We’ve combined our favourite things about summer – from swimming and ice creams to sundowners and outdoor adventures. Here’s how to have the best holiday if you’re staying in the city.
1. Visit the eco-friendly Fourways Farmers Market
Cost: R10 per person
Contact: Fourways Farmers Market, tel 0114650877.
A slice of country bliss in Joburg, the eco-friendly Fourways Farmers Market offers more than 100 great stalls plus lovely environs (ideal for picnics), live music and a kids’ play area. Pets welcome too. Sundays and Friday nights.
Also read: 12 of the best markets in Joburg
2. Make ice cream sandwiches
Cost: R185
Contact: Crumbs and Cream, tel 0813432761.
Delectable ice-cream sandwich combos are the perfect summer treat. Visit Crumbs and Cream in Illovo and get a DIY Crumbs Kit. Choose your ice-cream flavours (you get five in the kit), select your favourite freshly baked cookie and build them however you want. crumbsandcream.co.za
(Soon, you can even get them delivered to your door with UberEats, OrderIn and Mr D)
Also read: 13 unusual ice creams for summer and where to find them.
3. Sleepover at the Pretoria Zoo
Cost: R165 adults, R110 children.
Contact: Book on 0123392844/2728.
Can’t go on safari these holidays? Try an unusual sleepover at Pretoria Zoo. Everyone meets at 6.30pm, just in time to see the animals settling down at twilight, and once you’ve pitched your tent on a grassy spot there’s a short guided tour about the zoo’s clever nocturnal creatures. Back at the camp, braai fires are lit and you can settle in for the night. Bring all your own camping gear – tents, bedding, chairs, food and a kettle, which can be plugged into the electric point (and plan for summer rain). The zoo caters for 120 people per night. The next dates are1, 2, 8, 9 and 15 December.
4. Attend Afropunk Festival
Cost: R900 for a weekend pass and R600 for a day pass, get your tickets pronto before they run out.
Contact: afropunkfest.com/johannesburg
What better way to welcome 2018 than at one of the most anticipated music events in South Africa this year? Afropunk Festival is coming to Joburg for the very first time this year and will be held at the historical Constitution Hill, which used to be a prison during apartheid days and is now a museum and venue for culturally significant events. The Afropunk Festival moves between Brooklyn, Paris, Atlanta, London and will be making it’s way to the continent for the first time this year in an affair you don’t want to miss. Artists on the line-up include Solange Knowles, Thandiswa Mazwai, Nakhane Toure, Laura Mvula, Black Motion and other musical powerhouses as well emerging artists worth looking out for. The festival takes place from 30-31 December 2017.
Don’t forget to grab our December issue out on sale for our Joburg Jazz Guide on page 139 for jazz spots in Joburg.
5. Cycle the CBD
Cost: R150 per person
In Joburg, Maboneng City Riders cycle around the CBD every Thursday night, on their own bikes with the option of bike hire at R150. Find it on Facebook.
6. Watch movies at The Bioscope
Cost: free on Sundays, R135 for a movie, meal and drink ticket
Contact: The Bioscope is in Maboneng, tel 0110397306
Watch films from the likes of Tarantino at The Bioscope Independent Cinema Get comfy in a recycled car seat and watch movies at The Bioscope cinema. It used to be a panel beaters in the 1970s and clings to its past with an industrial feel enhanced by mechanic’s lighting. Sunday Cinema (a series of free short films, mostly locally made) begins at 11:00 and runs until 14:00, so you can watch as many as you want. Two of them, The Place of Light and Made in Maboneng, document the origin of the precinct and tell the shop owners’ stories. There is a pizzeria/coffee shop on site. In addition to its regular roster of full- length feature films and doccies, look out for the outdoor screenings on a rooftop in Maboneng and witty themed nights (kung-fu, ‘ugly cry’ etc).
Also read: 10 best free things to do in Joburg
7. Show off your moves at the indoor skating rink
Cost: R110 per person with skate hire
Contact: rollegoli.co.za
Fasten the laces and embrace a faster pace at Roll Egoli, an all-weather roller- skating rink in Bryanston. Pop on some old-school skates (the ones with two sets of wheels beside each other) and glide around the smooth concrete floors. Great for all ages, at night the mirror ball and lights at night create a funky ‘disco’ atmosphere. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, order a large wood- red pizza (R110) and finish off with home-made gelato in the garden. Open 09:00 to 18:00, until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. R75 for three hours, R35 skate hire.
8. Eat beer
Cost: from R55 for hot smoked wings, tossed in brew-q sauce,
Contact: Beerhouse Fourways, tel 0114652402 and in Centurion, tel 0126631211.
A dream come true for some: #BrewFood by Beerhouse offers a fusion of beer and braai cuisine. ‘Beer can be used to season, pickle and even ferment food,’ says Ultimate Braai Master winner Piet Marais. Think beer-brined chicken, ribs and brisket, beer-fermented burger buns and flatbreads, ‘beerchos’ (nachos), beer cheese, BrewBQ sauce, ‘beeracha’ (chilli sauce) and ‘beer dust’ for a pop of flavour. And for dessert? A beer oat of milk stout, chocolate ganache, salted caramel and bourbon ice-cream.
9. Indoor climbing
Cost: from R150 per person.
Contact: City Rock in Joburg, tel 0100072732.
Not all summer days are outside days. Indoor climbing is the perfect antidote to bad-weather blues, and also just an exciting way to keep active. The bouldering sections (this is where you’ll want to hang out) of the gyms are covered in thick foam mats and the walls are speckled with multicoloured holds that cater for all different levels of climbing, including kids’ sections.
10. Silent disco sessions
Cost: from R90 per person.
Contact: Sign up at secretsunrise.com.
Secret Sunrise, a growing movement of people of all ages who gather for a wholesome silent- disco session at dawn, combines a guided workout and freestyle dancing to start the day on an upbeat note. Wireless headphones allow you to lose yourself in the same music everyone else is grooving to. Locations change constantly (natural beauty spots or urban landmarks) but there’s always lots of scenic open space to pull your moves.
11. Swim at Zoo Lake
Cost: Entry R9 per person.
Contact: 57 Lower Park Drive, at the northern end of the Zoo Lake Park.
Immaculately clean, with grassy lawns and shaded concrete grandstands, the newly revamped Art Deco-style Zoo Lake swimming pool is the perfect summer sojourn in the city. Bring a picnic to while away an afternoon around the popular pool. Open 10:00 to 17:45. (For bad weather, the Linden pool is indoors and disabled-accessible. Corner 11th Street and 4th Avenue.)
12. Flyover Croc City
Cost: entry is R80 an adult, R60 a child and R100 per person to zipline.
Contact: Croc City, tel 0833211016.
Knowing what lurks below, the ‘FlyOver’ at Croc City (home to Nile crocodiles, alligators and caimans) is extra scary. The four-metre zipline passes over two enclosures and the eight-metre zipline goes over three; the ziplines are up to five metres high. There’s also a guided tour (on land) every 30 minutes.
Find more ways to boost your holidays across the country in the December 2017 issue of Getaway magazine.
Our December issue features the only 4X4 guide to Lesotho you’ll ever need, an incredible slackpacking adventure in Namibia, 50 ways to boost your summer holidays here in SA, 12 stays in Simon’s Town and a Mpumalanga road trip we like better than the Panorama Route.
