We arrived at Cape Town International Airport in the evening (around 9pm) and we went straight to the renting car company (Europcar).
Tip: We suggest to rent a vehicle that has a trunk big enough to contain your backpacks/suitcases without people seeing them from the outside, as the risk of them being stolen is quite high in South Africa (and especially in big cities like Cape Town). In our case, we pre-booked a Toyota Corolla.
After getting our car, we went directly to our accommodation (Bluegum Hill Guesthouse) which we highly recommend! It is located in Green Point at the top of the hill, so you will have an amazing view of the ocean and Cape Town. Moreover, the two sisters running the property are very accommodating and super helpful. They gave us a lot of tips as well as helped organize a tour of the townships.
This was a long day for us so we didn’t do much: we just enjoyed the view from our room with a fresh beer offered by the host.
Day 1
We spent our first day in South Africa discovering some areas of Cape Town and its surroundings.
We started with the well-known Victoria & Albert Waterfront: this area is mostly pedestrian, has plenty of shops, restaurants and people walking around. It has a good vibe and a nice food market. Since we particularly liked it, we came back for dinner that same night.
V&A Waterfront is also one of the few areas which is safe walking around at night.
Tip: pay attention where you park your car in the shopping center since that place is huge!! We didn’t really care and had to spend half an hour looking for the car because we couldn’t remember which entrance we used. That was quite funny, but not if you are short of time 😉
After walking around a few hours, we decided to drive to Hout Bay to visit the Bay Harbour Market and have lunch. It took us around 35 minutes to get there but it was worth it. For those interested, on the route to Hout Bay, there are also the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden which we heard is lovely.
Hout Bay is a suburb of Cape Town with around 18k population and it’s surrounded by beautiful coastal mountains. We visited the market, which is considered one of the most vibrant markets in the Cape Town area. One can find vintage clothes, many types of food, live music and bars.
We enjoyed our lunch with a couple of beers, listening to the guy playing the guitar and then we had a walk to enjoy the view of the bay. We also encountered two cute seals that were sleeping on the rocks.
Finally, it was time to go back to our accommodation before going to dinner in a game restaurant in V&A Waterfront.
Unfortunately, Cape Town is known not to be safe at night (especially for tourists) so after dinner, we headed back to our accommodation.
Day 2
During our second day in Cape Town we decided to visit the city center and some famous areas close-by. We first started with the city center and took a stroll to The Company’s Garden. They aren’t big but calm and very well maintained. It is the perfect stop for a break from the chaos outside!
After the garden, we walked to the castle passing by Cape Town City Hall and other historic buildings. We didn’t particularly enjoy the walk because there is a lot of traffic and the buildings are not very appealing (with the exception of few ones) so we would not really recommend going there.
At lunch time, the nice lady working at the Tourist Center suggested a very cute and not-at-all touristic restaurant 5 minutes away. We are happy to have followed the suggestion as it turned up to be great, both for the food and for the interior of the restaurant.
After a tasty lunch, we headed off to Bo-Kaap: the famous area with all houses painted with bright colors. It is situated on the slopes of Signal Hill, a few minutes from the city center and it’s considered the historical center of the Malay culture in Cape Town. In addition to walking through the streets and taking many pictures of the beautiful houses, there is also a little and quite informative museum (Bo-Kaap Museum – cost: R20.00).
There are also local guides that offer insights on the history of Bo-Kaap as well as take pictures with you and the houses.
Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to go visit Table Mountain.
We rode on the cable (R200-360 per person, one way-return), but there are also many different trails to go up (or down). Have a look at them here.
The views from above there are amazing!! If you go to Cape Town, you must not miss them!
See some shots below but, of course, we took a lot more than that 😉
In the late afternoon, we also walked the Lion’s Head trail, which gives a breathtaking 360-degrees view of the entire city. We highly recommend it! It is considered easy with some minor rock climbing (stairs and chains), so it’s also family friendly. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the top because I suffer from aero acrophobia (fear of open high places). I know, pretty lame! 🙁 but we did enjoy the whole experience anyway.
If you particularly love hiking, you can try the 13 Peaks Challenge: the idea is to hike all the 13 peaks of Cape Town Penisula Area in 24h (or less). Good Luck!!!
We finished our day looking at the sunset with a cold beer in front of the sea in Camp’s Bay. We couldn’t ask for more. This area is particularly famous for their fish restaurants so we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Ocean Blue restaurant where we had a good deal in king shrimps.
Day 3
Our third day was dedicated to visiting the Cape Town peninsula
The first stop was Muizenberg, where we had a nice walk on the beach and around the little village. There is not much to see, except for the lovely full coloured cabines on the beach… so, if you don’t have time, you can skip it with no regrets.
In less than 10 minutes by car from Muizenberg, we arrived in Kalk Bay. It is another small village with some eccentric bars and shops. We stopped for a drink at Ohana Café and we enjoyed a beautiful view on the False Bay. If you start your day early, this would make a perfect breakfast stop.
Our next stop was Simon’s Town and, particularly, the Boulders Penguin Colony, which is home of a colony of some 3000 African penguins. The entry cost is R125 per person, but those penguins are so cute that are worth the money. And as a plus, the beautiful white sands are an awesome background for pictures.
For an additional fee you can also enter Boulders Beach, which is also beautiful and occasionally penguins chill on it.
For lunch, we made a stop at Tasty Table, in Simon’s Town, which is a simple place with healthy and tasty food. They prepare the meals when you order, so they are not very fast, but it’s worth the wait.
After driving 15 minutes, we finally arrived at the entrance of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. We drove across the park and we stopped a couple of times along the way to admire the rocky land. We visited the New Cape Point Lighthouse and the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most south-western point of the african continent.
There are many baboons on the area, so, remember not to leave any food in the car. If not, there is a big chance of finding the monkeys playing on your car or trying to break into it (we learnt it the hard way)! Pay also attention to your stuff (camera, backpacks, etc.) as they tend to steal everything and they are quite fast.
When the time to go back to our guesthouse arrived, we drove on the west side of the peninsula and the sunset was spectacular! We also passed the Chapman’s Peak drive, which has incredible views of the Hout Bay.
Bear in mind that driving after sunrise may be a bit tricky, as there are people walking on the side of the street and you cannot really see them because there are no street-lamps. Some folks even cross the street like nothing… at points, it gets scary.
For dinner, we headed to the Hussor Grill restaurant in Green Point, recommended by our host as one of the best steak restaurants of Cape Town. Definitely a must for meat lovers.
Day 4
For our fourth and last day in Cape Town, we booked a tour of the townships recommended by our host. We couldn’t have chosen any better.
We were a small group of 8 people and we first visited the District six museum. This museum is dedicated to all those families that were forced out of their homes during the Apartheid. It is very interesting and important to know a bit more about such sad times. We highly recommend it (you can of course visit it also on your own).
During the rest of the morning, we visited two townships. In particular, we visited Langa, where our local guide was from.
First, he showed us the typical sheepshead: a food specialty of the townships. Then, we visited two houses which were extremely small. We discovered that usually all the members of the family sleep in the same bed, as there is no space for another one.
We also visited a school and the children sang us some songs. They were really cute.
Then, we visited the local pub, in which the women are not allowed (except for the owner and the tourists) for cultural reasons and we tasted the local beer. It was a bit watered down but not so bad!
Finally, we visited the local doctor, which was a shaman and he was living in this small cabin with no lights. Quite different from our typical idea of a doctor.
Lastly, we visited another township and they showed us a documentary of mentor mothers. These people work with future mothers during their pregnancy and after they give birth. Their aim is to help them to have stronger and healthier children.
We finally headed back to our guesthouse. It was an incredibly and rich experience. Honestly, we were shocked about the conditions in which those people live. Maybe next time I will think twice before complaining about my problems.
We took our backpacks and we departed toward the winery area of Paarl and Franschhoek. You would fine more information here.