Time Out reveals world’s best cities for 2024

At number two on Time Out’s list is Cape Town, South Africa, a city ranked, according to Time Out, by “every single survey respondent” as “beautiful,” thanks no doubt to its stunning combination of sea, cityscape and spectacular mountainous surroundings.

Time Out specifically shouted out Cape Town’s cultural offerings – from its late night museum evenings over the summer months to its theater and comedy offerings at Theatre on the Bay, as well as the newly opened Time Out Market Cape Town.

Katy Scott, who grew up in Cape Town and now lives in France, tells CNN Travel she sees it as “perhaps the most unpretentious coastal city in the world,” praising the opportunities to get out into nature as well as the “top-rated restaurants, pristine wine farms and a swanky nightlife scene.”

But Scott also points out “that these things aren’t accessible to the majority of citizens.”

“South Africa may be celebrating 30 years of democracy, but the inequality in cities like Cape Town is starker than ever,” says Scott.

With that in mind, Scott advises that “to truly understand the city and its people” visitors should “get out of the tourist bubble and take that trip to Robben Island or the District Six museum” – both spots recommended by Time Out that engage with South Africa’s apartheid history.

“Both places offer unique and powerful insights into South Africa’s history,” Scott says.

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