Cape Town was my last stop on my South Africa trip. Cape Town is a lot bigger than I thought it would be and it includes a lot of suburbs and the Cape Town peninsula, which is about an hour and a half from the city of Cape Town. Including the Cape Town peninsula, I spent four full days in the Cape Town area. You can check out my itinerary for specific day-to-day details and additional suggestions that I didn't have time for.
CAPE TOWN PENINSULA
So my drive from wine country to the Cape Town peninsula was a little under two hours. Coming from wine country and the Garden Route, I was a little bit surprised by the number of people as I got closer to the peninsula. It wasn’t exactly packed, but we went from being relatively the only people in some places to having a pretty big crowd even though it was the shoulder season. So our first stop along the peninsula was lunch at Harbour House in Kalk Bay. The view was absolutely gorgeous with floor to ceiling windows where you could see the ocean and huge rocks with seals in the distance.
Then we stopped at the famous Boulder Beach, otherwise known as penguin beach. So I kind of had a hard time finding the penguins at first. I walked down to what was called Boulder Beach, but didn’t see any penguins. I finally asked someone and they pointed me in the direction of where they were. Only it was a boardwalk where you had to pay to walk onto and you wouldn’t actually get down to be with the penguins. I was actually really disappointed because I thought you could be on the beach with them. However, after I left I messaged a travel blogger who I knew had been there recently and she said there is a beach that you can actually be on the beach with them not far from the boardwalk. So that was actually my biggest disappointment of the trip. It was still neat to see so many together on a beach! And their calls were really interesting. Oh well. At least I can get closer to the penguins when I go to Antarctica.
Then we checked into our hotel for the night, Simon’s Town Quayside Hotel. This hotel had the prettiest views! And cute little shops downstairs and breakfast was included where you would go to a separate restaurant with views of the water. The workers were super friendly also. It was such a great stay.
The next morning we went to the Cape of Good Hope and the edge of the Cape Peninsula. We climbed up to the lighthouse then went to the most south westernly point of the continent of Africa. Really pretty views all around and the water was gorgeous with all of the rocks and seals! We also saw ostriches running along the beach.
CAPE TOWN
So I really wanted to drive the famous Chapman’s Peak drive to Cape Town, but it was blocked off due to wind. The drive to Cape Town still put us on the edge of a lot of cliffs. We stayed in Cape Town for three and a half days, four nights. Originally, we booked an Airbnb which would have put us near the V&A waterfront, but the pipes burst so we had to scramble to find something else right away. We just decided to go with a hotel since we had issues with heat at our other airbnbs and stayed near Sea Point. Our hotel was okay—the rooms felt small. The employees were very helpful and accommodating tho and we had a great breakfast every morning and place to park. Plus they had the cutest hotel dog. I think V&A waterfront and Seapoint are great places to stay if you are more interested in being around the city. Clifton and Camps Bay are great places to stay if you’re more into the hikes and beaches.
So our first stop in Cape Town was the V&A Waterfront. It reminded me of the Darling Harbour in Sydney and is set up like your typical harbor—shops, restaurants, ferris wheel, and aquarium around a small body of water. The views of Table Mountain were incredible and I saw the prettiest sunset at the harbor. I always like going to local markets on trips and V&A Waterfront has several of them. The food market called The Waterfront Food Market had so many yummy things and The Watershed Market had some decent shops. At this point, we had yet to try authentic African food so we had a great dinner at Karibu.
Our first stop the next morning was Bo-Kaap. Bo-Kaap is an area of Cape town known as the Malay Quarter. Because the original aboriginal tribes in the area resisted the Dutch, slaves were initially imported from Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Africa, hence the name “Malay." After the emancipation in 1834 and the arrival of liberated slaves, developers constructed numerous rows of these houses. The brightly-coloured facades are attributed to and expression of freedom by the new homeowners, as all the houses were painted white while on lease. But now the government wants to take over these section because of the prime location in town and because of the attraction to tourists. So residents have been demonstrating protests. Pretty buildings but sad history for the locals.
The next stop of the day was Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. It is the first botanic garden in the world to be included within a natural World Heritage Site. It was pretty, but I’ve seen more impressive gardens like Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Apparently though there is a pretty viewpoint in the gardens that is can’t miss but I somehow missed it?
For lunch, we went to this swanky restaurant in Clifton called the Bungalow where all the celebs go and where paragliders end up when paragliding from Signal Hill. Naturally, I got the grilled calamari then I trespassed down to this beach that had these unbelievable boulders.
That night, the city was having their “First Fridays” activities which included free admission to a bunch of pop-up art galleries with free drinks and little snacks like popcorn and donuts. That was a lot of fun to see the locals out and about and all of the art.
So I had been holding off going to Table Mountain since it was so cloudy, but I was only in Cape Town for two more days and the next day it was supposed to rain all day so it was now or never. Table Mountain is one of 7 new wonders of nature in the world. It is 260 million years old and frequented by celebs. You are supposed to have really amazing views of the city so I was prepared to be disappointed and see nothing because of the clouds. But I thought my view was even better—I was up above the clouds! You can either hike up to table mountain or take a cable car. Since I was planning on hiking Lions Head right after, I took the cable car up. It was so pretty to walk around trails and be above the clouds. They even had a little restaurant on top where we had lunch. You see lots of “dossies,” mouse-like creatures whose closest relative is the elephant oddly enough. I was so pleasantly surprised by the cloud view surrounding us.
On the way down the mountain on the cable car, I got to talking to this guy from Germany who happened to be going over to Lions Head to hike also so we decided to do it together. At first I didn’t really want to go with someone else so that I could go at my own place, but I’m glad I had him with me. The hike doesn’t have that well-marked of a trail and you have to climb ropes, ladders, pull yourself up ledges, so it’s a lot safer having someone with you. The hike definitely was very challenging but when we got to the top, I saw what I was supposed to see on Table Mountain—the whole city of Cape Town! So it was probably better Table Mountain had the clouds or else it would be the same view. The hike was more deserted than I expected but I ran into a bunch of Americans near the top, more than I saw the entire trip. I was really happy I was able to do the hike since the weather wasn’t that great during my time in Cape Town and I knew I would have to go alone. I was proud of myself for doing it and going up Table Mountain in the clouds.
The last day in Cape Town was a rainy one. We went to the Old Biscuit Mill Market, which was the best market in Cape Town. Live music, cute shops, amazing food.
Then I had a spa day at the Table Mountain Hotel on the V&A Waterfront. Really great massage.
Finally, we had a high tea at the One & Only Hotel. It was a really pretty hotel with gorgeous views. There was even someone kayaking in the rain the whole time.
So that was concludes my South Africa trip! It really was the best place I’ve ever been (with Iceland a close second). The whole country was natural gorgeous, the food was amazing, the people were friendly, the weather was pretty good, there were so many things to do and see. But the biggest thing was the animals—there is nothing like seeing them in the wild and being able to get so close to them. I will definitely be back to see more African countries, hopefully Namibia, Zambia, and Botswana next time, then maybe Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda after that. I loved everything we did and was glad I got to see the Garden Route and Panorama Route. You can view the full itinerary and more Cape Town suggestions, or read more about Kruger National Park, the Garden Route, wine country and the Panorama Route.
I leave tomorrow for the Canadian Rockies so will be updating my Instagram all week and have a couple of posts here about it sometime when I get back.
