The best things to do in Cape Town in 2025
You really can’t overstate the case for visiting Cape Town. First, there’s the in-your-face beauty of a craggy mountain range that drops precipitously into a glittering sea, its flanks carpeted in greens and delicate florals. Then there are the pristine white beaches lapped by – it must be said – a chilly Atlantic, their curves defined by giant granite boulders to bake on.
But the Mother City is not just about gorgeous nature. Established in 1652, it was the first European outpost, a history layered into its architecture. It has a cool modern urban edge too, home to some of Africa’s most innovative artists and fashion designers, and its chefs have made it one of the world’s greatest food destinations.
All our recommendations below have been hand selected and tested by our resident destination expert to help you discover the best things to do in Cape Town. Find out more below or for further inspirations, see our guides to the city’s best hotels and restaurants and how to spend a weekend in Cape Town. For yet more inspiration, read about our expert’s ultimate two-week holiday in South Africa.
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Activities and attractions
City Sightseeing bus tour
Sightsee with the hop-on-hop-off bus
Being driven around Cape Town is a visual pleasure. Without having to think too hard about what to do, or spend money on a private tour, the open-air double-decker hop-on-hop-off City Sightseeing bus tours are hard to beat.
There are three main routes to consider: the Red City Route takes you around the city centre and Camps Bay; the Blue Mini Peninsula Route connects you to Kirstenbosch and Hout Bay before dropping you at the Purple Route pick up point for a wine-tasting extension in Constantia.
The company also offers day trips to the Franschhoek wine tram, as well as Hermanus, Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl but if you are serious about wine a curated wine tour is the best introduction.
Insider’s tip: Opt for the Premium Two Day ticket and do the Red City Route with the following stops: from the Waterfront either take a harbour or canal cruise then onwards to ascend Table Mountain. Lunch or a swim at Camps Bay beach or tidal pool, then stroll the length of the Sea Point Promenade before heading back to the Waterfront. On day two take the Mini Peninsula to explore Kirstenbosch Gardens, then hop onto the Purple Route for a couple of wine tastings; time allowing, get off to take a stroll around Hout Bay harbour, and aim for sundowners on the Camps Bay strip.
Contact: citysightseeing.co.za
Price: £
Bo-Kaap
Stroll the city’s oldest residential streets
Fringing the city centre and spreading up the slopes of Signal Hill, this formerly racially segregated neighbourhood – classified “Muslim only” – escaped the radical forced removal and wholesale erasure of District Six, which took place in the 1960s. It’s still a predominantly Muslim community, the call-to-prayer part of the city’s soundscape since slaves leased the “huurhuisjes” in the 1760s. Today streams of visitors wander its cobbled streets, gawping at the Cape Dutch and Georgian terraced homes in bright contrasting colours – apparently painted as a sign of liberation by former slaves, finally allowed to own what had been strictly white-washed by landlords. Most explore on foot, but you can drive, heading up Yusuf Drive to have lunch at Dorp, or turning right into Rose Street to High Level.
Insider’s tips: It’s a bit discomfiting seeing streams of phone-touting tourists treating a residential area as if they’re in a theme park. Best is to visit with purpose. Pop into the Bo-Kaap museum – oldest house – then head across to Atlas Trading, the city’s amazing spice shop, servicing the local community and a lifesaver for keen cooks across the city. Or book a 3.5 hour Bo-Kaap Cooking Tour for a local, hands-on Cape Malay cooking workshop, before sitting down to enjoy the fruits of your labour.
Price: Free (Cooking Tour ££)
Foodie walking tour
Explore the city through its food
Cape Town took shape around the kitchen garden, planted by the Dutch East India Company to supply ships trading between Europe and the East, and so started the city’s multi-cultural fresh-food heritage. Learning about the city’s history through food, snacking on samosas and koeksisters (a traditional sweet made of dough and infused in honey or syrup) prepared by Malay descendants in the Bo Kaap, to pap (maize meal, Africa’s “polenta”) and roosterkoek with spicy tomato-based chakalaka, is a fabulous jaunt. The best foodie tours are offered by Cape Fusion Tours, run by ebullient owner Pammie, and Eat Like A Local, founded by Rupesh Kassen. Rupesh also offers plant-based walking tours and arranges foodie walking tours in coastal Hermanus.
Insider’s tip: If you just want to sample a few traditional Cape treats without necessarily booking a tour, head up Wale Street to Biesmiellah Café in Bo Kaap for an authentic selection of local sweet and savoury finger food treats.
Contact: capefusiontours.co.za; eatlikealocal.co.za
Price: ££
The Baxter
Discover opera stars on the rise
For many South Africans singing is as integral to community life as talking, a rich and timbred sharing of rites and ceremonies. It’s a vocal pool that has spawned some pretty big stars: operatic coloratura soprano Pretty Yende, who performed at King Charles III’s coronation; mezzo Siphokazi Molteno; tenor Innocent Masuku, a runner up in last year’s Britain’s Got Talent. UCT’s feted College of South African Music scours the country for raw talent, polishing and perfecting for four to six years before, more often than not, releasing them onto the international stage – an amazing agent of transformation as well as art. The College performs biannually at the Baxter, a theatre considered usually more edgy than Artscape (though the latter is home to Cape Town Opera), putting on shows like the spine-tingling Nkoli: The Vogue-Opera; created and composed by Philip Miller, with lyrics co-written by the rapper S’bo Gyre – don’t miss this if it comes your way.
Insider’s tip: For more goosebump-raising singing look out for the Tygerberg Children’s Choir, named Best Children’s Choir at the Hull International Choir Competition 2023; Ndlovu Youth Choir; and Stellenbosch University Choir, rated as the top amateur choir in the world by the Interkultur world ranking system from October 2012 until August 2024.
Contact: baxter.uct.ac.za/whats-events; capetownopera.co.za/events
Price: £ / ££
Table Mountain
See the city dwarfed
You haven’t truly understood the soul of Cape Town until you’ve ascended the 500 million-year-old mountain at its core, and gazed into the blue expanse that surrounds it, the Lego city at its feet. The first inhabitants called it Hoerikwaggo, “Mountain of the Sea”, the slopes rising directly from the ocean, a jagged spine that runs from the distinctive flat-top façade down the length of the Cape Peninsula to culminate in the rather unimaginatively named Cape Point, the south-westerly nub of Africa. This is Table Mountain National Park, both a playground for the city’s human inhabitants and home to 8,200 plant species, more than 300 bird species and some 60 mammal species.
Insider tips: Skip the queues with a Fast Track Cableway ticket (R995pp). You’re asked to choose a time slot but it’s indicational; you won’t lose access if you don’t stick to the time. Tickets are valid for seven days after the chosen date, as weather can affect operational times. If you prefer to walk up, Plattekloof Gorge is the least strenuous (1.5 to two hours) but also the busiest; Skeleton Gorge is by far the most scenic, but you’ll need around five hours and be fairly fit, and I’d advise using a guide. Note that weather can change rapidly: wear proper walking shoes, take a waterproof layer, and stick to paths.
Contact: tablemountain.net
Price: £ or ££ Fast Track
V&A Waterfront
Explore shops, museums, food markets and more
Part of the reason why the V&A Waterfront is such a hit with tourists and locals alike is the fact that it’s still a working harbour, men hammering on the hulls of rusty trawlers in the dry dock and 19th-century Alfred basin, oblivious to sleek white catamarans in the adjacent marina and surrounding luxury hotels. Pedestrianised, safe and vibrant with the sound of singers and syncopated dancers, and great views – water taxis cleaving through blue-green waters, fur seals lolling, historic and contemporary architecture, and the whole scene backdropped by Table Mountain. Aside from shopping and dining, there’s something for all ages and interests, from the small but wonderful aquarium and Cape Wheel in the Dock Road district, to the Robben Island ferry and adjacent Museum of Contemporary African Art in the Silo district, and all of it easily reached on foot.
Insider’s tips: Some good free shows on at the outdoor amphitheatre; find the schedule online. The Time Out Market is a great one-stop food destination and a convivial option for solo travellers; free events here include Comedy Night Thursdays and a changing schedule of live acts and dance sessions. Adjacent is the Watershed for the best, most varied selection of locally African-produced crafts, fashion, accessories and homeware. For local frocks and fashion, don’t miss the Albert Mall, next to the Victoria & Alfred Hotel.
Contact: waterfront.co.za; timeoutmarket.com/capetown
Price: V&A Waterfront, free; Watershed Market, £; Time Out Market, £
Oranjezicht City Farm Market
Feast at Cape Town’s most fabulous food market
Oranjezicht City Farm Market (OZCF), located in the Granger Bay precinct of the Waterfront, is the city’s most fabulous food market, showcasing fresh organic produce harvested from the city and surrounding small-scale farms, bookended by marquees, one filled with beautifully presented and carefully selected artisanal products, all with tasting samples, and another selling an array of fantastic street food. There are also stalls selling flowers, plants, clothing and bric-a-brac but it’s not too overwhelming, with plenty of seating, and lovely harbour views. Alternatively, the weekly Neighbourgoods Market in the Old Biscuit Mill is as much fun for watching the city’s hipsters as for the artisanal spreads – the focus here being more on prepared meals eaten on site than fresh produce to take home. Others worth highlighting are the Cape Point Vineyards Community Market that take place on Thursday evenings in summer, Boschendal’s Friday Night Market (also summer only) and the Hermanus Country Market, taking place at the Hermanus Cricket Club on Saturday mornings.
Insider’s tip: It pays to get to the market soon after or at the time of opening, when the stalls are Instagram-perfect and people are few.
Contact: ozcf.co.za; theoldbiscuitmill.co.za
Price: £
Kalk Bay
Trawl the city’s most picturesque high street
Capetonians of a certain creative bent all dream of one day living in Kalk Bay, despite high-season congestion. With narrow cobbled lanes lined with humble double-storey buildings, a (rare) Cape community who don’t equate luxury with size, and a fairly steep elevation offering views of the working fishing harbour, beyond False Bay and the distant Hottentots Holland Mountains, it’s picturesque. The size – constrained by the precipitous Kalk Bay mountain backdrop – also creates a sense of a village community. The high street is a delight to browse, and there are plenty of places to eat. Best in autumn through to spring, when crowds abate.
Insider’s tip: To avoid the congestion along the Main Road, approach and depart via the elevated and very scenic Boyes Drive. Don’t miss Kalk Bay Modern, above Olympia Cafe.
Price: Free
The Labia
Catch a film in this adored cinema
Originally an Italian Embassy ballroom, The Labia was opened as a live performance theatre by Princess Labia on May 16 1949, then reincarnated as a cinema for arthouse films in the mid-1970s. Current owner Ludi Kraus took over what had become a rather run-down theatre in 1989, and steadily upgraded, sometimes with the help of his audiences – in 2014, when he was forced to switch to digital projection, crowdfunding solved the crisis. Today The Labia comprises a 176-seater, 100-seater, 65-seater and 50-seater cinema, as well as two bars, a covered terrace with tables and chairs and thriving plants. It’s charming, with original mid-century features such as the ticket booth and sweets counter and screens cult classics and art movies alongside more commercial fare.
Insider’s tip: The Labia offers Movie Meal Specials for Two from Mondays to Thursdays - every night a different restaurant offers a dinner (takeaway or sit down) and two Labia tickets for as little as R200 for two. (On Tuesdays Our Local also caters for solo travellers: R100 for a delicious “toastie” and your movie ticket.) Pay at the restaurant and exchange your till slip/voucher for your ticket. Note that you can’t prebook seats on the special. The Labia has a full bar, and you’re welcome to consume whatever you’ve purchased while enjoying your movie.
Contact: thelabia.co.za
Price: £
Afternoon tea at the Mount Nelson
Pig out in Cape Town’s most elegant lounge
No one likes a cliché but “iconic” is the word for the much-loved Nellie – the first luxury hotel in the Cape, welcoming guests for more than a century to her sumptuous lounge for high tea. Plenty of elegant sofa arrangements in the lounge, or pick a linen-draped table in the sun-splashed veranda, the tinkling of the pianist a genteel backtrack to discussions about brew.
Tea sommelier Craig Cupido will guide you, advising on which of the 60 tea varieties might suit your palate. There’s also an excellent range of single-origin coffee beans, cognacs, bubbles. Tiered stands are brought to the table with bite-sized, too-pretty-to-eat nibbles by talented pastry chef Vicky Gurovich, alongside scones with clotted cream and homemade jam. Toddle over to survey the cakes on display, and Cupido may pair your plate with a new pot.
Insider’s tip: Every November the Mount Nelson serves up the most marvellous salon-style fashion show with its afternoon tea. Gurovich creates bespoke pastries, enjoyed while models swish past, fabrics within touching distance, and a festive atmosphere prevails. “ConfectionsXCollections” is one of the most glamours events on the continent’s social calendar, a great showcase of the brilliance of pan-African fashion design, chosen by curator Twyg as much for their sustainable ethos as creativity.
Contact: belmond.com
Price: ££
Two Oceans Aquarium
Excite the children with a ticket to the two-floor aquarium
One of the rare things I miss about having small children is visiting the Two Oceans Aquarium on a regular basis as a paid-up member, every impending visit announced to squeals of delight. Not that you have to be a child to enjoy exploring this two-floor aquarium – with well-maintained and well-displayed exhibits showcasing the extraordinary variety of marine life found in the two oceans that lap South Africa’s 1,739-mile coast, what’s not to like? But it’s a bit like walking the dog – a pleasure for both but one wears a permanent grin.
Insider’s tips: Puppet shows take place at 10am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm. The penguins are fed by hand at 11.30am and 2.30pm. Most thrilling is the shark feeding at 12pm every Saturday. For budding marine biologists wanting to know more about how staff maintain the exhibits and the 8,000 creatures under their care, book a 75-minute Behind the Scenes tour, daily at 10am and 1pm; max eight people; must be booked 24 hours in advance.
Contact: aquarium.co.za
Price: £
The Scratch Patch
Prospect for precious stones to keep as souvenirs
The Scratch Patch is a rather kitsch cave, with a floor thickly pebbled in gleaming tumble-polished gemstones in every conceivable shape and colour. Visiting is a very simple process: purchase one of three sizes of plastic bag (or a cup), and fill it to the brim with your hand-selected Southern African gemstones such as tiger’s eye, rose quartz, amethyst, jasper and pretty blue agates. The perfect souvenirs that will last a lifetime.
Insider’s tip: Both Scratch Patch venues have an indoor 18-hole mini-golf course to extend the outing – a great way to pass a rainy morning. Simonstown’s course is newer.
Contact: scratchpatch.co.za
Price: £
Veld & Sea Wild Food Foraging Course
Forage in nature’s classroom
When summer’s spring tides reveal what Roushanna Gray describes as “the ocean’s gardens, full of fresh deliciousness”, you’ll find her clambering around pretty Scarborough Beach’s intertidal pools, teaching a group of novice “sea gardeners” what to harvest and how (99 seaweed species grow here and only one inedible). You then return, bounty in a bag, to The Glasshouse and kitchen cabin, a rather magical, shack-like set up, where you help clean the collective haul before cooking mussels on an open fire, cutting kelp to size and sipping on botanically-infused cocktails. The final act: a large communal feast, parts of which you’ve helped prepare.
Come autumn the focus moves to foraging for wild mushrooms, chestnuts and acorns; winter brings edible weeds, indigenous vegetables and fynbos aromatics. As Gray puts it: “Foraging is more than an act of gathering; it is the most ancient and fundamental connection we have to the natural world.”
Insider’s tip: Vegans and vegetarians, look away. On request Gray will share a freshly plucked sea urchin, best eaten on the spot. Fairly intimidating to handle, Gray expertly grasps and cuts the critter open to reveal its tiny cache – a unique, creamy taste of distilled sea.
Contact: veldandsea.com
Price: ££
The Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope
Stargaze the southern night sky
Founded by the British Board of Longitude in 1820 to “find accurate star positions and provide a reliable time service to aid the navigation of ships”, the first Observatory building – designed by celebrated naval architect John Rennie shortly before his death – was positioned on a small hill three miles south-east of the city centre.
By the 1960s light pollution from the growing city impelled astronomical observations to move north-east to Sutherland, where the semi-arid Karoo offers some of the world’s best conditions for “Salt”, one of the world’s largest single optical telescopes. But the Royal Observatory in Cape Town is still the headquarters of the SA Astronomical Observatory, and offers keen stargazers an opportunity to admire the very different night sky of the southern hemisphere through the 120-year-old McLean telescope.
Insider’s tip: Open nights are held on the second and fourth Saturday of every month at 8pm. After an introduction to the Observatory, a guest lecturer holds forth on a topic of astronomy or physics, followed by stargazing, weather permitting. Tour bookings must be paid in advance, no payment on-site. You can also book a night stargazing at the SAAO’s facility in the Karoo, but will need to overnight in Sutherland, about a four-hour drive from Cape Town.
Contact: saao.ac.za
Price: £
V&A Harbour cruise
Explore by boat for a unique perspective
It is lovely to see the lay of the V&A from a dinky boat and while several outfits offer 30-minute cruises that don’t leave the harbour, the most regular scheduled departures are with City Sightseeing. Its Harbour & Seal Cruise, departing from the canal in front of the Two Oceans Aquarium, drops you back where you started and can be booked as a stand-alone or, with a City Sightseeing Premium Two Day ticket, you can choose between this or their Canal Cruise, departing from below the One & Only hotel to drop you at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). There is little point in doing the Canal Cruise without the bus, unless you intend walking into town from the CTICC (not scenic), or are here for a CTICC event.
Insider’s tip: The new amphibious Waterfront Duck is a novel way to tour the whole Waterfront development, departing as a bus from the Silo district to loop around the various precincts before driving into the water at the marina, and chugging around the harbour.
Contact: citysightseeing.co.za; theduckco.co.za
Price: £
Hiking
Table Mountain National Park
Explore the world’s richest floral kingdom
If there’s one thing more satisfying than a good walk in great weather with beautiful views, it’s doing it with a guide who can explain the intricacies of the world’s richest floral kingdom. The 30,000-hectare Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) is carpeted in the delicate plants known as “fynbos” – more than 2,200 species, many of them endemic. Guides like Dominic Chadbon, aka The Fynbos Guy, and his vetted team offer guided walks with a botanical bent. Aside from being edifying, it’s also safer – if you want to do a more challenging hike up Table Mountain (India Venster, or Skeleton Gorge) don’t rely on map apps: definitely better to tackle these with a guide to ensure you navigate the mountain without injury.
Insider’s tips: You need to walk quite far across the Table Mountain top for the fynbos density and variety, into Echo Valley. I’d rather book a walk in Silvermine reserve (part of TMNP; about 30 minutes from city centre), for an easy three-hour walk through pristine fynbos, and different but equally impressive views. If you’re here late January to February, go looking for the red disa, aka “Pride of Table Mountain”; the endemic orchid likes to grow in places of real beauty.
Contact: thefynbosguy.com; hiketablemountain.co.za; ridgwayramblers.co.za
Price: £ to ££
Lion’s Head
Hike to a 360-degree viewpoint
Tackle the Lion’s Head hike at dawn or just before sunset, and you will be rewarded by the most spectacular 360-degree views, the city bathed in soft light. It’s also popular at full moon when the western horizon deepens to pink, the city lights start to twinkle, and a harvest moon ascends in the east.
You don’t need to be particularly fit and you don’t need a guide, but be aware that the last bit is rocky and steep. Wear proper shoes, and step with care. It’s also become extremely popular. Pack a torch and an extra layer if you’re planning an evening descent.
Insider’s tip: Often quieter and certainly quicker is the hike up to Kloof Corner. Park on Tafelberg Road (closest is the second parking lot on your left), then cross over to the Kloof Nek Water Treatment Plant and look for a sign marking the start of the trail. Once there the views are splendid: the city spread below Lion’s Head to one side, and Twelve Apostles towering above Camps Bay.
Price: Free
Cape Point and Good Hope Nature Reserve
See more than just the south-western tip of Africa
Cape Point – de rigueur on any first-time visit to the city – is the final tip within the 7,750-hectare Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, in turn the southernmost part of the fragmented 25,000-hectare Table Mountain National Park that so defines the city’s character.
The craggy promontory is not, as many suggest, where two oceans meet (that confluence takes place further south-east, at Cape Agulhas) but there’s something truly splendid about standing on sheer cliffs that tower more than 650ft above the sea, gulls wheeling far below.
Most race straight to the Point and ride up on the Flying Dutchman funicular, then exit to resume their peninsula tour. But the reserve deserves more time if you have it, or a return visit to explore the walking trails and beach walks, looking out for ostrich, zebra, bontebok and eland, or from June to October, the Southern Right whales, en route to the nursery waters of Walker Bay and the Overberg coast, or shipwrecks (take the Olifantsbos Trail to see the most visible hull: the Thomas T Tucker ran aground in 1942).
Insider’s tips: Gates open at sunrise. It pays to get here early, long before the coaches and explore at your own pace. Download one of the two tours (“quick” or “full”) from the free Cape Point audio guide before you get here as signal in the reserve can be patchy. Pack a picnic and swimsuit for a dip in the tidal pool at Buffels Bay Beach (but do keep an eye out for naughty plundering baboons). If you equate seclusion with luxury there are three basic self-catering cottages in the reserve that can be booked online, but only if you have a tolerance for what’s best described as functional décor. If glamping appeals more, take a look at Slangkop Tented Camp, located in nearby Kommetjie.
Contact: capepoint.co.za
Price: £
Silvermine Nature Reserve and Reservoir
Walk, swim, picnic, cycle with the locals
You’ll almost certainly traverse the central section of the Table Mountain National Park on any loop around the peninsula. Called Silvermine – named after 17th-century silver prospecting that thankfully never materialised – it’s the 2000-ha mountainous escarpment above Muizenberg and Tokai, and the quickest way to Noordhoek from Constantia. Part of a packed peninsula tour, relatively few international visitors stop, yet it offers some of the city’s most scenic hikes on well-marked trails (maps provided with entrance ticket), much of it flat and through some of the most marvellous fynbos – a tangled tapestry made up of more than 900 species, a spring feast for Cape sugarbirds and brightly-hued sunbirds.
The Silvermine reservoir – a half-mile body of clean, spring-fed water, tea-tinged by fynbos tannins – also offers the city’s best freshwater wild swimming. The reserve is divided into two sections by the road (Ou Kaapse Weg), each with its own gate. Gate 1 provides access to the reservoir, and is the only section that allows mountain biking.
Insider’s tips: Silvermine reservoir offers some of the best picnic spots in the city, with lots of lovely nooks all along both sides, including several built-in BBQ spots. Note that fires are only possible in winter, when fire risk is minimal; if you’re here in summer pack a picnic and look for a spot with seating.
Contact: sanparks.org/parks/table-mountain
Price: £
On the coast
Boulders Penguin Colony
Adopt a critically endangered penguin
Another essential stop on the looping Cape peninsula tour, with a paid entrance point providing access to two short boardwalks that wind their way above the protected African penguin colony. The viewing platforms are a guaranteed opportunity to get fairly close to these delightful creatures without disturbing them, but as the penguins are not fenced you may encounter one anywhere – in the water, on Boulders, Water’s Edge or Seaforth beaches, even in the gardens of the surrounding residential area.
While undeniably cute and easy to anthropomorphise, the viewing platform won’t claim much of your time. The boardwalk linking the visitor centre to Boulders Beach is a more picturesque experience, with lovely views of what is one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. It’s a somewhat poignant experience these days – reclassified as Critically Endangered in 2024, the African penguin is officially on the verge of extinction. The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) and BirdLife South Africa have initiated litigation against the South African government to enforce greater protection; in the meantime you can adopt a penguin through SANCCOB, or a penguin egg that will be hand-reared before being released.
Insider’s tip: There is a second African penguin colony that chose to settle on the mainland in the 1980s, one of only three in the world to eschew the relative safety of islands: far less visited, they are protected by Stony Point Nature Reserve in Betty’s Bay, about 70 to 90 minutes’ drive from Cape Town, an ideal stop en-route to Hermanus (8am to last permit issued at 3.45pm).
Contact: sanparks.org
Price: £
Tidal pools
Greet the dawn in Cape Town’s best tidal pools
From sunrise to around 9am you will find clusters of Capetonians bobbing in the pretty tidal pools dotted along both sides of the coast, enjoying mountain and sea views from a living aquarium. Most spend about 20 minutes in what are fairly bracing but not frigid waters: 10C is considered a cold day on the Atlantic seaboard; usually temperatures are around 12 to 16C. Some are advocates of Wim Hof; a few are inspired by local documentary-maker and environmental advocate Craig Foster (winner of an Oscar for My Octopus Teacher), but the trend has grown due to word-of-mouth enthusiasm, as the physical elation and addictive sense of well-being is indisputable. Aside from anything there’s a real sense of camaraderie in the water, and it’s a wonderful way to meet locals.
Insider’s tips: The water is generally around four degrees warmer on the False Bay side, where the most popular tidal pool is Dalebrook in Kalk Bay, attracting a fair crowd of loyal, gregarious locals in the early morning. On the Atlantic Seaboard the large granite boulders around Saunders’ Rock tidal pool is a popular place to watch the sun go down, but my personal favourite is the tidal pool at Camps Bay – one of the largest, you can actually swim lengths here. Regardless of where you are, as a general rule never leave anything valuable untended on the beach or rocks; an opportunistic incident of theft can totally ruin the high.
Contact: capetown.travel/tidal-pools-cape-town
Price: Free
Sunset on the beach
Watch the sun sink into the ocean, feet in the sand
If you prefer a waiter with your sunset, head for Camps Bay’s bars and restaurants, most with front-row seats facing the palm-lined beach, but I’d recommend watching at least one sunset with your toes curled into the sand, back against a sun-warmed boulder. Clifton is accessed via steep staircases that wind between low-slung bungalows, and comprises four crescents of sand, each attracting a slightly different kind of sunworshipper. Families tend to hang out on more accessible Clifton Fourth Beach during the day but weekend summer sunsets introduce a very different crowd, with girls in party frocks eyeing boys sprawled around hookah pipes. If you prefer a more laid-back vibe, keep walking to Clifton First or Second.
Insider’s tip: Strictly speaking, consuming alcohol on the beach is not allowed so if you’re wanting a sundowner tipple, keep it discreet. Lesser known and less busy, Glen Beach is a smaller crescent adjacent to Camps Bay, tucked beneath a few bungalows. Or take a cab or Uber (you will struggle to find a parking spot), and watch the sunset with the locals on the Bakoven boulders, or with the surfers and their dogs on gorgeous Llundudno Beach.
Price: Free
The Sea Point Promenade
Stroll the promenade or hire a bike to experience local life
The broad 3.7-mile pedestrian artery that flows alongside the ocean, skirting the high-density residential suburbs of Bantry Bay, Sea Point and Mouille Point, is essentially an elongated playground, much loved by locals. At dawn cold water immersion devotees flock to Saunders Rock and surfers clamber over the rocks at Queens Beach (where a plaque commemorates Charles Darwin’s fascination with the geology of these 540-million-year-old rocks). Lycra-clad ladies with ponytails pulled through peak caps stride past wheelchair-bound retirees in large sunglasses. Kids do backflips into the Olympic-sized pool at the Sea Point Pavilion, where you can hire a bike from Up Cycles and drop it off at its Waterfront depot in the Silo district.
Insider’s tip: Take a breather from your approximately 50-minute walk by pausing on the terrace of the gabled Winchester Hotel. At the end of February the evening atmosphere on parts of the promenade is wonderful, with hundreds of Muslim families gathered on picnic blankets to witness the sighting of the new moon, and celebrate Eid on the promenade lawns.
Price: Free
The Atlantic Seaboard & Camps Bay
Watch the sunset with a drink in one hand and menu in the other
The west-facing side of the Cape Peninsula, known as the Atlantic Seaboard, is where you want to be when the sun starts its descent.
If you want to do so with a chilled glass in one hand and a menu in the other, the location of choice is Camps Bay. Building regulations have avoided the high-rise densification that typifies Mouille Point to Bantry Bay, but a strip of pavement cafés, restaurants, bars and hotels along Victoria Road offer views of Camps Bay’s palm-fringed swimming beach.
It’s super accessible – a short 10-minute drive from the city centre. Chinchilla is currently the bar with the most elevated view, but if you’re here for dinner I’d pick Bilboa or, for steak, Bo-Vine Wine and Grill House. If you’re leaning towards seafood, follow the herd to Codfather – popular as ever despite not offering a seaview, and being relatively pricey.
Insider’s tip: With a front row seat to summer’s best show, restaurants are pretty much guaranteed an audience, so don’t expect your best meal to be here. The exception is Salsify. Located in the historic Roundhouse hidden in the wooded glen above the Victoria Road strip, chef Ryan Cole and his team match an unreal location with a sublime fine dining experience.
Price: Free
Muizenberg to St James Coastal Walkway
Walk False Bay’s seaside promenade
Set off from Muizenberg station, walking along the two-mile wheelchair-friendly elevated coastal path to St James – a 40-minute brisk stroll skirting the railway track – before you’re on the main road for the last few strides into Kalk Bay. Or make your starting point the St James station and head to Muizenberg for lunch, either at Tiger’s Milk Muizenberg for the gorgeous sea view, or mother-and-daughter-owned Joon, for delicious flatbreads, thin-based pizzas and great vegan dishes. It’s a lovely seaside jaunt, with a few memorial benches to enjoy the view of False Bay.
Views aside this coastal stretch is also architecturally more interesting than the blingier Atlantic Seaboard. Once known as Millionaire’s Mile, these were the gabled and Italianate villas of the wealthy, who preferred the more temperate sun and water.
Insider’s tips: Time your walk for low tide and wear reef shoes or plastic sandals to explore the intertidal pools en route, or a costume to dip into St James’ tidal pool. To complete a circular loop, return via steeply elevated Boyes Drive for more splendid views, or walk along Main Road to pop into the surprisingly excellent Rhodes Cottage Museum.
Price: Free
Table Bay cruise
An ocean safari or sundowner drinks
Seeing how Table Mountain completely dwarfs the Mother City from an ocean vantage is also when you fully appreciate its original name, Hoerikwaggo, aka “sea mountain”. Heading out at 10.30am, barefoot on the teak deck or stretched out on the trampolines of a high-performance catamaran, looking out for dolphins, whales, seals, penguins and sunfish, the Ocean Big 5 Safari is a great way to spend one and a half hours… Or opt for a Sunset Cruise, anchoring near the Green Point lighthouse; with a cash bar and full crew, you could be forgiven for quipping that your ship has finally come in.
Insider’s tips: The scheduled one-hour trips along the Atlantic coastline are most affordable but the Ocean Safari (found under Adventure cruise) is recommended, with whales often sighted November to mid-December. However, if hell is listening to other people’s music, shell out for a three-hour private charter to Clifton, and demand a barbecue on board.
Contact: capetownexperiences.co.za/cruises
Price: £; Private charter, £££
Guided sea kayak tour
Kayak with dolphins and paddle to penguins
Being self-propelled on the waters of Table Bay as the sun breaches the Hottentots Holland Mountains is one of the best ways to start the day. Led by an exuberant guide, the two-hour round trip on stable two-person kayaks takes you past the Green Point lighthouse before returning to Granger Bay; chances of spotting dolphins are high. On the False Bay side Kayak Cape Town offers a two-hour guided sea kayaking experience departing from Simonstown wharf and heading towards Boulders Beach, looking out for the endangered African penguins in the water.
Insider’s tip: The morning slots are best – in summer it’s an 8am start from Granger Bay and 8.30am from Simonstown jetty. Bring a towel and change of clothing as you’ll probably get wet, and take a lightweight windbreaker in case you get cold. No experience is necessary.
Contact: atlanticoutlook.com (Waterfront); kayakcapetown.co.za (Simonstown)
Price: £
The Great African Seaforest
Spend the day at sea
The bracing waters of the Cape nurture the world’s largest forest of giant bamboo kelp, home to a host of other-worldly creatures, beautifully documented by Craig Foster in his book Sea Change and by writer and underwater photographer Helen Walne. It’s not as obviously exotic as the subtropical reefs between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, but the ethereal light cast through the forest is deeply calming and with a guide you can explore rocks embroidered with corals and colourful anemones, and swim with regal sting rays, penguins and pyjama sharks.
Insider’s tips: With NGO Rockhopper you spend the better part of the day at sea with a marine biologist, learning and listening to tagged sharks as you head south from Simonstown to great snorkelling spots, and all funds raised go to marine conservation. Or hire snorkelling gear, wet suits and one of the guides from great outfit Cape Town Freediving who know which beach is best depending on weather and tide (the kelp forests off the beaches between Simonstown and Smitswinkel Bay are hard to beat). Better still, learn how to freedive on one of its excellent two-day courses – an utter treat for waterbabies.
Contact: rockhopper.co.za; capetownfreediving.com
Price: ££
Chapmans Peak Drive and Clarens Drive
Drive the Cape’s most scenic coastal-cliff roads
‘Impossible!’ was the initial response to the suggestion that a cliffside road be built linking Hout Bay to Noordhoek. But Sir Frederick de Waal, first Cape administrator in the newly formed (1910) Union of South Africa, was determined to create a scenic “All Round Cape Peninsula Road”.
After plotting a route into the horizontal layers of sandstone and shale above the 630-million year old granite contour, work began in April 1915; seven years later HRH Prince Arthur of Connaught officially opened Chapman’s Peak Drive. Within months the six-mile drive – precipitous cliffs dwarfing the vehicles that crawl along its curves like ants – was voted one of the world’s most scenic, an accolade it continues to garner a century later.
Insider’s tips: In severe weather the drive is closed (check status online) but you can still drive along Victoria, the coastal road linking Camps Bay with Hout Bay, and traverse the first section of Chapman’s Peak, stopping in the last lay-by (before the toll booth) to admire the marvellous view of Hout Bay harbour. Or book a table at Chef’s Warehouse Tinstwalo Atlantic, at the base of the toll booth. Try to incorporate Clarens Drive, linking Gordons Bay with Rooi Els, this is as beautiful as Chapmans (and usually far less busy) and well worth the extra 20-minute it adds to get to Hermanus/Hemel en Aarde Valley.
Contact: chapmanspeakdrive.co.za
Price: £
Wine tasting
Constantia wine region
Explore the New World’s oldest wine region
In 1685 Simon Van Der Stel planted 10,000 vines on his 763-hectare farm, located on the southern slopes of the Table Mountain range. It proved prescient; while elsewhere in the “New World” wine had to be imported, the Cape was the first to reverse the trend. By the 18th century Constantia dessert wines were famous: on his deathbed Napoleon apparently refused everything but, Jane Austen recommended it for “its healing powers on a disappointed heart” in Sense and Sensibility, and Charles Dickens wrote of “the support embodied in a glass of Constantia”. Comprising only 10 farms and a mere 20 minutes from the city centre, Constantia is the easiest wine region to tour and you can even do so on foot.
Insider’s tip: If you’re time strapped I’d visit four: Groot Constantia, where Van Der Stel built his original 17th-century homestead (see below), for the history and Cape Dutch architecture; Klein Constantia to purchase Vin de Constance, the dessert wine that made the terroir famous; Beau Constantia for its superb Chef’s Warehouse restaurant with elevated views across the valley; and Steenberg for deliciously flinty sauvignons and fine MCCs. The most cost-effective way to get to Constantia is to book the hop-on-hop-off, but note it only reaches Groot Constantia and Beau Constantia, and seasonally, Silvermist. For tailormade half- and full-day Constantia wine tours contact Constantia Wine Tour or Natural Wanderer’s Constantia Wine Walk.
Contact: constantiawineroute.com; theconstantiawinetour.co.za
Price: £; Private guided wine tour: ££
Picnic at a wine farm
Gourmet picnics are a unique way to enjoy the winelands
Plenty of wine farms offer picnic hampers and groomed lawns with lovely vineyard views, but if it’s the al fresco bit that appeals rather than trying to balance a glass of wine and eat with your hands while trying to keep your legs from cramping, then there are a few that are for you. Boschendal offers the most delicious produce from its kitchen garden and on-site butchery and bakery as well as blankets and lawn chairs, and a table with chairs, if requested on booking. Spier’s Picnickery is another stalwart, offering a great basket with tables and chairs dotted on the lawns. In Vergelegen’s camphor forest you’ll find tables with white tablecloths, wineglasses, crockery and cutlery; the contents of its picnic hampers aren’t half bad either. Quoin Rock’s “PicniQ pods” come with waiters to ensure that, among other things, glasses are topped up. My kind of picnic.
Insider’s tips: If you prefer to hand-pick your own gourmet picnic, Spier’s Picnickery is the place. Or head over to the deli section of Woolworths. Often called South Africa’s Waitrose, Woolies has outlets all over the city. Most wine farms won’t allow you to bring your own picnic, so head to a shady spot on the Kirstenbosch lawns instead.
Contact: boschendal.com; spier.co.za; vergelegen.co.za; quoinrock.co.za
Price: £ to ££
Gourmet Wine Tours
Roll through the winelands on a tailor-made trip
There’s a plethora of scheduled Winelands tours, and Franschhoek’s wine trams are an affordable and fun way to get about, but if you’re serious about your wine, or just want a private, more off-the-beaten-track experience, a specialist wine guide is worth the extra cost. Try Gourmet Wine Tours with Stephen Flesch, the former chairman of the Wine Tasters Guild. He will tailor an itinerary according to your varietal preferences (if required) and creates tours that contrast, from grand historical estates to more modern or downright rustic, as long as the wines produced are superlative.
Insider’s tip: South Africa provides such a wide range of terroirs that the range of flavours produced by any single varietal is quite extraordinary. Stellenbosch still produces the broadest selection of award-winning reds. If you love your sauvignon, tool around the cooler Elgin region, or drop into the Hemel en Aarde valley for superb pinot noir and chardonnay. Swartland has a justifiable reputation for producing very fine shiraz and old-vine chenins.
Contact: gourmetwinetours.co.za
Price: £££
Guided ‘sip-and-stroll’ Wine Walk
A winelands walk with a gifted storyteller
Matthew Sterne – travel writer turned hiking guide – takes small groups along scenic trails, peppering the walk with fascinating stories and facts about the characters and events that shaped the early years of the Mother City, as well as new little left-field nuggets, from Harry Potter to Kevin Costner. The four-mile Constantia Wine Walk is the most popular, and understandably so. Starting at historic Groot Constantia, established in 1685, you’ll stroll through vineyards (with a Steenberg bubbly breather) to Klein Constantia to taste its Vin de Constance, and end at Buitenverwachting for a harvest platter lunch before being returned to your starting point. Ten wines are tasted; Sterne also offers a Franschhoek Wine Walk.
Insider’s tip: In Sterne’s Mountain to Sea Adventure you traverse the Signal Hill contour path before descending through Camps Bay’s forested glen for mimosas and samosas on the rocks overlooking the ocean. The final part involves hopping on an e-scooter to the Sea Point Promenade. If the idea of scooting along fairly busy roads fills you with dread, let Sterne know when booking.
Contact: naturalwanders.co.za
Price: ££
Franschhoek Wine Tram
Trundle through the Franschhoek wine farms
There are plenty of ways to explore the Cape’s smallest, prettiest winelands valley – lush as a lettuce; mountains so close “you feel you can touch them” (as Robert Redford reputedly said) – but none more popular than the hop-on-hop-off wine tram. Choose between five routes, book your ticket online well in advance (before they sell out), and arrive early enough (8.45 to 9.30am) to spend sufficient time at each estate on your chosen route.
A complimentary glass of wine is provided upon boarding – everyone is very quiet and “ordentlik” (decent) as we say in Afrikaans, but by mid-afternoon the atmosphere is raucous; singalongs a strong possibility. It’s a lot of fun but the name is a bit of a misnomer – laid in 1904, tram tracks are limited, so buses and tractors made to look like the vintage trams augment every journey, and timings between these aren’t always flawless. Needless to say it’s increasingly easy to go with the flow.
Insider’s tip: The wine tram lines lock you into a fixed combination of wine estates (personal favourite, the Orange Line). If you like the idea of hop-on-hop-off but want flexibility to choose where to go in limited time, look into booking the Tuk Tuk Shuttle. You can prebook your own schedule and arrange private pick-ups between them – say Le Lude, Boekenhoutskloof and Leeu. I’d allow 45 to 60 minutes per wine estate tasting and not schedule more than three in a day.
Address: The wine tram has two terminals: the corner of Main Road & Cabriere Street, Franschhoek, and the corner of R310 Main Road & R45, Groot Drakenstein
Contact: winetram.co.za
Price: £
Groot Constantia
Discover the oldest wine estate in the Cape
In 1685 Simon van der Stel, prescient first governor of the Cape, started shipping in vine shoots from France and planting them in the lush, well-watered Constantia valley. By 1709 he was tending some 70,000 vines, possibly wondering where he had gone wrong as a father (his son Willem, who succeeded him as governor and built the even grander Vergelegen – also well worth a visit – had been called back in disrepute due to graft and corruption charges).
Regardless, the Van der Stels rooted what would become, under the Cloete family, the most famous New World wine region in the 18th century, vaunted by the likes of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Napoleon and Bismarck. Visiting the restored Cape Dutch gabled manor house (chosen by Van der Stel for its sublime setting), the small wine museum and old cellar, is of interest to wine and history buffs alike, though the wines produced by neighbouring Klein Constantia and Buitenverwachting make more of a regular appearance on my table.
Insider’s tips: There are three audio walking tours, free to download, covering the vineyards, historic manor house and modern-day production cellar. Groot Constantia has two restaurants, both offering egalitarian meals (and incidentally picnics): Jonkershuis, located in the thick-walled historic buildings adjacent to the Manor House, or bistro vineyard-view Simon’s. But foodies looking for a more memorable meal should leg it to Beyond at Buitenverwachting or Bistro 1682 on Steenberg (both these estates incidentally part of Van der Stel’s original Groot Constantia estate). Or, if you’ve booked in time, adding exceptional views to match the meal, sit down at Chef’s Warehouse Beau Constantia.
Contact: grootconstantia.co.za
Price: £
Gardens
Babylonstoren Garden Tour
Explore the Cape’s most beautiful kitchen garden
When Koos and Karen Bekker purchased the 17th-century Cape Dutch farm in the Drakenstein valley, it wasn’t their intention to become hoteliers. What Karen wanted was a garden. The Bekkers commissioned French garden architect Patrice Taravella to plan their first 3.5-ha kitchen garden. Comprising 15 clusters, and growing more than 300 edible species, Babylonstoren’s surfeit of fruit and vegetables resulted in the opening of their farm-to-fork restaurant Babel, and finally, the farm hotel. You can wander at will, discovering courtyards watered by gravity-fed streams, a prickly-pear maze, Spice House, Healing Garden, the clivia-lined riverside – a riot of colour in spring – but you won’t regret taking the 10am garden tour, hosted by an enthusiastic gardener who encourages you to pick, taste, smell and touch.
Insider’s tip: A maximum of 10 10 guest slots are available for the hour-long garden tour (included in the garden entry price). If full, consider a collections tour (Mon-Fri; 11.30am). Mondays and Fridays it’s succulents and cycads; Tuesdays the Healing Garden; Wednesdays, the vegetables; and Thursdays it’s all about the bees. If you’re keen to garden, book a spot Tuesday or Thursday (8am to 1pm, including a wholesome staff lunch). There are also three-month internships available; enquire online.
Contact: babylonstoren.com
Price: £
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
Enjoy picnics and summer concerts
Table Mountain is one great picnic table, its slopes offering shady nooks and dappled glens, but the best spots are found in Kirstenbosch, on shady groomed lawns, with burbling streams where toddlers frighten tadpoles, and lush borders in which guinea fowl forage. Seamlessly blending into the indigenous vegetation carpeting a protected flank of Table Mountain, the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is beautiful, whatever the season. If you’re here in summer, join the locals streaming in to enjoy the Sunset Concerts held every Sunday afternoon from December to March; be sure to book your ticket through Webtickets, the sole online ticketing partner.
Insider’s tip: Book a picnic hamper online from Fynkos at the Kirstenbosch tea room (enter through Gate 2) and pick up between 11am and 4pm. Moyo Kirstenbosch also offers pre-packed picnics for one or two people.
Contact: sanbi.org
Price: £
Museums and exhibitions
Robben Island
Visit the place where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated
For many viewing the tiny cell on Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 of his 27 year-imprisonment is an essential pilgrimage, a way of paying homage to this remarkable man. Used as a place of banishment since the 17th century, the four-hour tour of the island covers more than just the Mandela years, and there’s a rather bureaucratic attitude that permeates – so while the island’s history is fascinating, the tour itself gets very mixed reviews, with the time-poor in particular finding the length of it taxing. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t extremely popular – best book well in advance.
Insider’s tips: Don’t forget to bring some form of ID (tickets are not transferable) and don’t cut timings fine as boarding gates close 10 minutes before departure. The tour can run late so don’t schedule anything too soon after you expect to be back. The Krotoa is the fastest boat, taking 30 minutes each way. For those interested in apartheid-era history the Desmond & Leah Tutu: Truth To Power exhibition in town is for many a more moving evocation of South Africa’s recent past.
Contact: robben-island.org.za
Price: ££
Franschhoek Motor Museum
Marvel at 100 years of automotive history
Located on L’Ormarins wine estate, this extraordinarily diverse collection of 220 vehicles – considered by many petrol heads to be one of the world’s best – belongs to Johann Rupert, son of the late, entrepreneur Dr Anton Rupert who started the collection.
Incredibly rare specimens include the 1898 Beeston motor tricycle, 1938 Buick Series 40 Special Convertible Coupé, 1928 Bugatti 35B, and the Aston Martin DB2/4 – one of only three in the world. It’s a rotating exhibition, with 80 displayed at any given time and arranged in four purpose-built halls according to manufacturer and provenance, from “antique” (built before 1904) to “post-60”. In this white-box barn-like context, the gleaming vehicles present much like artworks. A very pleasant way to while away an hour or so in Franschhoek, particularly in inclement weather.
Insider’s tip: Take the L’Ormarins tram ride from here to the Manor House, one of my very favourite wine tasting experiences.. A wide choice of clustered tastings produced by the L’Ormarins winemakers and distillers are on offer – I suggest you work your way through the cool-climate Cape of Good Hope Altima range, followed by the Anthonij Rupert Premium Red Range.
Contact: fmm.co.za
Price: £
Cape Town’s best art galleries
Discover the best contemporary African art
In a former grain silo cleverly repurposed by London’s Heatherwick Studio, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) is the most famous repository for contemporary African art, and worth a visit for the architectural genius of the atrium alone. But if you’re seriously interested in the continent’s contemporary art scene make time to visit the Norval Foundation, the Constantia contemporary art museum and sculpture garden that more often than not bests the exhibitions at MOCAA. Not to be overlooked is the city-centre South African National Gallery, the country’s premier public art museum, housing historical as well as contemporary South African art. For the city’s top commercial galleries take a look at what’s on at SMAC, Goodman, Michael Stevenson and Everard Read.
Insider’s tips: Book a bespoke tour with Art Route, and view contemporary issues of the day through the lens of art with one of their knowledgeable specialist guides. Tours can include commercial galleries (chosen in collaboration with you and based on your particular interest) as well as museums, and offer by-appointment-only access to certain artists and Ellerman House, the largest privately owned collection in the Cape. The February Cape Town Art Fair sees back-to-back cocktail parties for collectors and the most comprehensive collection of African art on sale (be sure to book accommodation well in advance).
Contact: zeitzmocaa.museum; norvalfoundation.org; iziko.org.za/museums/south-african-national-gallery; investeccapetownartfair.co.za; artroute.co.za/
Price: MOCAA/Norval/National Gallery, £; Art Routes Private Tour, £££
The Old Granary ‘Truth to Power’
Understand South Africa’s recent past
Opening with surprisingly little fanfare in 2022 in the Old Granary, a national monument that in itself reflects periods of oppression and transformation – Truth to Power is a must-visit for anyone interested in South African history. Curated in partnership with the Apartheid Museum, this is a deeply evocative exhibition, taking you through a series of themed rooms that map out how Desmond Tutu’s life journey was intertwined with that of South Africa, from his resignation in protest at the apartheid-era “Bantu” education, to his integral role in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. With plenty of archival apartheid-era footage, photographs and artefacts, Truth to Power pays homage to Tutu bravery and his fight for justice, and the many who stood by his side to liberate the country while it teetered on the brink of civil war. Thoroughly inspiring.
Insider’s tip: It is possible to pre-book a private guide at no additional cost by writing to the museum. This is highly recommended.
Contact: tutu.org.za/truth-to-power
Price: £
The Book Lounge
Attend a local author’s book launch
The Book Lounge is that rare thing: a quaint, small, independent book shop that has survived the onslaught of bookstore mergers, Amazon, Netflix and Kindle. The staff are well read, and you’ll find great local reads; the Book Lounge even has its annual Book of the Year, picked from what was published by SA authors. For a really local experience join one of the well-attended book launches (events available online), marked by engaging, intelligent conversation between an author (usually a local but occasional award-winning internationals are added to the mix) and a local interlocutor handpicked by Mervyn.
Insider’s tips: A well-curated children’s book section in the basement is where stories are read every Saturday at 11am, ideal for children aged three to eight. The Book Lounge hosts an annual Open Book Festival in March.
Contact: booklounge.co.za/events
Price: Free
Norval Art Museum & Sculpture Garden
Contemplate Africa’s best contemporary art museum
Having opened within 10 months of each other, the MOCAA and Norval serve the same purpose: “to promote contemporary art of Africa and the diaspora through curated exhibitions and educational programmes”. Being in the Waterfront, the MOCAA may be more conveniently located, and its architecture more fascinating, but curation and exhibition quality is on balance better at the Norval.
Spearheaded by Louis Norval – co-founder of Attfund, one of the largest private-property investment companies in South Africa – this is a purpose-built art museum, arguably better suited to large-scale exhibitions, and, with initiatives such as the Norval Sovereign African Art Prize, constantly on the look-out for new talent. Hats off to senior advising curator Karel Nel for the thought-provoking pieces in the current “We, the People: 30 Years of Democracy in South Africa”, an exhibition that ends on November 22 2025.
Insider’s tips: Norval Foundation offers tailored private tours, from 45-90 minutes depending on your interest, 10am or 2pm, for a flat rate of R3500 for one to 10 guests, booked online 48 hours in advance. The on-site restaurant Grub & Vine is very good, with a fantastic selection of wines by the glass – I prefer the cosier upstairs space, with a fabulous view of the sculpture garden.
Contact: norvalfoundation.org
Price: £
Stellenbosch Village Museum
Explore Cape colonial domestic design and history
The Stellenbosch Village Museum comprises of four restored houses, each representing a different period in the architectural development of the second oldest town in South Africa – with interiors decorated and gardens planted in the style of the time, and guides in period-appropriate costume. Chronologically, the first is Schreuderhuis (1709), the oldest restored townhouse in southern Africa, furnished with simple pieces made predominantly from local materials, as was typical of the period 1680 to 1720. Next up is the grander, gabled Blettermanhuis, built in 1789 by Hendrik Lodewyk Bletterman, last magistrate of Stellenbosch to be appointed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Grosvenor House is typical of the two-storeyed, flat-roofed town house built by the wealthier citizens in the period 1800 to 1830. Finally in the home of O.M. Bergh, who lived here from 1836 to 1877, wall-paper makes its first appearance alongside furniture and accessories typical of the mid-19th-century in the Cape.
Insider’s tip: Very nearby is Spek en Bone (behind Oom Samie se Winkel), a thoroughly unpretentious really excellent restaurant experience offering small plates under Stellenbosh’s oldest fruit-producing vine.
Contact: stelmus.co.za/village-museum
Price: £
Adventure
Paragliding
Take to the sky for a bird’s eye view of the city
Soaring effortlessly above the textured patchwork below, a concave of blue beyond, is the most exhilarating (and terrifying!) way to enjoy the city’s geographic splendour.
Signal Hill is the most reliable jump point, but, weather and fitness levels allowing, take off from Lion’s Head and glide those thermals for longer. It’s highly weather-dependent, so make contact on arrival and have a flexible three-day window so you can change your plans for when conditions are perfect. “Birdman” Barry Pedersen is among Cape Town’s most experienced tandem pilots and instructors; in addition to a variety of jump points he offers guided paragliding tours to the country’s three paragliding hotspots: Cape Town, Garden Route and Porterville valley.
Insider’s tip: If this feels like a starter portion of adrenaline, order up a major rush by hurling yourself out of an airplane 3,600m above earth with mothercityskydiving.co.za; skydiving is not as weather dependent as paragliding.
Contact: birdmen.co.za
Price: ££
Shark Cage Diving
Get up close to the ocean’s apex predator
RAMSAR-designated Dyer Island Provincial Reserve protects breeding seal and (declining) penguin colonies, as well as the sharks that in turn have spawned an entire industry offering close up encounters with these sleek predators.
Of these Marine Dynamics is a top pick: purpose-built boats, great gear, a marine biologist on board providing interesting facts, and a strong focus on marine research and conservation. After briefing, boats head out from Kleinbaai (a 2.5 hour drive from Cape Town; return transport is provided for an additional fee) to anchor for a few hours off Dyer Island. Each gets a turn in the cage (the top of which remains above water, so no need for tanks or snorkels), with the bait handler advising on which way to face as sharks approach (usually copper sharks; Great Whites are a rare occurrence since orcas are often in the bay). Sting rays are an additional bonus.
Insider’s tips: Take a layer of warm clothing even if it’s hot and sea-sick medication if you suffer from motion sickness. You don’t have to get into a cage to see sharks. Marine Dynamics also offer a Marine Big 5 excursion, adding whales and dolphins to the sharks, penguins and seals you’ll see off Dyer Island (though nothing is guaranteed). It’s a full day trip from Cape Town; more convenient is to spend the night at Stanford Valley Guest Lodge, 25 minutes away.
Contact: marinedynamics.activitar.com
Price: £££
Table Mountain Biking
Cycle the city, bike the Cape mountains
Cycling on the city streets is not for the faint-hearted, though plenty do, particularly in the run up to the March Cape Town Cycle Tour – the world’s largest timed cycling event, when roads close for some 30,000 riders on a 68-mile cycle around the peninsula.
If you’d rather not take your chances on unfamiliar roads, the pedestrianised Sea Point Promenade is ideal, particularly in the early mornings, and Upcycles (upcycles.co.za) offer pedal-and-park single-speed bicycles, with stations starting from the Silo district (Waterfront) to Camps Bay. If you’d prefer to cycle with a guide, AWOL offer mountain biking and cycling tours to suit various fitness and riding skills, including an award-winning Bicycle Township Tour.
Insider’s tips: Table Mountain, Contermanskloof and Hoogekraal in Durbanville, Rhebokskloof in Paarl and Oak Valley in Elgin are all beautiful mountain biking destinations; AWOL provides transfers to these, as well as bikes and guides. If you just want to hire a bike for a few days and potter about without a guide, contact irideafrica.com or bicyclehire.co.za.
Contact: awoltours.co.za
Price: ££
Helicopter tour
Fly over the city in a chopper
Full confession: I’ll clamber into a helicopter anywhere, even a war zone. Something about that sweeping take-off and rapid ascent, before gliding along in a glass bubble, master of all you survey. Experiencing this above the world’s most beautiful city – close enough to see whales nursing; high enough to reveal hidden forested clefts – is something else. The shortest scenic flight is the 12-minute Hopper, taking you along the Atlantic Seaboard to Camps Bay and back; the 50-minute Full Peninsula does what it says on the label. To guarantee a window seat, book an Exclusive Flight at the cost of one additional seat.
Insider’s tips: Helicopters Cape Town offers the widest range of experiences partly because its fleet of Airbus H130s are the quietest (below 60 decibels) allowing them to access sensitive areas. For an epic flight experience paired with exceptional wines, recommended flights are: Creation, perched above the Hemel en Aarde valley; Del Air Graff on the Helshoogte Pass; Brookdale in Paarl; Idiom in Helderberg and Almenkerk in Elgin. The West Coast Mussels & Oysters On The Beach tour lands on a Saldanha Bay beach for freshly harvested oysters and mussels cooked in a traditional potjie in the alfresco boma, washed down with plenty of bubbly.
Contact: helicopterscapetown.co.za
Price: £££
Freediving Cape Town
Learn to freedive in the Cape coast
Diving without the encumbrance of tanks is a pure high – even if only a few meters, using a single powerful breath while your flippered feet propel you to within touching distance of marine creatures, or into the otherworldly ambience of the kelp forest. There are some basic techniques but the preparation is also about mindset. It’s helpful to know humans share the same dive reflex found in whales and seals. Freediving Cape Town offers a two-day course that will grow both confidence and lung capacity.
Insider’s tip: For a potentially life-changing experience, check where multiple freediving record holder and ocean conservationist Hanli and husband Peter are on oceantravel.co. During certain months of the year this charming couple offer a hosted five-day programme in a gorgeous seaside villa in Cape Town; in addition to daily freediving there is a daily regime of breath and bodywork, delicious dinners with interesting local personalities, ocean foraging with al fresco food preparations.
Contact: capetownfreediving.com
Price: ££ (Ocean Travel £££)
Muizenberg Beach
Master surfing on Africa’s gentlest break
With a rolling break that is as consistent as it is gentle, Muizenberg is Africa’s oldest surfing destination, with wave riders on wooden belly boards taking to the waters at the turn of the century. Heather Price was the first to be photographed standing upright on a board here in 1919.
Its designation as the city’s surf hub, at least for beginners, was properly cemented in the 1970s, when surfboard-maker Peter Wright opened The Corner Surf Shop, followed by Tich Paul’s Lifestyle Surf Shop. Today there are some 10 surf vendors here, offering equipment for sale or rental, as well as surf lessons, all serviced by a clutch of lovely laid-back cafés, bars and restaurants to refuel post-ride.
Insider’s tip: If you want to surf lesser-known spots, with your own private coach-guide, Escape + Explore is the company to contact. It has the most wonderful guides, who know all the best spots, and its custom-made vans and tours offer exciting experiences for all ages. Surfing can be woven into a peninsula day tour in a way that the whole family will enjoy.
Price: Free for the beach; ££ for surfing lessons; £££ for Escape + Explore
Day trips
Ceres Rail Company & Elgin Railway Market
Take a steam train to the market
During the summer Ceres Rail Company makes fairly regular departures from Harbour Bridge Platform (close to the Cape Town International Convention Centre) to Elgin’s Railway Market, a 100-mile round-trip using a combination of diesel and steam locomotives.
Once you’ve left the city it gets pretty, before the steep rise to breach Sir Lowry’s Pass and chugging your way into the cool-climate wine-growing region of Elgin – known as “Valley of a 1000 Views”. Passengers have around two hours to graze the stalls in the Elgin Railway Market – located in a pretty 1940s warehouse built by Italian POW’s, with tapered columns and curved box gutters – before embarking on the return journey.
Insider’s tips: Departure times from Elgin Railway Market are dependent on time of arrival; delays are not uncommon, so don’t plan anything else for this day. In May the train runs passengers to the Elgin Wine Festival (held at the Railway Market), a great way to get to know one of my favourite wine growing regions.
Contact: ceresrail.co.za; elginrailwaymarket.co.za
Price: ££
Cape Peninsula tour
Follow a loop around the peninsula
The circular route to Cape Point loops around the mountainous spine that runs the length of the peninsula, showcasing all the city’s best assets – something that can be done more than once, as you can focus on different aspects on each trip. Highlights include the cliff-hugging Chapman’s Peak Drive, scenic Victoria Road connecting Camps Bay to Hout Bay, wind-swept Cape Point (also known as Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, and part of Table Mountain National Park), naval Simonstown (where most visit the penguin colony at Boulders, incidentally also one of the city’s loveliest swimming beaches), Kalk Bay (the quaint high streets are great for shopping), Constantia (only 10 wine farms; the oldest and easiest wine region to explore) and Kirstenbosch, arguably the most beautiful botanical gardens in the world. An unmissable day trip.
Insider’s tips: Crossing between sunrise-kissed False Bay and sunset-bathed Atlantic Seaboard, there can be dramatic weather changes; take a layered approach to dressing. Most rush straight to Cape Point; if you have time, visit one of the reserve’s typically deserted beaches. Embraced by 650ft cliffs, Diaz Beach is the most photogenic but Buffels Bay Beach is best for swimming. It’s definitely worth doing this tour first with a private guide.
Contact​: capepoint.co.za
Price​: £ (private car and driver ££)
Soetmelksvlei
Travel back in time in the Cape colony
A 25-minute shuttle across the fertile mountain backdropping Babylonstoren, and you descend into another world: an interactive museum that pays homage to the resourcefulness of 19th-century Cape farming families who settled in these remote valleys, before electrification, indoor plumbing or motorized vehicles. The original Cape Dutch farmhouse (1851), meticulously restored, has been somewhat romantically reimagined as the home of the fictional Bosmans, a family of four who lived here in 1897.
Ranged around the farmhouse “werf” in the traditional U-shape are a distillery, workshop, mill, cellar – each manned by master craftspeople working with tools and techniques of the era – as well as a “wonder room” – part exhibition, part playhouse, part reading room, researched and created by resident museologist Elsa Vogts. Guests can witness or particupate in scheduled farmyard work: milking, cream separation, forging, carpentry, milling, baking and distillation. There is an on-site restaurant and farm shop.
Insider’s tip: Soetmelksvlei hosts workshops throughout the year, from learning how to make traditional bobotie and guava chutney, to pickling and preserving fruit, or making traditional South African “wors” (sausage) and flower pressing. Prebook online.
Contact: babylonstoren.com/soetmelksvlei
Price: £
Uthando’s Philanthropic Educational Excursions
Take an inspiring tour
To a large extent residential Cape Town remains geographically segregated, the majority of its workforce and unemployed living in what are still referred to as “townships”. These were strictly non-white residential hoods, carpeted cheek-by-jowl with makeshift shacks and identikit houses on the oft-windswept “Cape Flats”, while the wealthier, predominantly white citizens, remained belted around the mountains. It’s well worth visiting but only with an experienced guide.
Several outfits offer “township tours” but none delivers quite like Uthando. Established in 2007 by social entrepreneur James Fernie, this award-winning NGO has identified some 60 well-managed, hyper-local community development projects, and supports these through what Fernie calls “Philanthropic Educational Excursions”. These are as uplifting as they are edifying, meeting individuals whose indomitable spirit makes South Africa such a fascinating country. Fernie rotates the schedule, so you could meet industrious microfarmers, joyful dance troupes and teachers in a hugely successful preschool. Profits are reinvested in the projects.
Insider’s tip: If you want to arrange a special surprise performance, either during a Waterfront excursion or at your hotel, or interested in volunteer work, discuss your ideas with Fernie.
Contact: uthandosa.org
Price: ££
How we choose
Every attraction and activity in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets and styles, from world-class museums to family-friendly theme parks – to best suit every type of traveller. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest openings and provide up to date recommendations.
Author bio
Pippa de Bruyn, Telegraph Travel’s South Africa destination expert, is an award-winning journalist who has been researching and writing guidebooks to Southern Africa since 1998.
