Glass facades and an infinity pool: Guests at the design hotel created by Greg Wright Architects in the Camps Bay district of Cape Town enjoy a breathtaking view of the Atlantic Ocean. Slate, granite, African timber and ample glass dominate the look. Elegance and simplicity are the defining attributes of the architecture here, which unites typical South African materials with modern contours.

Huge wave-shaped sofa, round ostrich-feather ceiling lamp, table made up of brightly colored plastic octahedrons that’s reminiscent of giant molecules: Haldane Martin’s furnishings look as though they could fly away or melt at any moment. “The point of design is to inspire and to be distinctive. It’s important that the look of an object should betray its origin,” says Martin.

Jewelry designer Diana James and her husband, Andre, an industrial designer, live in Salt River. In 2014, their house became a showroom for a product design collective. Today, they are still here, but working as a duo again on their specialty, accessories made of wood. Downstairs, in the tiny basement that recalls a fairy-tale witch’s magic potion lab, is where James designs her diminutive artworks: rings and pendants made of wood with distinctive geometrical shapes, mostly on one side only.

A mall with over 200 outlets. At the Space Store, shoppers can also find the colorful creations of fashion designer Cari Stephenson, another South African designer proud of her heritage. Her figure-hugging dresses are resplendent in the traditional patterns of her hometown, Durban, the land of the Zulus. “I adore their colors,” says Stephenson, “and I want to prove that fashion which identifies with the culture of South Africa can be worn all over the world.”

The designer duo specializes in elegant home accessories, and their company, with its small showroom and café is one of the many famous brands resident at Woodstock Exchange. “Good design speaks a simple language,” says Luke Pedersen. European influences are unmistakable. Both designers love the unfussy functionalism of the Bauhaus school, but they also like to take inspiration from the everyday culture of their native country.

Rapper Siphiwe Ngwenya began organizing art exhibitions at private homes in townships nearly 20 years ago. One of the most famous cultural projects in South Africa emerged from that initiative. The project is highly successful today and brings artists, residents and visitors together in different locations across the country. Every month for an entire week, an ordinary residential street is transformed into an exhibition space and a platform for the visual arts, dance, film and music.

Cape Town’s crowning glory, protected as a National Park and World Heritage site; the summit is accessible via cable car in six minutes, or by hiking up in around three hours via one of hundreds of trails.

These relaxing city centre gardens feature some 8,000 plant species, as well as an aviary and tearoom; flanked by the historic Houses of Parliament and St George’s Cathedral.

Housing one and a half million items of natural, historic and scientific interest, this huge museum’s best-known feature is the Whale Well, an interactive area formed of whale bones.

This history museum in the colourful Bo-Kaap district neighbourhood, contains fascinating insights into the district’s past its past as home to Muslims and freed slaves.

This environmentally focused aquarium on the V&A Waterfront contains some 3,000 marine animals; its many interactive features include diving in the Ocean Exhibit and in the underwater forest of the Ocean Basket Kelp Forest Exhibit.

This grimly fascinating site offers tours and exhibitions of the prison where Nelson Mandela and hundreds of other men were imprisoned during the Apartheid era. Ferries depart from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront.

These beautiful gardens on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain are a World Heritage site, with thousands of native plants as well as many birds and other animals.

This deeply moving museum is a living memorial to the 60,000 residents of District Six, who were forcibly rehoused when it was declared a whites-only neighbourhood in 1966.

Housing the most important art collection in South Africa, this museum displays European masters as well as African artworks.

The city’s most popular tourism hub was created out of the formerly rundown Victorian warehouses; comprising dozens of restaurants, shops, tours and other attractions.

This relative newcomer to Cape Town’s arts scene offers an eclectic mix; from live music to performance art.

Feel the spiritual vibes of this pioneering new jazz club beneath St George’s Cathedral, featuring top local musicians.

This super-trendy bar has an olive tree growing through the roof; a romantic setting for late-night cocktails and dancing to the DJ’s sounds and live jazz.

The largest arts complex in Cape Town, hosting classical concerts and opera, as well as popular shows, live music and big-band jazz.

Bring a picnic to this spacious city centre park and listen to free concerts at the bandstand, held every second Sunday from November to March.

Fine Mediterranean and local cuisine, plus live music and dancing, make this a special place for a special occasion.

Dazzling contemporary cuisine is served up in this converted old factory, led by wonder chef Luke Dale-Roberts.

Offering the full ‘African experience’, from drumming lessons to dishes from all over the continent, Gold is a fun night out.

Superb fish and seafood are the specialities in this bustling restaurant; worth booking ahead.

This arty little café has a huge fan base for its delicious cakes, pasta and risotto, including vegetarian options.

Cape Town’s most popular market is held every weekend on the site of an old cookie factory. More than 100 vendors sell their wares here: textiles with colorful African prints, vegan breakfast mueslis and vertical garden arrangements. Organic vegetables, artisanal chocolate, crisp, fresh Chardonnay – all just waiting to be sampled! Tip: Take a taxi to the end of Albert Road and make your way to the Old Biscuit Mill on foot. That way, you avoid the heavy traffic around the market.

If the influential San Pellegrino list, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, is anything to go by, then the Test Kitchen in the second courtyard of the Old Biscuit Mill is the best restaurant on the continent. Head chef Luke Dale-Robert creates menus inspired by Africa and Asia, like kingklip with cashew-carrot mash and pickled fish in a pleasantly sour aspic. The restaurant seats around 60, and reservations are a must for the evening – at lunchtime, the chances of getting a table are better.

A dozen street artists have made their mark behind a converted textile factory, the Woodstock Exchange. Is that really Will Smith in the blue hospital gown on the back wall of the building? A magnificent, brightly colored rhinoceros moves along the wall of the two-story, 19th-century buildings, and a giant index finger points artistically down the road, while fantasy figures on the corners add a touch of futurism to the scene – and all of this before a monumental mountain backdrop.

William Street between Page and Church Street, but also in some of the surrounding side streets.

For some years now, two young men from Cape Town have been devoting themselves to the elixir of life – to chocolate. They use only organically grown cocoa and blend it with either Kalahari salt, orange oil or minted agave juice, depending on the variety, and sell it at a small shop in Woodstock Exchange. The packaging itself is artwork in miniature, and the designs – a tarsier amid branches, pirates in the desert – will look great on your kitchen shelf when the chocolate’s long gone. The store is in Woodstock Exchange, the café is downtown on Wale Street.

Yet another Woodstock Exchange highlight: This store is the self-proclaimed “home of the traveller, the poet, the cultural anthropologist, the dreamer, the lover.” Behind the name lies an extravagant selection of accessories, hats, bits and pieces for the home, watches and colorful bast shoes – in fact, everything necessary to embellish your home kingdom. Many of the products come from local manufactories.

This concept store with its beautifully varnished floorboards stocks the best designs from 2BOP, Sol-Sol Menswear & Young and Lazy, three hip streetwear brands. A team of offbeat sales assistants is on hand to advise about base caps, sweatshirts and pants needed not only by Cape Town fashionistas. By the way, to get inside, you have to ring the doorbell.

Michael Stevenson opened his gallery in 2003, when the area was still pretty rough. These days, he exhibits at major art fairs, such as Art Basel Miami Beach and Frieze New York. In three large rooms inside a converted industrial building, Stevenson shows contemporary art – from large-format paintings to cubist installations.

From outside, this delicatessen resembles a converted shed, but inside, owner Karen Dudley has lovingly arranged china, hung botanical etchings and piled up all manner of delicacies: honey-mustard sausages, falafel, almond croissants and her own salad creations. The tiny shop rose to surprising fame when Michelle Obama lunched here in 2011. Neighbors, and since 2011 also globetrotters, come here to sample her Love Sandwiches.