[imagesource: Airbnb]

Last year, Time Out listed Kalk Bay’s Main Road and Melville’s 7th Street as two of the coolest streets in the world.

While those streets are still buzzing and beautiful, this year’s lone entry from South Africa is a little more, for lack of a better world, “Kloofy”.

You know it, it’s the gem-lined road in Cape Town’s CBD, Kloof Street.

Even though it somewhat extends into Long Street, which can hamba naya for being a hotspot for mugging, pickpocketing, and the like.

According to Time Out, a street is considered cool if it is “a vibrant community space, a thriving business district or just a place that oozes fabulous vibes”.

Having quizzed 20 000 city-dwellers in the Time Out Index, the most exciting places and streets in cities around the world in 2022 were found:

We then took those results to our global network of experts to narrow it all down and come up with a definitive ranking. The resulting list revealed which creative hubs, nightlife hotspots, shopping strips and buzzing communities are officially the places to be in 2022.

Because of its “gastronomic prowess and vast number of thriving local businesses”, Rue Wellington in Montreal took the crown this year.

It is hard to compete with the “picturesque, bustling street” in southwestern Montreal that is home to almost 200 businesses:

Melbourne’s Gertrude Street is in second place, doing well to steadily add “a wealth of independent retail, drinking and dining joints to its cultural portfolio”:

Great Western Road in Glasgow, which boasts vintage shops, craft beer breweries, and swanky coffee shops followed in third:

Then the indie food paradise Yongkang Street in Taipei came in fourth:

I am not one to yuck other people’s yum, but if you find your feet in Taipei, all I am saying is you don’t need to try their famed “stinky tofu”.

Finally, Kloof Street was number 26 on the list – better later than never:

Perfect for date nights, hanging out with pals, indulging in wellness treatments or tucking into some of Cape Town’s finest eateries, Kloof Street – the main thoroughfare of Gardens district – is both a local favourite and tourist drawcard.

Here you can explore local fashion, pop in to a swish art gallery, dive into secondhand furniture stores or just generally catch a bucketload of local buzz, all while taking in magical views of Table Mountain.

Kloof Street Hotel, Kloof Street House, and the Ubuntu Wellness Centre all get a mention.

Following Kloof Steet is Süleyman Seba Caddesi in Istanbul with the crown jewels being “the splendid Row Houses, built during the Sultan Abdülaziz period for the accommodation of the high-ranking officials of Dolmabahçe Palace”:

Calle Echegaray in Madrid also featured, as did MacDougal Street in New York, Carrer del Comte Borrell in Barcelona, Newbury Street in Boston, Colaba Causeway in Mumbai, and Everton Road in Singapore.

You can read the write-ups for each of the coolest streets in the world for 2022 here.

[source:timeout]