Cape Town
WHAT TO SEE AND DO
Table Mountain
Rising to an altitude of 1,086m (3,563ft), iconic Table Mountain sometimes basked in golden sunlight, other times swathed in a misty shroud known as the tablecloth, dominates the city’s southern skyline. The ‘table top’, most easily reached by cable car, offers stunning views to reveal the geological drama of the Cape Peninsula.
Victoria & Albert Waterfront
Reputedly the most-visited tourist attraction in South Africa, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is a vast harbor-front development comprising 50-plus restaurants, hundreds of shops, and boats offering sunset cruises around Table Bay, where dolphins and seals frolic below the outline of Table Mountain.
Bo-Kaap
The Bo-Kaap (Upper Cape) is the spiritual home of the Cape Malay community, whose colorfully painted houses include the Bo-Kaap Museum, a beautifully restored 1760s homestead that explores the history of this fascinating suburb.
Boulders Beach
Just five minutes drive south of Simon’s Town, Boulders Beach supports a permanent breeding colony of several thousand penguins which can be observed strutting, surfing, squabbling and sunbathing from a network of boardwalks and viewing platforms.
Kirstenbosch
Set on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, the 528ha (1,305acres) garden is serviced by a network of well-marked trails passing through thematic beds of indigenous flora – most notably a lush cycad garden, but also a fascinating collection of ‘useful plants’, and a conservatory containing succulent species typical of the arid Kalahari and Namaqualand.
Twelve Apostles
The Twelve Apostles Mountain Range forms the back of Table Mountain, where you’ll find one of the most scenic stretches of coast in the world. The views here really speak for themselves. Miles of uninhabited scenery, alongside the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way are stunning beaches, magnificent granite rock formations, and the towering crests of the mountains. Stop in Camps Bay for a delicious cocktail and snack while the sun goes down
District Six Museum
Six Museum is arguably the city’s most engaging and poignant installation. Taped recollections possessions and photographs donated by former residents evoke everyday life as it was in the cosmopolitan multiracial suburb of District Six prior to it being bulldozed by the apartheid government in 1966 and rezoned as a whites-only area.
Robben Island
Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Robben Island gained infamy as a site of the maximum- security block where Nelson Mandela and other prominent anti-apartheid leaders were detained in the height of the struggle. It can be visited on a boat-and-bus excursion that leaves from Victoria & Alfred Waterfront several times daily and includes a visit to the tiny cell Mandela was required to call home for 18 years.
WHERE TO EAT / DRINK
Richly furnished dining rooms in Victorian house with bar and leafy gardens, for eclectic cuisine.
Stylish restaurant with an ocean-view terrace focused on global seafood dishes including sushi.
Sophisticated tapas served in a chic, buzzy locale with glass walls & views of Table Mountain.
Simple family-run restaurant offering Cape Malay cuisine & vistas of Table Mountain & Cape Town.
Bar, cafe and restaurant in historic waterfront warehouse with wooden deck and private beach.