Greenmarket Square, Cape Town

5 stars for the architecture, historical preservation, and effort to keep it up. 3 stars or less for lack of shop variety and aggressive shop vendors. I would recommend visit for the stroll/walk but be mentally ready to say no, or haggle if you prefer, and be prepared to see the same item for sale over and over. I would appreciate more artists, used books, antique, etc as oppose to same craft/tourist item over and over. Vendors are selling same thing for sale one can purchase everywhere else in Cape Town and certainly along Long Street. There must be a factory producing the same 20 items somewhere in town? What you think is a unique hand crafted item 3 blocks away is also sold here by the dozen(s). I almost bought what I thought was an artist designed and screen printed bag only to find 100+ of the same bag market square. I recommend checking this place as part of walking Long St and area but don’t be worried about missing out in buying something.

This historic square is now an African curio shopper's Mecca. The key here is that you need to bargain and bargain again. International tourists remember: if you're buying anything made from animal hides, you'll need a taxidermy certificate stating that the hide has been treated and the animal concerned is not on the CITES endangered animals list. This option sadly is not available in the market.