Windhoek rewards a thin wallet. The national art collection, a 33-piece meteorite display and the parliament gardens all cost nothing, township markets feed you for under N$50, and the finest viewpoints are ridge paths you simply walk up.
Free public park on Independence Avenue built over a 5,000-year-old elephant kill site excavated in 1962 — a stone column marks the spot. Open sunrise to sunset with shaded benches, lawns, toilets and a playground.
An open-air pedestrian mall displaying 33 of the Gibeon meteorites — iron masses that fell across southern Namibia in prehistory — mounted on steel pillars. Unfenced, unstaffed and free to touch at any hour.
Namibia's national collection at Robert Mugabe Avenue and John Meinert Street, running from colonial-era landscape painting to post-independence Namibian sculpture and photography. Entry is free; open Tue–Fri 08:00–17:00, Sat 09:00–14:00.
The 1913 Tintenpalast sits inside a free public garden of jacarandas, bougainvillea and a terraced rose bed, with the three Founding Fathers statues at the front lawn. Gates are open daily until about 18:00.
Katutura's biggest open-air produce market on Independence Avenue: mahangu meal, dried mopane worms, wild spinach bundles, tomatoes and second-hand clothing. Traders work 07:00–18:00 daily and most items sit between N$5 and N$30.
Family-run Katutura kitchen serving Ovambo staples: oshifima mahangu porridge, omboga wild spinach, grilled goat and sour oshikundu millet drink. Mains run N$60–110 and there is a shaded courtyard out back.
Women's craft cooperative on the shore of Goreangab Dam, 8 km northwest of the centre. Entry costs nothing — watch beadwork and embroidery being made, walk the dam wall, drink filter coffee for about N$25. Open Mon–Sat 08:00–17:00.
Katutura's nightlife spine of shebeens, pavement braai drums and sound systems that fire up from late afternoon. Grilled meat with fat cakes costs N$25–50 and a Windhoek Lager runs about N$20 straight from the crate.
Khomas Hochland reserve 18 km west with free-roaming oryx, kudu, springbok, zebra and warthog and no large predators, so hiking is unguided. Three marked trails run 3–9 km through granite hills and dry riverbeds.
Granite war memorial on a hillside 10 km south, unveiled 2002: an eight-metre Unknown Soldier statue, marble graves of liberation figures and a 174-step climb to the obelisk with a long view over the Auas Mountains.
Free municipal reserve on the eastern edge of town where the dam basin and dry riverbed pull in more than 100 bird species, plus jogging and mountain-bike loops through camelthorn scrub. Sandy circuits take one to two hours.
Ridge footpath entered from Anderson or Orban Street, climbing past aloes, euphorbia and quiver trees to a lookout over the whole Windhoek valley. Roughly 5 km return on rock and gravel, with no gate and no fee.