Cafeography
Johannesburg

Wi-Fi cafés in Johannesburg

Bertrand Café on Fox Street until 22:00, Mayfair Coffee on Church Street, and early Wi-Fi at GetBird and Yield Coffee Bar.

Photo: Karolina Grabowska (Kaboompics), Pexels License

For most of two decades a café's Wi-Fi in Johannesburg depended on the grid. Eskom's load-shedding, a schedule of rotating power cuts, began at the end of 2007, and in 2022 alone the country went through more than 200 days of it; there has been none since 16 May 2025.1

Cafés with Wi-Fi are spread thinly across the city, with Melville & Auckland Park and Bryanston, Rivonia & Morningside slightly ahead; the others run from Maboneng's Fox Street to Mayfair, west of the city center.2

Local tip: For Wi-Fi after dark, Bertrand Café on Fox Street stays open until 22:00 every day, and Mayfair Coffee on Church Street until 21:00 on weekdays.

Where these cafés are: Linden & Cresta (3), Bryanston, Rivonia & Morningside (2), Melville & Auckland Park (2), Maboneng & Inner City (1), Sandton (1), Rosebank & Parktown North (1), Illovo & Melrose Arch (1), Fordsburg & Mayfair (1), Randburg & Ferndale (1), Parkhurst & Greenside (1), Braamfontein (1).

At a glance

15Cafés listed
11With opening hours
05:45Earliest opening
22:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Yield Coffee Bar, from 05:45 (Mon–Thu 05:45–15:30 · Fri 05:45–20:30 · Sat 06:30–13:00).
  • Closes latest: Bertrand Café, until 22:00 (Daily 07:00–22:00).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (67%), indoor seating (27%), card payment (27%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Johannesburg.

Wi-Fi after dark

Bertrand Café, at 296 Fox Street, keeps its Wi-Fi on from 07:00 to 22:00 seven days a week. Mayfair Coffee on Church Street opens at 07:00 and closes at 21:00 on weekdays and at 15:00 at weekends; it bills itself as a maker of crafted coffee and chai.3

The Boring Cafe x Sprino Tea, at 24 9th Avenue in Edenburg, stays open until 18:30 every day, with air conditioning and bubble tea alongside the coffee.

How load-shedding ran

Eskom's scheme had eight stages, each removing another 1,000 MW of demand; at Stage 1, users lost power for about six hours over four days.1 Stage 6 was first used on 9 December 2019, returned on 12 April 2023 and came back without warning during an outage in February 2025.1

Mayfair and Fordsburg

Mayfair was established as a suburb in 1896 and named after Mayfair in London; it sits next to Fordsburg.2 It has a large Indian population, and in recent years many Somali and Ethiopian residents have settled there too.2 In the 2011 census, 51.9% of residents were Indian or Asian, and the former president F. W. de Klerk was born in the suburb.2

Early starts with a connection

GetBird, on St Andrew Street in Birdhaven, opens at 06:00 every day for brews, bakes, bagels and bowls, and takes orders for pickup and delivery.4 Yield Coffee Bar in Linden starts earlier still, at 05:45 on weekdays, and stays open until 20:30 on Friday.

The Nook Cafe, at Summit Square on School Road in Morningside, opens at 07:00 on weekdays and 07:30 on Saturday.5 Sipp Cafe, on Malibongwe Drive in Strydompark, opens from 07:00 to 16:00 on weekdays and serves brunch.

Co-working and campus cafés

Coffee and co-working met early in the north: in 2017 David Walstra opened Thirdspace, a roastery and co-working space in Craigavon near Fourways.6 In Your Pocket notes that the roastery behind it, Seam Coffee on Campbell Road, is best known in the northern suburbs for that co-working room.7

In Melville, Spilt Milk is a corner café that spills onto a courtyard terrace, and The Richmond Cafe at 14 Menton Road has step-free access.8 In Braamfontein, The Hill is open daily from 08:00 to 17:00, and Fingers Crossed at 2 Levubu Road has outdoor seating as well as Wi-Fi.

Sources

  1. South African energy crisis, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  2. Mayfair, Gauteng, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  3. Mayfair Coffee, Mayfair Coffee, accessed October 2026
  4. Get Bird: bagel bar, coffee & kitchen in Birdhaven, Get Bird, accessed October 2026
  5. Welcome to The Nook Cafe, The Nook Cafe, accessed October 2026
  6. Why Joburg has been slow to wake up & smell the global coffee culture, Sunday Times (September 30, 2018), accessed October 2026
  7. #JoziCoffeeSpots: 5 great Joburg coffee roasteries, In Your Pocket, accessed October 2026
  8. Melville’s 7th Street and surrounds, In Your Pocket, accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

Other ways to browse Johannesburg

Specialty coffee

21 cafés

Outdoor seating

24 cafés

Bakery cafés

13 cafés

By area: Maboneng & Inner City Braamfontein Melville & Auckland Park Rosebank & Parktown North Parkhurst & Greenside Sandton Linden & Cresta Bryanston, Rivonia & Morningside

FAQ

Wi-Fi in Johannesburg: questions

Is there still load-shedding at cafés in Johannesburg?

No. South Africa has had no load-shedding since 16 May 2025. The rotating power cuts began at the end of 2007, and in 2022 the country went through more than 200 days of them.

Which Johannesburg cafés with Wi-Fi are open in the evening?

Bertrand Café at 296 Fox Street in Maboneng is open with Wi-Fi until 22:00 every day. Mayfair Coffee on Church Street closes at 21:00 on weekdays and 15:00 at weekends, and The Boring Cafe x Sprino Tea in Edenburg stays open until 18:30 daily.

Which Johannesburg cafés with Wi-Fi open early in the morning?

Yield Coffee Bar in Linden opens at 05:45 on weekdays, and GetBird in Birdhaven at 06:00 every day. The Nook Cafe in Morningside and Sipp Cafe on Malibongwe Drive both open at 07:00 on weekdays, and The Nook at 07:30 on Saturday.

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