade provides some of the best sunsets across the entire city. You can follow this path all the way from Bantry Bay down to the V&A Waterfront, and it offers one of the safest areas to walk throughout the city.
Given the instability in Argentina over the past few years, I found that most advice on key topics, even if written within the last 12 months, bordered on being dangerously outdated.
I have attempted to summarise some of the most misleading points I encountered.
Card availability is now excellent across the city. Even if you are purchasing a single empanada, bananas from a greengrocer, or buying cans of beer off a man in the street before a football match. Some businesses may offer a 10% discount if you use cash, or charge a small surcharge for card payments.
"It's difficult to get a SUBE card"
This was true in recent years, as there had been a shortage of the cards across the city due to a lack of the plastics needed to create the card. I had no problems going to the nearest off-licence and getting a card on my first attempt. It's worth asking your Airbnb host who may have a spare.
The biggest misconception that may still linger, even if you are reading articles from 2023. If planning on eating out heavily, then expect European prices or even higher on more imported day-to-day goods. Eating out aside, day-to-day expenses are still good value by global measures.
This advice would continue to make sense for Americans who already have dollars, but I wouldn't recommend making an effort to purchase with the intent of exchanging them on the ground. Collecting money via Western Union was convenient and good value, which I would recommend to anyone visiting from outside the US.
"Make sure you get the blue-dollar rate"
The dramatic stabilisation of the peso by late 2024 means that this difference is nowhere near as significant as it was 12 months ago. At the time of writing, there was only a 10% difference between the official and blue rate. If you are only in the city for a short period you may not even have to grapple with this.
"Restaurant service is poor"
I did see some evidence of this, especially in cheaper, traditional restaurants. In comical fashion, drinks would not appear or the bill would never materialise. In more contemporary outlets, it was never a problem.
"It is a football mad city"
There is absolutely no doubt that this is as true as ever in 2024.
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