Things to Do in Post Street Mall

Stone meteorite walkway

Underfoot, 33 polished slabs of the Hoba meteorite - each flecked with nickel-iron that catches the light like tiny mirrors - form a walkway you can pace barefoot if you're brave enough to ignore the midday heat. The metal stays oddly cold even when Windhoek's tar is softening, and kids often crouch to feel the shallow thumbprint-sized dimples left by 80,000 years of space travel.

Craft centre inside the old brewery

Inside the sandstone shell of the 1900 Kaiserbrau building, the air smells of thatch and freshly carved mwanga wood while drums pulse from a stall where a Himba vendor demonstrates hand-rolled ochre paste. You can watch San artisans string tiny glass beads into geometric patterns sharper than any printed textile.

Lunch-hour jazz on the central stage

On Wednesdays a three-piece sax-and-marimba outfit sets up beside the fountain, their brass catching the sun while the bass line thrums through your ribs if you sit on the low wall. Office workers balance chicken-and-chakalaka takeaway boxes on their knees, tapping court shoes in time with township swing.

Skyline viewing from the mall's roof

An unmarked stair beside the pharmacy climbs to the flat roof where security guards sometimes let sunset watchers up for a panoramic sweep of Windhoek's purple-blue silhouette. You'll hear distant church bells competing with revving minibus taxis and smell the first braai flames rising from workers' yards in the township beyond the rail line.

Weekend stamp-and-coin fair

Every second Saturday, trestle tables bloom with 1890s German South-West African stamps smelling of attic paper and tobacco. Dealers crack open cold Windhoek lagers at eleven sharp. The hiss of caps mingles with the rustble of plastic sleeves as collectors lean in to inspect misprinted Kaiser Yachts.

Post Street vicinity: faded-grand dame hotels with high ceilings and creaking parquet, handy for dawn coffee right outside

Independence Avenue strip: newer boutique spots above cafés, rooms can throb with Friday nightclub bass till two

Eros Park: leafy suburb ten minutes uphill, guesthouses set in old German villas where hadedas wake you

Klein Windhoek: quieter, restaurant-rich valley east of centre, you'll need a taxi back after dark

Luxury Hill: panoramic glass-and-steel lodges on the ridge, sunset-facing pools but a stiff climb home from the mall

Katutura township lodges: community-run, drumming nights, early taxi commute for breakfast back downtown