Things to Do in Northern Suburbs

Friendship, good food, wine and brilliant entertainment – this is where it all comes together. The Mother City's first Barnyard Theatre is situated in Willowbridge Shopping Centre. This is a dinner theatre at its best, offering excellent live entertainment including rock shows, musicals, bands and revues. The Barnyard started as a homely, rustic farm theatre in Plettenberg Bay where friends and family could be entertained and eat, drink and talk into the small hours of the morning. It proved to be such a winner that more Barnyard Theatres started popping up all over the country. There are currently 12 Barnyard Theatres in South Africa. While each theatre is a product of its individual setting, they all retain the quaint rustic charm of the original farm theatre’s humble beginning. To book, visit the bookings office at the theatre or call central reservations (0) 21 914 8898. Shop F09 1st Floor, Willowbridge Life Style Centre, 39 Carl Cronje Drive, Tygervalley.

Willowbridge Shopping Centre offers wonderful homestores and antique shops, designer stores, bookstores and music stores. It also houses the Barnyard Theatre where one get together with friends and enjoy a meal at one of the restaurants and catch a wonderful show at the same time. This open air mall is vibey, has great restaurants and an organic market every Saturday morning! Worth a visit.

Uniting the world's most wanted brands with shopping convenience, leisure and superb entertainment and a magnificent setting, Canal Walk Shopping Centre attracts millions of visitors every year.Over 400 stores offer the hottest local and global brands and the widest selection of speciality stores in the southern hemisphere. Grandiose architecture, spacious interiors and a vast array of exclusive retail opportunities make it a very persuasive choice for lifestyle shopping experience.Visitors can enjoy stunning views of Table Mountain, Robben Island and the Grand Canal from the trendy outdoor terraces of Canal Walk's restaurants, cafés and coffee shops.After doing some serious shopping, guests can relax at one of the numerous eateries serving a wide range of delicacies. The Skywalk and Food Court also provide a good selection of speciality stores. La Piazza offers destination dining with superb views.Getting there is easy. It’s just a 10-minute drive from Cape Town’s City Centre and has direct access from the N1 highway. 6 500 parking bays provide secure parking, mostly undercover. Canal Walk is open daily from 09:00 – 21:00.

Tyger Valley Centre is a big regional shopping mall complete with the latest fashion, lifestyle accessories and a good entertainment area – the Tyger Valley Arena. Contained in a three-level setting, this stylish hub offers the finest restaurants and coffee shops, leisure shops, banking mall with bureau de change facilities, Ster Kinekor cinema complex and top retail stores. Located in the expanding Tyger Valley business district, this centre is a conveniently 12-minute drive from Cape Town CBD and a stone’s throw away from some of the most scenic wine farms in the country. Shopping with pipsqueaks is child’s play at Tyger Valley Shopping Centre with convenient baby changing facilities and designated safe play areas. Specially designed cloak rooms are available for disabled shoppers. At each entrance there is an intercom system that customers can utilise when in need of a wheelchair. Tyger Valley Shopping Centre also offers parking for disabled shoppers at all mall entrances. With over 5 000 parking bays there is ample parking and you have the choice of either undercover parking or free parking. Trading hours are Monday to Saturday 09:00 – 19:00, Sunday 09:00 – 17:00, Public Holidays 09:00 – 19:00.

Conveniently situated in Canal Walk Century City, the MTN Sciencentre is one of the Mother City’s top edutainment spots and South Africa's first world-class interactive science centre. Kids young and old can have heaps of fun while learning about the mysteries of scientific discoveries and technological innovations. Over 280 exhibits are all interactive and many involve quite physical participation. There’s also a camera obscura, computer rooms, laboratories, an auditorium and exhibition hall. This is definitely an awesome spot to bring the whole family or leave the kids while shopping! The MTN Sciencentre's events programme is usually jam-packed and worth keeping your eyeballs on. 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy so all star gazers and aspirant astronomers will have loads of cosmic edutainment! A registered non-profit organization (031-701-NPO), all MTN Sciencentre entry fees directly support exhibits and educational programmes. Need to know? Opening times: Sunday to Thursday - 9am – 6pm, Friday & Saturday - 9am – 9pm. Open all public holidays except Christmas Day. Entrance fee: Under 3 - FREE, Youth (3-18) - R28, Adult - R22, Pensioners- R10, Poly Deal - R86 (2 adults & 2 children or 1 adult & 3 children) Additional Youth on Poly Deal - R24. Tickets are valid for the whole day and you can exit and re-enter as many times as you like on the day.

Bloemendal Wine Estate is situated in the heart of the picturesque Durbanville Wine Route, producing top quality grapes for the wine industry in the region. The estate is known for its multiple award-winning Bloemendal Sauvignon Blanc, "Suider Terras". Other notables include Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot, Semillon, Natural Sweet, Chardonnay, Pinotage, and Bloemenblanc. Bloemendal is also home to some of the best festivals and concerts in Cape Town. Festivals to diarise include Feast of the Grape in March, Oyster and Champagne Festival over Easter, Soup Sip and Bread in June, Spring Fest in September, Seasons of Sauvignon in October, and the Table Mountain Blues Summit in November.

Popular with discerning music and theatre lovers, Villa Pascal Theatre is a unique venue owned by well-known French chanteuse Danièle Pascal and Eugène Lebreton. This intimate theatre regularly hosts performances ranging from cabaret to classical to jazz by local and international artists. Conveniently situated in the heart of Durbanville, Villa Pascal Theatre is close to the Durbanville Wine Route and Durbanville Golf Club. Patrons can bring a picnic basket and enjoy an unusual theatre experience in the Cape’s only theatre in a house.

This lovely little boutique winery is situated just outside Durbanville. Personal attention is the motto of the tiny vineyard of Shiraz, Mourvèdre, Tempranillo and Viognier on Kronendal smallholding. Magdaleen’s Rhône blend is named “Mirari”, Latin for "to wonder at" – in honour of passionate friends and family members who assist with each harvest. Westerdale Road, Durbanville, Cape Town Closed Sundays, call before visiting – Magdaleen Kroon 082 499 0198

The tale of Meerendal's wine started in 1702 in the fertile slopes of the Tygerberg Hills. Today the legend continues with visiting families and friends enjoying superb wine and food. Meerendal’s award-winning wines are lovingly created by cellar-master Liza Goodwin. Hand-tended vineyards are planted with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinotage, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinot Noir. Gorgeous panoramic views over the vineyards and Boland Mountains provide the perfect backdrop for special occasions and Meerendal has become a favourite venue for weddings, launches, private functions, meetings and events. +27 (0) 21 975 1655 Vissershok Road, Durbanville, Cape Town. Cellar Tastings and Sales: Tuesday to Sunday 09:00 to 18:00 (Sun until 17:00).

Ratanga Junction, the 'Wildest Place in Africa', opened in 1998 and has been enthralling visitors ever since. Located at Century City in Cape Town, Ratanga offers more than 30 attractions ranging from kiddie and family rides to thrill rides guaranteed to satisfy the most avid adrenaline junkies.One of the most challenging rides is “The Cobra”, a suspended looping coaster which catapults riders from a height of 32m along 780m of track at up to four times the force of gravity and at speeds of close to 100km per hour. Adding to the thrill of the ride is the suspension of riders beneath the track, feet flying free. The ride is not for the faint hearted.Then there is the Slingshot, an ultimate thrill ride. This skycoaster combines elements from skydiving and bungie-jumping. Flying three abreast, riders are strapped into a full body harness which supports them in a prone position. They are then hoisted 10 storeys into the air to the top of the tower with nothing between them and the ground. The flight suits are connected to flight cables and on pulling their own rip cord, riders plunge in a 30m free fall at 80 to 90 km/h towards the ground before swinging upwards in a 180 degree arc and then straight down again.The white-knuckle thrills and spills, of which there are many, are just one element offered by Ratanga Junction. The other attractions are designed to entertain children, families, and those who prefer to take their thrills in more manageable doses. Visitors can also enjoy a variety of live entertainment which changes from season to season and eat at one of the many eateries around the beautifully landscaped park. If you’re looking for a great place to spend the whole day with friends, colleagues or family this is the place to be! The ride park operates seasonally during Western Cape school holidays however the function facilities are open year round for groups of 60 or more.Ratanga Junction also offers a large and unique variety of opportunities for corporate team building, incentive functions and events. Private function venues are available to accommodate groups of between 60 to 250 people and banqueting for up to 750, catering for product launches, corporate functions and other special events for up to 1 100 people seated and up to 7 000 people standing. Ratanga can host almost any function you can dream of from 60 to 7 000 guests.

Bugz Family Playpark is one of the top things to do for kids in Cape Town. If you need to entertain 2- to 10-year-old kids, march them straight here. This fun family attraction is the largest play park in the Western Cape, offering an enormous outdoor playground and a wonderful indoor play area. The colourful variety of pedal cars, jumping castles, rowing boats, swing horses, mini-tractor rides and a choo-choo train is certain to tire out little pipsqueaks in no time. Older and more adventurous scamps can giddy up on the ponies or zoom up the tracks on quad bikes. On sunny days they can even go slip sliding down the inflatable waterslide. Most of the rides are kid-powered – giving small folk plenty of exercise in a fun and natural way. Bugz has two large sandpits with colourful jungle gyms, slides, swings and numerous play apparatus to crawl under or climb over. There are also delightful playhouses, a tree house and even a castle, and if there are no parties in progress, kids are free to romp around here to their heart’s content. (Bugz is also a popular birthday party venue.) Need to know? Open every day except on Christmas Day. Ticket sales close at 16:30, but rides stay open until 17:00. Token rides are only open on weekends, school holidays and public holidays. From May until mid-September, limited or no-token rides will be available. In the event of rainy weather in summer, limited or no-token rides may be available. If it happens to rain, rides will not operate for the day, but there is a great indoor section where the fun continues. www.bugzplaypark.co.za +27 (0) 21 988 8836 party@bugz.co.za