Travel to and from the Joburg City Festival by Gautrain in the last week of August…
Explore, experience and enjoy Joburg’s city centre – from rooftop parties and food experiences to museum explorations and inner-city tours… From street soccer to night-time cycling, Joburg city awaits you…
Joburg City Festival, where the streets will come alive from 25 – 31 August 2013
While Joburgers may have heard about the imaginative regeneration of our inner-city, many have not had the chance to experience all the fantastic new venues and attractions the city has to offer. For this reason a group of passionate Joburg city tourism-stakeholders is presenting the Joburg City Festival in the last week of August 2013. For a week-long celebration, the streets of downtown Jozi will come alive, offering Joburgers and visitors alike a fantastic opportunity to experience the city at its best. It will be mammoth collective effort, presented by inner-city hotels, restaurants, bars, museums, party venues and tour operators, among others. Joburgers will see their city like they have never seen it before – the dynamic, diverse and exciting city where you can experience the best of South African society and culture.
The Joburg City Festival is presented by the Joburg City Tourism Association (JCTA) – a voluntary association – in partnership with Gautrain, the Joburg Development Agency and SAB World of Beer.
Some programme highlights include:
Food & Drink:
Tapas in the city at Turbine Hall
From 28 – 31 August, The Forum Company – Turbine Hall offers a tapas and cocktail experience in a ‘street setting’ along Miriam Makeba Street, capturing the gregarious cosmopolitan spirit of the street in a unique way to celebrate the integral ‘joie de vivre’ of bustling city life.
Skylevelsundowners at Protea Hotel Parktonian
TheSkylevel at the ParktonianHotel with its fantastic rooftop swimming pool is open to the public for late afternoons/early evenings during the festival (pre-bookings only). Take in the splendorousJozi view while enjoying a choice offlame-grilled kebabs, beef fillet, springbok loin or chicken-and-prawn curry combined with gluwein, draft beer or soft drinks.
JoburgPlacesAprentice Penthouse tour, food and wine
JoburgPlaces presents a two-hour walking tour through the corporate mining district on Wednesday 28 August, followed by a scrumptious food and wine tasting at Urban Ocean’s Apprentice Penthouse Apartment atop the historic National Bank Building.
Past ExperiencesPhuzaBraamfontein Pub Crawl
Past Experiences hosts the PhuzaBraamfontein Pub Crawl on Thursday 29 August. With so many great bars all within walking distance of each other in Braamfontein, this ramble and tour takes in historic watering holes, while focusing on Braamfontein’s regeneration and a bit of history.
Underground dinner at Turbine Hall
The Forum Company – Turbine Hall’s famous fine-dining Underground Dinner takes place, once again on Friday 30 August.
Tastes of Maboneng
The Manoneng Precinct stages its legendary Tastes of Maboneng event again on Saturday 31 August.
Lamunu Restaurant & Bar
Craft Beer Festival on the Grove in Braamfontein – 10h00 – 22h00 on 24th, 30th and 31st August. THE TAP ROOM presents a choice selection of superb Craft Beer from some of SA’s Best Craft Breweries. Bring your mates and sample the beer at the Craft Beer stall or take home a six-pack of SA’s finest brews. Lamunu Restaurant & Bar will also offer Food&Craft Beer Pairing daily throughout the festival.
Apart from many food events, various city restaurants will offer on-going meal specials, coffee tastings and food experiences throughout the festival. These include: 86 Public, Cramers Coffee, Doubleshot Coffee & Tea,Goldmine Café, Happy.Me (espresso on the move), Lamunu Restaurant & Bar, NewWorld Café, Reef Grill Room, The Blackenese,The JHB Culinary Company and Velo Gallery Cafe.
Party:
Events at Randlords
Randlords, with its fantastic view of the Joburg city skyline, presents the DeJavu dance party on the eve of the festival, Saturday 24 August and Balcony TV music on Sunday 25 August, as well as Brian Temba Live on 30th August and to culminate the festival a daytime Spring Day dance party The Warm Up on the 1st September.
Rooftop party at Elevate
The Elevate rooftop at the Reef Hotel offers several sun-downer cocktail parties throughout the festival.
Music at The Living Room
The Living Room at Maboneng presents Photosynthesis rooftop parties several times through the festival.
Pop-up beer hall
The Bank @ 87 Commissioner functions as a pop-up beer hall on Friday 30 August, music by Country Band.
Night clubbing at Maboneng
Another festival party venue is the Zen Nightclub at Maboneng
Sport:
From street ball to cycling
Two festival highlights involve sport: the 1st Annual Jozi Street Ball Cup Championshiptakes place throughout the week (25 – 31 August) on Gandhi Square with several street soccer teams competing for the Jozi Street Ball title.
The evening of Friday 29 August is set aside for Critical Mass cycling – thousands of cyclists join up for a leisurely ride through the inner-city, stopping over for drinks at some of Jozi’s premier visitor attractions.
Theatre and performance
Theatre lovers can look forward to bumper offerings including several lunchtime and early-evening performances at the SA Mzansi Ballet Studios in Braamfontein. POPArt in Maboneng also presents full schedule of comedy and drama shows while the Market Theatre is sure to attract full houses for the duration of the festival.
Also look out for FNB’s lighting performances at Bank City Square.
Fashion
The Fashion Kapitol hosts many lunch-time fashion shows as well as performances by cultural dance groups and story tellers.Also look out for the Collective Fashion Show at Maboneng and the Oyama Models Fashion Showat the Rand Club.
Tours
One of the best ways to experience Joburg’s mesmerising inner-city is to participate in one of the many walking tours, mini-bus tours or open-top bus tours. Several tour operators are participating in the festival. Choose from Christley International to Citysightseeing (Joburg’s red hop on, hop off buses), JoburgPlaces, JoziTriangel, Main Street Walks and Past Experiences.
Shopping:
1886 Boutique Joburg
New home, interior and clothing store, 1886 Boutique Joburg offers a weeklong ‘champagne and cupcake experience at is store in Kruger Street, Maboneng Precinct
Kerk Street Mall
Kerk Street is at the heart of Joburg’s Retail District. Shop in some of the high-end stores and also browse along the permanent market in the middle of this pedestrianized street. On Saturday 31 August Kerk Streets hosts the ‘Claim Your City’event – aninner-city exhibition of local artists.
Hotels:
Live and play in the city
Joburg city boasts some fantastic hotels with trendy rooms, delightful restaurants and designer bars. Experience the best of the Joburg City Festival by booking a night in one of these premier hotels. Choose from: easyHotel, FaircityMapungubwe Hotel,Parktonian Hotel (Protea Hotels) Reef Hotels (African Sky),StayCity, The Bannister Hotel or Urban Hip Hotels (Ashanti and 12 Decades hotels).
Film:
The Joburg City Festival offers many options for film lovers. Choose from screenings at The Bioscope (Maboneng), the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios (Fordsburg), Urban Fox(open-air film screenings at Moboneng) and the First… Atlas Studios Film Fest (Milpark).
Museums:
Downtown Joburg is home to some of South Africa’s best museums. Be sure to visit Constitution Hill, comprising incredible exhibitions in various old jails as well as the inspirational Constitutional Court, designed to celebrate South Africa’s democracy.
Learn more about Charles Glass’s role in the development of early Joburg and the creation of South African Breweries at the SAB World of Beer museum in Newtown.
Discover a hidden gem of Jozi – the ABSA Money Museum with its comprehensive coin collection.
Getting around:
Easy to use public transport
Getting around the Joburg City Festival is no problem. One of our main partners is the Gautrain. So hop on to the Gautrain and catch the Gautrain bus (Route J2) from Johannesburg Park Station to the Reef Hotel. Look out for Joburg Squirrelfestival shuttles and tuk-tuks from the Reef Hotel to take you around (or simply walk to nearby venues).
You can also take the Rea Vaya bus from the south, or from Rissik Street in front of Park Station and hop out at Chancellor House Station. Once again look out for Joburg Squirrelfestival shuttles and tuk-tuks to take you around the city.
If you come by car, park outside the city at a venue such as Milpark (northwest), Constitution Hill (north), Maboneng (east), Pyramid (south) and catch a Joburg Squirrelfestival shuttle or tuk-tuk to and from the city.
Two festival secrets:
Possibly one of Jozi’s best ‘secret’ destinations is the Pyramid DaySpa. Treat yourself and book in for a full day. Or why not combine your spa with a hotel stay at the Reef Hotel? (Pyramid and Reef offer fantastic combined specials). And if you are hoping to experience the city at leisure on Saturday 31 August, drop off the kids for an art day at Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. Then head to Pyramid Spa for a treatment and lunch. Now you are ready to explore the city…
Full festival programme:
The full Joburg City Festival programme is available on www.joburgcity.net (as of Monday evening 22 July)
