48 Hours of Drinking in Cape Town

Asia Citi draws a steady local crowd in City Bowl. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. Drop bags. Find a hotel-adjacent bar within a five-minute walk. Order something simple to anchor yourself to the city.

Azure Bar at Twelve Apostles draws a steady local crowd in Camps Bay. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. The polished room you'd take a first date to. Sit at the bar. Talk to the bartender. Stay one drink — you're scouting, not committing.

Perseverance Tavern draws a steady local crowd in City Bowl. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. Walk into the city's drinking quarter (the heart of the night, not the tourist version). Two drinks, two rooms. Pace yourself — Saturday is the long day.

Asoka draws a steady local crowd in Kloof Street. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. Sunset. Find a rooftop. Order whatever the house specials around sundown. Take photos but don't lose 90 minutes to your phone.

Asoka is a Cape Dutch house turned cocktail lounge with a 200-year-old olive tree growing through the centre of the room. Live jazz Tuesdays. Tapas and sushi me Eat somewhere with serious bartending built in. The right room is one you order both your dinner and your nightcap from.

Asoka Son of Dharma draws a steady local crowd in Kloof Street. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening. The bar that made you book the trip. The pre-research one. Reservation-only ideally. Stay until last call.

Bascule Whisky Wine & Cocktail Bar draws a steady local crowd in V&A Waterfront. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early Mary, Mimosa, or whatever low-ABV house play the room runs. Eat. Pay. Walk.

The name Bascule refers to the counterbalanced drawbridge mechanism — a fitting metaphor for a bar whose equilibrium rests on two equally weighted pillars: the Find the hotel bar at your departure airport equivalent — somewhere quiet, low-volume, well-staffed. End the trip on a martini and a clean conversation.