Cape Town travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Cape Town, planned over three days
Best time to visit Cape Town
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Summer: peak everything, hot and dry, beaches and Kirstenbosch concerts, highest prices mid December to mid January.
Autumn: wind drops, crowds thin, Winelands harvest. March is arguably the single best month.
Winter: green, cheap and wet, whales arrive, top tables bookable, cableway maintenance closure lands in late July.
Spring: wildflowers peak August to September, whales into November, November is the warm pre peak sweet spot.
What's on
- Kaapse Klopse Minstrel Carnival early January
Thousands of costumed troupes parade through the centre for Tweede Nuwe Jaar.
- Cape Town Pride Feb/Mar
A parade and a week of parties and events across the city, mostly in De Waterkant and Green Point.
- Cape Town Carnival March
A free evening parade of floats and dancers down the Green Point Fan Walk.
- Cape Town Cycle Tour March
The world's largest timed cycle race. Peninsula roads close for it.
- Cape Town International Jazz Festival usually late Mar/Apr
Two nights of African and international jazz at the convention centre that fill central hotels.
- Two Oceans Marathon April
A 56km ultra and half marathon that shuts Peninsula roads over its weekend.
- Sanlam Cape Town Marathon usually October
The spring city marathon, usually held in October.
- Cape Town International Kite Festival late October
A long running kite festival in late October.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Cape Town
Table Mountain
The defining sight: ride the cableway up on the first clear morning and walk to Maclear's Beacon.
Cape Peninsula
The great full day loop via Chapman's Peak and Cape Point to the Boulders penguins and Kalk Bay.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
A world class botanical garden under Table Mountain, with fynbos, the Boomslang walkway and picnic lawns.
Lion's Head
A steep one hour scramble to a 360 degree summit over the city, the Atlantic and Table Mountain.
Robben Island
The prison where Mandela spent 18 years, toured in part by former political prisoners. Essential history.
Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa
The largest museum of contemporary African art in the world, carved out of a historic grain silo.
V&A Waterfront
Do it as Zeitz MOCAA, the Watershed craft market and a harbour lunch, not as mall time.
Bo-Kaap
A living Cape Malay neighbourhood of cobbled, brightly painted streets, best seen with a guide.
Where to stay in Cape Town
Sea Point
first trip, all round base
A lived in Atlantic Seaboard neighbourhood with the Promenade, the best everyday eating strip and good value stays.
V&A Waterfront
first timers, families, short stays
A security patrolled precinct with hotels, Zeitz MOCAA and the Robben Island ferry, walkable day and night.
Gardens / Tamboerskloof
food lovers
Leafy streets under the mountain where Kloof Street is where Capetonians eat and drink.
Camps Bay / Clifton / Bantry Bay
beach splurge
The glamorous Atlantic strip with sea view hotels and sundowner bars, pricey and a drive from town.
De Waterkant / Green Point
couples, character and centrality
Villagey, colourful streets between the CBD and Sea Point, with good cafes and design shops.
Constantia
wine and quiet, second trip
Leafy estate hotels among the vines, lovely but car dependent and 25 minutes from everything else.
Think twice about
- CBD / Long Street
Fine by day, but the Long Street bar strip is flagged for pickpocketing, phone snatching and scams after dark. Do not sleep on the party strip.
- Cape Flats townships
Areas such as Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Mitchells Plain, Langa and Gugulethu are where violent crime is concentrated. Visit only on a reputable community run tour, by day, in a group.
- Woodstock / Observatory as a base
Great cafes and cheap guesthouses, but street safety is patchy a block or two off the main roads, especially after dark.
- Airport / N2 corridor and Blouberg / Table View
Far from everything you will do, and the N2 and airport corridor is a known smash and grab and wrong turn risk for visitors following GPS blindly.
Best restaurants in Cape Town
FYN
A Japanese inflected tasting menu built on South African ingredients. The special occasion booking.
La Colombe
French Asian fine dining in the Silvermist estate vineyards. Lunch with the valley below is the move.
Salsify at the Roundhouse
Hyper local seafood and game in a 1786 roundhouse above Camps Bay. Book the sunset sitting.
Pier Restaurant
Seafood led tasting menus at the harbour's edge, the Waterfront's serious restaurant.
Salon
Luke Dale Roberts' journey style menu in a moody, elegant room at the Old Biscuit Mill.
Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia
Tapas style plates for the table on a wine farm with valley views. Book lunch and taste the wines.
The Pot Luck Club
Share plates atop the Old Biscuit Mill silo, with global small plates, city views and a buzzy room.
Kloof Street House
A Victorian house with a fairy light garden courtyard: brasserie food, cocktails and Sunday roasts.
Outdoor things to do in Cape Town
Table Mountain
Climb free via Platteklip Gorge, India Venster or Skeleton Gorge and ride the cableway down.
Cape Point
The Peninsula done on foot: the lighthouse walk, Boulders boardwalks and False Bay swims.
Boulders Beach
Sea kayak from Simon's Town harbour to see the African penguin colony from the water.
Surfer's Corner
A long, gentle, forgiving beginner break with surf schools renting boards and wetsuits by the hour.
Signal Hill
A tandem paraglide over Sea Point and the Atlantic Seaboard, landing on the Promenade.
Steenberg Golf Club
A championship course through vineyards and pine forest on the Constantia wine estate.
Hermanus Cliff Path
Walk the cliff path in season as southern right whales calve in Walker Bay, metres from shore.
Gansbaai
Shark cage diving, now mostly bronze whaler sharks rather than great whites. Go in knowing that.
Best hotels in Cape Town
Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel
The pink 1899 grand hotel in gardens at the foot of the mountain, famous for afternoon tea.
Ellerman House
A cliffside mansion hotel above Bantry Bay with a private art collection and Atlantic sunsets.
The Silo Hotel
Rooms in the pillowed glass top of the Zeitz MOCAA silo, with a rooftop pool and harbour views.
One&Only Cape Town
A resort in the city inside the Waterfront, with an island pool, spa and mountain view rooms.
POD Camps Bay
A sleek 17 room boutique a minute from Camps Bay beach, the couples' beach weekend choice.
Gorgeous George
A stylish design hotel across two heritage buildings, with a rooftop pool and bar.
The President Hotel
A large, well run, sea facing hotel on the Promenade end of Sea Point. Dependable for longer stays.
Villa Viva Cape Town
The city's original backpacker site, now with dorms and private rooms, a pool and a garden.
Is Cape Town expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | ZAR 1,500 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | ZAR 3,100 a person |
| Splurge | ZAR 6,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Table Mountain: a few days ahead
- Cape Peninsula: a few days ahead
- Robben Island: weeks ahead
- Bo-Kaap: a few days ahead
- Cape Point: a few days ahead
- Boulders Beach: a few days ahead
- Signal Hill: a few days ahead
- Steenberg Golf Club: weeks ahead
- Book Robben Island direct on the official museum site as soon as dates are set. Reseller tickets are a recurring scam.
- FYN, La Colombe, Salsify and Salon take bookings weeks out in season. Book via Dineplan.
- Buy Table Mountain cableway tickets online and go first thing on your first clear morning, with a backup day.
- December to mid January books out everywhere and prices spike.
Is Cape Town safe?
- Phone snatching and pickpocketing happen in the CBD. Step into a cafe to check directions and never resist a robbery.
- Refuse help from strangers at ATMs, and use machines inside malls or banks. Card swapping and skimming are the common scam.
- After dark use busy, lit streets only and Uber the rest, including in Sea Point and Gardens.
- Never hike alone. Go in groups of three or four, in daylight, on popular routes, and save the park emergency number 086 110 6417.
Cape Town travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The V&A Waterfront as a day of mall shopping. Go for Zeitz MOCAA, Pier, the ferry and the market.
- A Long Street bar crawl. Kloof Street and Bree Street are the better night out.
- Camps Bay strip sundowners at full tourist price more than once. Picnic at Clifton or Sea Point Promenade instead.
- Shark cage diving sold as a must do. It is a long day to Gansbaai and great whites are largely absent now.
Getting around Cape Town: public transport and more
- Uber is the default: cheap, plentiful and the safe choice at night, even for short hops.
- The MyCiTi bus is clean and useful on the Waterfront and Atlantic Seaboard routes. Its airport service has been suspended, so plan on Uber or a transfer from the airport.
- Rent a car or hire a driver only for the Peninsula, Constantia and Winelands days. Driving is on the left.
- Do not use minibus taxis, do not hail street taxis, and stick to main routes instead of GPS shortcuts.
Who Cape Town suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Cape Town your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store