24 Best Bars in Cape Town, South Africa

This upmarket contemporary cocktail bar on Bree Street is a great spot for a well-composed drink.

Tetsuo Hasegawa, bartender and owner of this tiny, personally craft cocktail bar in the heart of the city, eschews trends in favor of creating cocktails using imagination and local ingredients. The Tokyo-born mixologist blows minds and taste buds with drinks like his innovative milk-washed, tequila-forward Beat-nik, which contains beetroot, Durban masala, and apple shrub, or his All Night Boogie made with Cape brandy, Shiraz, banana and white miso, and dark chocolate. The drinks, tailored to your tastes, are exquisite, the atmosphere impeccable (only vinyls are played), and there's food available.

We’re not kidding: the bouncer will not let you inside Art of Duplicity without the password! Once the friendly interrogation's over, you’ll be led down the alley (under drying underwear hanging from overhead lines) and past the kitchen before a rap on the door finally gets you admitted to the speakeasy-styled bar with its Prohibition Era theatricality and talented bartenders concocting one-of-a-kind libations. The idea is to get lost not just in the spirits, but in the spirit of the place, so dressing up is recommended, and then experience a bit of time-travel with its low-lighting, vintage apothecary counter, and seating between the coffee sacks. Food goes a bit beyond ordinary bar snacks: your lobster roll might resemble an éclair and your beetroot soup will require a second take. To book, go to the website—you’ll get sent all the details you require, including that crucial password.

Conjuring the atmosphere of a high-pedigree sports bar, this multistory eating-drinking-schmoozing establishment was formerly owned by sports enthusiast Herbert Tothill; it was once a kind of speakeasy that flew in the face of apartheid-era discrimination by welcoming patrons from across the color spectrum. Its new owners have taken inspiration from that era and used the walls and antique cabinets to curate memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and photographs that tell tales of South Africa’s often unsung athletes. Plush leather- and velvet-covered chairs, embossed wallpaper, Persian rugs on herringbone floors, and marble countertops bring a touch of sophistication, as do the canapés and snacks, tapas, and more substantial Greek and Mediterranean dishes. Their cocktails make use of barrel-aged spirits, and they are known to push the edges a bit, so ask the bartenders to see if they can surprise you. They regularly have live music.

Across the road from its sibling restaurant, The Black Sheep, this is the kind of neighborhood bar that every neighborhood wishes it had. Utterly eclectic, with mix-n-match decor and a relaxed, bohemian atmosphere, it's the kind of place where you can cozy up on a sofa or make friends at the bar. Head to the rooftop to enjoy your drink while staring at an unparalleled view of Table Mountain and Lion's Head, and an entire panorama of Cape Town. There's an excellent wine, beer, and cocktail selection, and some seriously tasty, slightly upscale bar food that could easily result in a decision to skip dinner.

An upscale waterside speakeasy, this warm, cozy hotel bar has long been a favorite among Cape Town's whiskey lovers and cocktail connoisseurs. There's an excellent drinks menu that includes interesting South African wines, but it's the spirits and mixed libations that steal the show, with more than 500 whiskeys on offer, cocktail hours, and occasional live jazz performances. A selection of comfort food and larger meals are available to see you through the night.

Built right on the water's edge adjacent to the yacht marina, Bascule Whisky Bar and Wine Cellar is a fancy watering hole for well-heeled, cigar-puffing locals. Its 400 whiskies are reputed to be the biggest selection in the Southern Hemisphere.

This spot near the outskirts of the V&A Waterfront has a near-religious attitude towards mixology. Cocktails are invented and perfected here and the bartenders are also specialists when it comes to Cape brandy, a noteworthy category of spirits made in much the same manner as cognac. You can taste these various libations and also tuck into food from a generous menu.

At Harrington Street, you have a choice of venues, depending on your mood. Harringtons is a chic cocktail bar where things get increasingly festive and music-oriented as the night progresses. Downstairs, a grungier, more unhinged, playful atmosphere pervades at Surfa Rosa, a hipsterish vintage-meets-punk dive bar with beers served on skateboards, pizzas to stave off hunger, loud music, a stuffed crocodile, and a courtyard for when the tight-squeeze dancing gets too raucous. There's also Rum Runner, a rum-focused cocktail bar, and—should you wish to really let your hair down—District, a dance club with live music or DJs spinning electronic music on event nights.

Walk into this hipsterish contemporary take on an inner-city biker bar for a daytime caffeinated pick-me-up, or join the cross-the-board crowd for barrel-aged liquor, stirred and shaken into cocktails by a savvy team behind the bar. A smoky old fashioned or two and you’ll be good to join the after-dark crowd that gathers for free live music.

Among the few Cape Town venues with live African music, Mama Africa is a good spot, albeit squarely aimed at tourists. It has a live marimba band performing Monday through Saturday, participatory drum circles some nights, traditional Zulu dance performances on Wednesday, gumboot dancers kicking it up on Friday and Saturday, and the in-house Mama Africa band on Sunday. Plus there is always authentic food—from crocodile steaks to matoke (green banana-and-peanut stew)—from different parts of Africa.

A key event on Cape Town's party calendar is December's MCQP, which started in 1993. It's part Mardi Gras, part Gay Pride, and all enormous fancy-dress party. Each year is themed, and people go all-out to create and strut fantastic outfits. All are welcome!

A traditional pub outside the main mall, you can kick back and have a beer or two from a wide selection of brews. There's also a pretty extensive menu of burgers, homemade pies (the steak-and-ale pot pie is a winner), and seafood dishes, as well as breakfasts and items to nibble on while you focus on what's in your pint glass. They also conduct whiskey tastings (the idea being to get you interested in Scotland's finest spirits).

Established in 1808, and officially licensed in 1836, "The Percy" (or "Persies") is South Africa's oldest pub that reopened in 2024 after a post-pandemic hiatus and refurbishment. It leans into its traditional atmosphere, albeit with TV screens for big sporting events (especially Springbok rugby matches, when things get lively here) and decent bar food to go with a selection of locally brewed craft beers. There's an inviting outdoor area, too.

By day, this timeless neighborhood hangout is a vintage-style coffee shop with old-school vibes and a good breakfast and light meals to get you through the afternoon. Come evening, the atmosphere turns totally rock-n-roll and continues on well after midnight most nights. Expect a good list of wines (check the chalkboard), artisan beers, and a vibrant mix of people.

This is perhaps the best place in Cape Town to acquaint yourself with lesser-known, boutique, and very special vintages that are made by independent and small-scale producers. A blackboard lists what's currently available by the glass, and the focus is on wines made by organic farmers who are not only sustainability-minded, but also typically obsess over natural production techniques to better showcase the specific terroir of the grapes they grow.

This venue brings to life the live music scene that has been steadily fading in recent years. They feature intimate performances by artists from all corners of South Africa's massively diverse music scene. It's also an option for laid-back sunset drinks with a beautiful view of the mountain and city center. Tickets need to be purchased in advance online.

Before its founders decided to peddle cocktails, there was a shared love of hip-hop, and now that same energy and spirit—combined with an expert interest in spirits and how best to combine them with fresh, made-from-scratch ingredients—has resulted in one of Cape Town’s best bars.

Although it's supposedly a restaurant, this indoor-outdoor hot spot is more about the schmoozing, the drinking, and the music than the food, although there are options (from breakfast till late) to accompany the fast-flowing libations. Therapy is owned by a pair of popular DJs from Khayelitsha, so there’s a good chance that hip-swaying will set in at some point.

Styled with large leather benches and dark wooden tables, this evocation of a vintage bar is laid-back and jovial. A pool table, music, and a menu full of comfort foods draw crowds on the weekends, although under-21s are not allowed in.

Caveau Wine Bar & Deli is a hip yet unpretentious wine bar where you can sample a dizzying array of fabulous local wines by the glass while munching on excellent tapas or entrées. Extra seating is available in an inner courtyard.

On any old night, the Green Dolphin Jazz Restaurant attracts some of the best mainstream jazz musicians in the country, as well as a few from overseas. The cover charge is R30–R35. It's open nightly from 8:15 pm to midnight.

It's a tradition for jazz festival performers to play the Monday night jam at Swingers, a well-known but out-of-the-way jazz club in Wynberg. Dance music is played Friday and Saturday, but Monday (no cover charge) is the night for jazz aficionados. There's also a full restaurant serving traditional Cape curries, seafood, and steaks.

For a fab evening on Mouille Point's Platinum Mile, plan to have drinks at Wakame and then head to the downstairs restaurant for sushi and champagne. You'll have great views of the Atlantic and Robben Island. Barefoot glam if you wish.