Africa has 54 countries and dozens of major cities, but Western travel writing covers maybe four of them with any depth. Our favorite African neighborhoods are mostly in places that get a fraction of the attention they deserve.
Bo-Kaap, Cape Town. The rainbow-painted houses of the Cape Malay quarter, climbing Signal Hill above the city. Cape Town’s most photogenic neighborhood by some distance, and home to one of the most distinctive food cultures in southern Africa.
Maboneng, Johannesburg. A reborn industrial district at the eastern edge of downtown Joburg. Galleries, design shops, and one of the most vibrant Sunday markets on the continent. The transformation from no-go zone to creative hub took less than a decade.
Osu, Accra. The nightlife and restaurant heart of Ghana’s capital. Oxford Street is one of West Africa’s great walking strips.
Kalk Bay, Cape Town. A working fishing village half an hour from central Cape Town. Bookshops, antique shops, fish restaurants, and views across False Bay to the Hottentots Holland mountains.
Bole, Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s capital is rebuilding fast, and Bole is its most cosmopolitan face: international restaurants, modern hotels, the airport district that has somehow become the cool one.
The Medina of Fez, Morocco. The largest car-free urban area in the world, and arguably the most intact medieval city anywhere. Spend three days getting lost in it.
These are not the only ones, but they are the ones we’d send a friend to first.