South Africa · Southern Africa
Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula.
Cape Town is the city most itineraries are anchored to, and the Peninsula gives it a coastline, a mountain and a wine region within an hour of the centre.
Photo Joshua Kettle / Unsplash
The city sits between Table Mountain and two oceans, which is the practical reason it absorbs more days than visitors expect. The mountain, the Waterfront, the Bo-Kaap and the beaches at Camps Bay and Clifton are all within the city; Cape Point, Boulders Beach and Chapman's Peak Drive are a day's loop from it.
Weather is the planning constraint rather than the season for wildlife: the Cape is a winter-rainfall region, so its best months are the southern summer, which is precisely when the safari areas to the north are at their greenest and wettest.
How do you get to Cape Town?
Cape Town International has direct flights from Europe and the Middle East, and from the United States on some routes, and it is about two hours' flight from Johannesburg. The airport is around twenty minutes from the city centre.
How long should you spend in Cape Town?
Three or four nights for the city and the Peninsula, and two or three more for the Winelands. Cape Town is also the starting point for the Garden Route and a common place to finish a trip that began on safari.
Can you go up Table Mountain?
Yes, by the aerial cableway or on foot. Platteklip Gorge is the most direct hiking route, a steep climb of one to three hours depending on fitness. The cableway closes when the wind is up or the cloud comes down, which is the reason to keep the mountain flexible rather than fix it to one day. The mountain is part of Table Mountain National Park.
Can you go on safari from Cape Town?
There are private game reserves within a few hours' drive, and they suit a short introduction. For a serious safari the usual route is a flight of about two hours to the Greater Kruger, or a shorter one to the malaria-free reserves of the Eastern Cape.
What is there to see in Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula?
Sample journeys that stop here
- A taste of culture →Four of South Africa's food cultures, tasted along the Cape's scenic routes from an open-top Jeep. Each stop is built around local dishes and what they are paired with, and the chefs and hosts tell their own stories.
What does Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula pair well with?
- The Cape WinelandsStellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl form the classic winelands triangle, about an hour inland from Cape Town.
- The Garden RouteThe Garden Route runs roughly from Mossel Bay to Storms River along the southern coast, and is the country's classic self-drive stretch.
- Greater Kruger and the LowveldThe Greater Kruger is South Africa's principal safari region: the national park itself plus a belt of private reserves sharing unfenced boundaries with it.
- The Eastern CapeThe Eastern Cape's private reserves are malaria-free and sit within reach of the Garden Route, which is why they so often close a family itinerary.
More journeys through South Africa
Planning
Elsewhere in South Africa
- KwaZulu-Natal and ZululandKwaZulu-Natal combines a warm coastline, the Drakensberg mountains and Big Five reserves that are malaria-free or low-risk.
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