Cape Town has two main shopping streets: the most central is the red-bricked pedestrian walkway of St George's Mall, which is peppered with informal stalls offering African artworks and curios. Cape Town's second - and more eclectic - shopping road is Long Street, which gets quirkier and more bohemian as it leads closer towards Table Mountain. One of the City Centre's most important traffic thoroughfares, it boasts antiques markets (including the treasure trove of Long Street Antiques Arcade), bookshops (for new and used volumes) and fashion boutiques.

Although the V&A Waterfront is unabashedly geared towards foreign visitors, it has somehow avoided becoming a tourist trap. Its shopping mall, the Victoria Wharf (V&A Waterfront, +27214087600, www.waterfront.co.za), offers an excellent mix of jewellery stores, boutiques, bookshops, and market-style crafts at the Red Shed Craft Workshop (+27214087600).

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