Cape Town, South Africa Tour

1. Table Mountain

South Africa’s greatest landmark, where its summit rises to 1085m at its highest point (Maclear’s Beacon). The summit
is approximately 3 kms wide and is visible from as far as 200 km out to sea on clear days and is often covered with cloud called the tablecloth. A revolving cable car system, revamped in 1999, carries visitors up and down. The ride takes approximately 5 minutes each way. But for the adventurous type, numerous walking and hiking paths lead up and across the mountain. Spectacular views of the city, the Cape Peninsula, the coastline and the ocean can be seen from 11 viewpoints on the summit. The mountain is more than a place of dramatic scenic beauty; it is also a place of richly diverse flora. Over 1,470 plant species occur on the mountain, more than in the British Isles. Complementing this is the fauna such as the Table Mountain Ghost Frog that is found nowhere else in the world.

Facilities

A gift shop and restaurants are available at the upper cable station. The Cableway Cocktail Bar is ideal if you prefer to sit and watch the sun set over the city.
The Cableway is accessible to folks with disabilities, and guide dogs are welcome onboard, too.

On most days, the cableway operates between the hours of 08h00 and 19h30, but these times are subject to weather conditions.

2. Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

Put against a backdrop of sea and mountain views, the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&A), is home to designer label stores, national retailers, boutiques and services, along with a spread of restaurants, coffee shops and fast-food outlets. There are also two cinema complexes and craft markets, offering visitors the best of everything Cape Towand the Western Cape have to offer. The development of office locations and luxury apartments complements the vibrancy of the V&A. The V&A Waterfront is a centuries old harbour that remains fully operational. Spend a day or five trawling the Waterfront and you’ll understand why it has been a favourite destination of Capetonians and visitors since its 1992 re-awakening. You can also take a tour to Robben Island from here by catamaran. The ride takes 30 minutes each way.

3. Robben Island

The name hails from the Dutch word for seals, “robbe.” The island was home to political prisoners, most importantly Nelson Mandela, revolting against the apartheid government. It has now been turned into a museum. The Island is a half an hour each way by boat ride, where you can get a tour of the World Heritage Site by an ex-inmate. As a place of history, education and insight into South Africa’s past, this is an essential excursion and an experience not to miss.

4. Chapmans Peak Drive

The best view of Hout Bay and the Sentinel, and if you are lucky, you might even see whales playing in the ocean below. Designed and built by Thomas Bain, an engineer who is responsible for the construction of a number of mountain passes in the Western Cape, including Bainskloof Pass, it cuts into the mountain walls and winds along near vertical cliffs. There are plenty of viewpoints, so make sure you have your camera. The views are majestic and ever-changing. Reopened in December 2003 after a wildfire, the drive has been made safer and even better with more lookout points. This is truly a Cape Town icon not to miss.

5. Beaches

A visit to Cape Town and the Western Cape is not complete without a visit to any one of the many wonderful beaches we have. The beaches of Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard attract mostly swimmers, paddlers and sun worshippers. Surfers are drawn more to the warmer, big breakers of places like the Garden Route’s Plettenberg Bay, approximately 4 hours from Cape Town, while windsurfers and parasailors migrate up the West Coast to places like Langebaan Lagoon, approximately 2 hours from Cape Town. Without a doubt, life here really is a beach.

Clifton Beach

The most popular beach in Cape Town. Found nestled way below Beach Road along the Atlantic Seaboard, Clifton’s Third Beach is great for a day of tanning and relaxation in the sun. Beautiful bodies are drenched all over the white sandy beach.

Camps Bay

About a mile down from Clifton. Surrounded by beautiful restaurants and bars at the Promenade, it is a sure way to spend your day in the sun on the beach.

Fish Hoek

Safe bathing and a great beach for the entire family. Surrounded by shops and restaurants.

6. Bloubergstrand

The most spectular view of the entire Table Mountain and the city from this beach on the West Coast, only 25 minutes from Cape Town.

Sandy Bay

Nestled away behind the beautiful hillside suburb of Llundudno, Sandy Bay was one of the world’s first legal nudist beaches.

7. Cape Point and Cape Agulhas

Cape Point, at the end of the Cape Peninsula, is where the great Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. In 1488, Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape during a dreadful storm. He subsequently named it the Cape of Storms. On a second voyage, the weather was much kinder to him and he renamed it the Cape of Good Hope. A few years later, Dias died while trying to round the Cape. A monument in the form of a navigational beacon has been erected in the Cape Peninsula National Park in his honor. The Cape Peninsula National Park offers a rich diversity of plant species as well as a marine reserve and animals such as baboons and Cape Zebra. The peak is 249m above sea level and can be reached by foot or the funicular railway. The lighthouse at the tip of the Peninsula is the most powerful in the Southern Hemisphere.

Cape Agulhas

Cape Agulhas, the southern-most point of Africa, Cape Point, which forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. The reserve offers an abundance of natural beauty, where you can see various species of birds and animals, including antelope, baboon, ostrich and zebra, most of all, more than 2200 species of plants.

The early Portuguese sailors named the tip “Cabo das Agulhas” (Cape of Needles) in the 15th century. This is because the needle of a compass shows no deviation between magnetic north and true north. The red-and-white-striped Cape Point lighthouse at Cape Agulhas is the second-oldest working lighthouse in South Africa located at the tip of the reserve and stands on top of the highest sea cliffs in South Africa. Built in 1848, inspired by Egyptian architecture, it houses a fascinating lighthouse museum today, the first of its kind in Africa. Climb to the top of the lighthouse for a spectacular view of the rocky coastline. The feeling of standing at the meeting place of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and the most-southern tip of the African continent is a feeling that will rejuvenate and recharge your soul.

You can either ride the bus or, for the adventurous type, walk up the 678-metre- high peak to get one of the most spectacular views of the two oceans meeting. On a clear day, you can actually see the difference in colour of the waters of the two oceans.

Facilities

There is a restaurant and gift shop in the reserve as well as an information centre.
A number of picnic spots and braai (barbecue) facilities are available within the reserve and there are some interesting walks and trails with swimming at Bordjiesdrif and Buffels Bay tidal pools.

The reserve is open throughout the year from 07h00 to 17h00 daily. There is an admission fee payable at the gate.

8. The Winelands

The South African wine country and surrounding Cape Winelands are situated to the east of Cape Town. They were settled by European immigrants in the 1600s. Many of them were French Huguenots and their legacy can still be found today, in the names of the estates, La Motte, La Provence, Haute Provence and L'Ormarins are some of the better-known producers of fine wines founded by those early pioneers.

The wine country is popular for day tours from Cape Town. Most of the estates offer wine-tasting and sales. Many of the wine estates include top-quality-restaurants, while others provide picnic baskets, which can be enjoyed on lawns under shady oaks.

Stellenbosch, the second oldest town in South Africa and the wine capital of the region, is very popular for its oak-lined streets, beautiful Cape-Dutch architecture and fine restaurants. The teeny town of Franschhoek boasts more than 20 restaurants with a wide variety of choices, from gourmet breakfasts to top-quality dinners, including smoked trout from the clear and unpolluted local rivers and lakes.

Optional

A worthwhile trip is a drive over Franschhoek Pass to the Elgin Valley, the apple-growing capital of South Africa. The pass follows the route originally taken by elephants on their travels, although it is now well-maintained asphalt.

9. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens

Covering five square kilometers (two square miles) on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, it is home to more than 8500 indigenous plant species, and is know as one of the Seven Magnificent Botanical Gardens of the world.

Established in 1913, Kirstenbosch only grows indigenous South African plants. It is best known for its proteas (bestz time to see is winter or spring) and summer sunset concerts and picnics. There are hiking trails through the fynbos as well as guided tours, including twilight nature walks. Kirstenbosch is a birdwatchers delight.

Facilities
Restaurant on site or pack your own picnic basket, Kirstenbosch shop and Botanical Society Bookshop

Less than two hours drive from Cape Town the town of Hermanus offers the best land based whale watching in the world. Southern right whales approach to within 20 meters of the lookout points on the rocky shores.

Since the ban on whaling, the numbers of these magnificent creatures have increased to the point where over two thousand of them make an annual migration to the coastal waters of South Africa. Here they calve and mate in the warmer and calmer waters.

Every year between mid-July to November locals and tourists alike take time to see this natural spectacle. Although Hermanus is the best place to get close to them you are likely to see whales anywhere along the cape coast at this time of year.

11. Birding in Cape Town

The Cape Town region has many excellent spots for bird watching. The waters off the Cape Town coast are home to albatrosses, petrels, terns, gulls and many more. Just offshore on Robben Island, there is a breeding colony of African Penguins and it is the only place in southern Africa where you will see the Chukar Partridge.

The Milnerton Lagoon on the Cape Town Blaauwberg coast has about 180 bird species, which include more than 100 water bird species. One of the best-kept birding secrets in Cape Town is Strandfontein on the False Bay Coast. About 200 species have been counted, which include the endangered African Black Oystercatcher, migrant waders like the Marsh Sandpiper (September to December) and raptors like the Peregrine Falcon.

The biggest variety of birds in the Cape Town region can be seen at Cape Point in the Table Mountain National Park. To date, more than 250 species of birds have been recorded, which include ostriches, the Orange Breasted Sunbird, the White Backed Mouse Bird, Eight Tern species and the Black Eagle.

12. Shark Cage Diving

For many years, the Great White Shark was branded a monster and hunted to the point of extinction. South Africa was the first country to offer safety to the Great White. Shark hunting was outlawed here in 1991. The Cape coastline is ideal for seeing these dramatic creatures. Gansbaai and Mossel Bay along the Cape south coast are two of the best places in the world to do shark cage diving. There are a number of professional operators who know the best spots to see the Great White Shark in its natural environment.