Best Things to Do in Cape Town

A curated guide to the best things to do in Cape Town, from coastal drives to standout dining and everything in between.

Few places pack in quite as much as Cape Town. It’s a city where mountains crash into the ocean, vineyards sit within day-trip distance, and neighborhoods shift in mood block by block. It’s the kind of city that doesn’t ask you to choose between nature, culture, food, or design—you get all of it, often in the same day.

If you’re searching for the best things to do in Cape Town, you’ll quickly realize the list runs long. I recently spent a week in the city, moving between its corners, from coastal drives to tucked-away cafés and high-design restaurants, and what stood out most was just how varied the experience is.

From sunrise hikes to late-night wine bars, here’s what to do in Cape Town, South Africa.

*This ‘things to do in Cape Town’ guide may contain affiliate links, meaning I might make a small profit if you choose to book at no extra cost to you. This helps me to keep providing you with top-quality content for free.

Getting to and Around Cape Town

Cape Town is one of the more straightforward cities to navigate in South Africa.

You’ll most probably land at Cape Town International, which is easy to navigate, and Uber from the airport to the city centre is the best way to get into the city.

One thing to know: on exiting arrivals, you will almost certainly be approached by touts carrying what look like Uber-branded credentials, telling you the official Uber pick-up point is closed and that you should go with them instead. Ignore them completely. Always call your ride through the app and wait for your assigned driver.

The actual Uber pick-up point is on the ground floor of the parking building directly opposite the arrivals terminal — walk towards it, take the path around to the left, and use the side entrance. It takes two minutes and saves you from an overpriced, unofficial ride.

Make sure to have a South Africa e-SIM before you land for data from the get-go so you can call an Uber. I use Airalo, and this meant I could call an Uber as soon as I landed.

The best way to get around Cape Town is also by Uber. It’s cheap, reliable, and removes any stress from getting around the city, particularly after dark. On that note, do not walk around after dark. Daytime is a different story, the Atlantic Seaboard, Sea Point Promenade, Camps Bay, the V&A Waterfront, and the Gardens neighbourhood around Kloof Street are all perfectly pleasant on foot.

For anything beyond the city itself, rent a car for at least part of your trip. I did, and it was one of the best calls I made. Traffic is minimal, parking is largely free and easy, and the freedom to drive Chapman’s Peak, the Peninsula, or out to the Winelands on your own schedule is something Uber simply can’t replicate.

For car rental, I used and continue to use Discover Cars, always opting for a reliable company like Hertz, Sixt (or Woodford in South Africa), and full insurance. Until today, I’ve never had any issues.

20 Best Things to Do in Cape Town, South Africa

1. Summit Table Mountain

Table Mountain is one of those rare landmarks that genuinely lives up to its reputation; the views over the city, the Atlantic, the Cape Peninsula, and across to Robben Island are staggering in every direction.

Take the cable car up; the rotating floor of the car gives you a 360-degree view on the ascent alone and an Uber to the lower cable station at the base. Make sure to book your cable car tickets online in advance, particularly in peak season, as queues at the station can be long and cars sell out. I also recommend going for the fast track tickets so you don’t need to wait- it’s worth the extra price.

It’s also important to check the weather before you go, the mountain generates its own cloud cover famously fast, and when it’s socked in, the cable car doesn’t run. A clear morning with no wind is your window- just go then. (It’s worth knowing that tickets are valid for 7 days, so if the weather is playing up for when you booked, you can reschedule.)

At the top, give yourself time to walk the paths along the plateau rather than heading straight back down. The scale of it only hits you once you’re up there.

2. Hike Lion’s Head Peak

Lion’s Head is the distinctive pointed peak that sits between Table Mountain and the Atlantic Seaboard, and the circular hike to the summit is one of the best things to do in Cape Town.

The trail takes around two hours return, involves some scrambling and a couple of chain-and-ladder sections near the top that are more fun than they are frightening, and rewards you with views that rival, and in some ways surpass, Table Mountain.

You’re looking back at the mountain on one side and straight down onto Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles on the other. Take an Uber to the Lion’s Head parking area on Signal Hill Road and go early — sunrise hikes are popular for good reason, and the parking area gets busy by mid-morning.

Wear proper shoes, bring water, and don’t underestimate the final push to the summit. The chain sections are manageable for anyone reasonably fit, but they’re not optional.

3. Drive Chapman’s Peak Drive

One of the most spectacular coastal drives in the world. Chapman’s Peak Drive hugs the cliff face between Hout Bay and Noordhoek, with the Atlantic crashing below and sheer rock face above, for about nine kilometres of road that feels more like a film set than a commute.

Pull over at the viewpoints, take your time, and if the conditions are clear, you’ll have views down the Peninsula that are hard to forget. It’s a toll road — a few rand, nothing significant.

The catch, though, is that the drive is highly seasonal and closes frequently in poor weather due to rockfall risk. I didn’t get to do it — it was shut for my entire time in Cape Town, but luckily, I did get to experience some of this coast by staying at Tintswalo Atlantic.

Check the status before you plan around it at the Chapman Speak Drive website and have a backup plan. For Chapman’s Peak, I’d highly recommend renting a car, even if it’s just for the day. You can also use it to head to Boulder’s Beach and explore places like Noordhoek and Kalk Bay.

4. Visit the V&A Waterfront

The V&A Waterfront is the kind of place you’ll end up at multiple times without really planning to, at least that’s what happened for me.

It’s one of the most polished parts of the city, a working harbour ringed with restaurants, bars, shops, and one of the better food markets in the country. It’s also where you catch the ferry to Robben Island, which deserves its own slot in your itinerary.

Don’t write it off as a tourist trap; yes, it draws crowds, but it’s well done and genuinely enjoyable, particularly in the evening when the harbour lights up, and you’re looking back at Table Mountain with a drink in hand. The Watershed market inside is worth an hour of your time for local design, craft, and food. Uber in and out with ease, parking exists but isn’t worth the effort.

5. Oranjezicht City Farm Market

Oranjezicht City Farm Market is one of the best food markets in Cape Town and is worth building a morning around. The market runs on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 am to 2 pm at the Granger Bay location, right on the waterfront, which makes it an easy pairing with the V&A, just a short walk away.

The produce is exceptional, the food stalls are a genuine cross-section of Cape Town’s culinary range, and the setting, with the mountain behind you and the harbour in front, is pretty hard to beat. Apart from stocking up on delights like biltong, natural wine, and rooibos tea, you can also grab coffee and eat your way through the wide range of ready-to-eat food stalls here that sell everything from sushi to curry.

Go here first, eat your way through it, then walk over to the V&A and make a half-day of the whole waterfront area.

6. Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art

The Zeitz MOCAA sits at the Clock Tower end of the V&A Waterfront, housed in a converted grain silo that is itself worth the visit before you’ve even looked at a single piece of art.

The architecture — designed by Heatherwick Studio — is extraordinary; the central atrium carved from the cellular grain tubes is one of the more remarkable interior spaces you’ll find anywhere. It honestly feels like stepping into some kind of alien spaceship.

The art collection focuses entirely on contemporary African and African diaspora art, and the quality and breadth of it are genuinely impressive. Set aside two to three hours, more if you’re inclined. Combined with the market and the waterfront, it makes the whole precinct an easy full day.

Check opening times and book tickets in advance, as it draws numbers and the timed entry system keeps crowds manageable in high season and on weekends.

7. High Tea at Mount Nelson

The Mount Nelson — or the Nelly, as it’s known locally — is Cape Town’s grande dame of hotels, a colonial-pink landmark that has been hosting the city’s elite and well-travelled since 1899.

High tea here is a ritual worth doing once. It runs daily in the hotel’s themed gardens, and the spread is serious, with tiered stands, fresh scones, finger sandwiches, and a tea selection that requires serious consideration.

Book well in advance, dress the part, and don’t rush it. It sits in the Gardens neighbourhood, easy to Uber to from anywhere central. Alternatively, if high tea isn’t your thing, you can also book to stay at Mount Nelson or have lunch at Amura.

8. District Six Museum

The District Six Museum documents one of apartheid’s most brutal acts of social engineering, the forced removal of over 60,000 residents from a vibrant, mixed-race inner-city neighbourhood, which was then demolished and declared a whites-only area in 1966.

What the museum does extraordinarily well is make it human. The centrepiece is a vast floor map of the original streets where former residents have marked their homes, written their names, and left their stories.

It is quite devastating in the best possible way a museum can be. Allow a proper two hours to see and understand everything.

9. Bo Kaap

Bo-Kaap is one of Cape Town’s most visually distinctive neighbourhoods, a hillside grid of brightly painted houses rising above the city centre that has become one of the most photographed corners of South Africa.

But there’s far more to it than the colour. Bo-Kaap is the historic heart of the Cape Malay community, descendants of slaves and political exiles brought to the Cape by the Dutch East India Company from the late 1600s onwards, and the neighbourhood has been continuously inhabited by that community for over two centuries.

The culture, the architecture, the mosques, the food, all of it carries that history. It’s walkable and beautiful on its own terms, but to properly understand what you’re looking at, go with a guide. Several local operators run walking tours led by residents of the neighbourhood itself, which makes an enormous difference, and you’ll leave with context that no amount of reading replicates.

It pairs naturally with a visit to the District Six Museum, the two histories being deeply intertwined.

10. Explore Camps Bay

Camps Bay is Cape Town’s glamorous exhale, a wide crescent of white sand backed by the Twelve Apostles mountain range and lined with restaurants, bars, and cafés that fill up fast on a sunny afternoon.

The beach is beautiful, and the setting is genuinely world-class. Go for a swim if the Atlantic’s notorious cold doesn’t put you off, grab a table at one of the strip restaurants, and order a bottle of wine while the sun drops behind the mountains.

It’s very much on the tourist circuit, so manage expectations on pricing and crowds in peak season. Go on a weekday if you can, arrive early for the beach, and stay for sundowners.

The walk along the Atlantic Seaboard from Sea Point through to Camps Bay is worth doing at least once too, a long coastal promenade with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.

11. Visit Kalk Bay

Kalk Bay is the kind of place Cape Town locals are quietly possessive about, a small working fishing harbour about 40 minutes south of the city centre that has accumulated one of the best collections of antique shops, independent bookstores, art galleries, and casual restaurants of anywhere in the country.

You arrive, you walk the main street, you duck into things, you end up staying longer than you planned. The harbour itself is the real thing, with fishing boats coming in daily and seals loitering without any sense of shame around the catch.

Kalky’s, the no-frills fish and chip spot right on the harbour, is an institution and worth the queue. Harbour House delivers fresh food right by the water, and Ohana Beach Cafe is where to grab a coffee. Make sure to also stop by Kalk Bay Books, Sana Collective, and Khioma.

Best visited with a rental car, and ideally folded into the same day as Boulders Beach, which sits further down the Peninsula. Do Boulders first, then work your way back up through Kalk Bay, and you have one of the better days Cape Town offers without much effort at all. I

f you’re just planning to visit Kalk Bay, you can take the train from Cape Town CBD.

12. Visit the Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope sits within the Table Mountain National Park and is the southwestern tip of the African continent.

Drive up to Cape Point, take the funicular or hike up to the old lighthouse, and stand at the viewing platform with nothing but ocean in every direction. It is properly remote despite the tour buses, and on a clear day, the scale of it is humbling.

This is strictly a rental car territory; there is no practical way to do it justice without your own wheels. Pair it with Boulders Beach and Kalk Bay on the same day, and you have a full Peninsula run that covers some of the most spectacular scenery the Western Cape has to offer. Go early, bring a jacket regardless of the forecast, and allow a full day.

If you’re not planning on renting a car, several tours also run out to the Cape of Good Hope. This tour combines the Cape of Good Hope and Boulders Penguins in a day tour, while this tour also includes Table Mountain.

13. Boulders Beach

Boulders Beach is where you go to watch African penguins go about their business at close range, and it is as delightful as it sounds. The colony at Boulders, near the town of Simon’s Town, is one of the few places in the world where you can get this close to penguins in their natural habitat, and the novelty of it does not wear off quickly.

There is an entrance fee managed by SANParks and boardwalks that take you through and around the colony without disturbing it. The beach itself, sheltered by the enormous granite boulders the place is named for, is also genuinely beautiful and warm enough to swim in, the False Bay side of the Peninsula being considerably less brutal temperature-wise than the Atlantic side. Once you’ve visited the boardwalk, you can also try walking the surrounding beaches, Middle Beach, for example, for more and perhaps less touristy penguin encounters.

Simon’s Town, just up the road, is worth a wander too, a pretty naval town with good coffee and a relaxed pace. As with the Cape of Good Hope, a rental car is the only sensible way to get here. Stack it into your Peninsula day, and you will not be short of things to talk about at dinner.

14. Spend Time on Cape Town’s Beaches

Cape Town’s beaches are exceptional and varied enough to deserve proper attention. Camps Bay is the most famous and most social, a wide sweep of white sand with the Twelve Apostles as a backdrop and restaurants and bars within stumbling distance.

The Clifton beaches are a short walk further along the Seaboard, four intimate coves separated by granite boulders, and Clifton 4th is the one to prioritise. The Atlantic is cold, so swimming is for the committed, but for lying on white sand with a dramatic mountain backdrop it is hard to fault.

Bakoven, just beyond Camps Bay, is quieter with a more local feel, small rocky coves, and tidal pools worth the short detour. Llandudno is where you go to escape entirely, a spectacular cove with no restaurants, no vendors, and serious surf.

Saunders Rock, between Sea Point and Clifton, is the local secret, small, rarely crowded and perfect for an impromptu afternoon. Between all of them, you could spend a week doing nothing but beach-hopping and leave entirely satisfied.

15. Take a Trip to Stellenbosch and Franschhoek

An easy hour from Cape Town and an entirely different world. The Winelands deserve at least a full day, ideally two, and reward those who don’t try to rush them. Stellenbosch is the larger of the two towns, a handsome university town with good restaurants and a strong wine culture running through everything.

Franschhoek is smaller, more refined, and arguably more beautiful, a single main street lined with some of the best restaurants in the country, sitting in a valley that looks like it was designed by committee to be picturesque.

The wine farms across both regions are the main event. Spier is expansive and accessible, Jordan produces some of the Cape’s finest whites with views to match, Boschendal is a historic estate with a legendary long lunch, and Babylonstoren is in a category of its own, a working farm and garden of extraordinary beauty that you could spend an entire day at without touching a drop of wine.

In Franschhoek, the Wine Tram is worth doing, an open-air hop-on hop-off tram and trailer system that winds between farms through the valley. It’s fun, it’s well organised, and it solves the driving problem neatly. Rental car to get there, Wine Tram once you arrive.

16. Visit Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Kirstenbosch sits on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain and is one of the great botanical gardens of the world, which is a sentence that sounds like faint praise until you actually go.

The setting alone is extraordinary, 528 hectares of garden and protected fynbos running up into the mountain, with the whole of the Cape Flats and False Bay laid out below you on a clear day. The garden showcases the extraordinary biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of the richest plant ecosystems on earth, and even the most botanically indifferent visitor tends to leave impressed.

The Boomslang canopy walkway, a steel and timber bridge that curves through the treetops, is worth the visit on its own. Go on a Sunday between November and April and you’ll likely catch one of the legendary Kirstenbosch summer sunset concerts, where Cape Town brings picnics, blankets, and wine and spreads out across the lawns while live music plays against the backdrop of the mountain.

17. Take a Boat to Robben Island

Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 of his 27 years in prison, and visiting it is one of the more quietly affecting things you can do in Cape Town. The ferry leaves from the V&A Waterfront, and the crossing takes about thirty minutes each way across Table Bay.

The tour of the island is led by former political prisoners, which is what sets it apart from any other prison museum you might have visited. Hearing the history of the island, standing in Mandela’s cell, being walked through the lime quarry where prisoners worked and talked and quietly educated each other, all of it lands differently when the person telling you was there.

Allow a half day and book well in advance as tickets sell out consistently, sometimes weeks ahead in peak season.

18. Cage Diving with Sharks

One of the more visceral experiences available anywhere in the world, and Cape Town puts you within easy reach of it. The great white shark cage diving operations run out of Gansbaai, about two hours east of Cape Town along the coast, and the experience is exactly what it sounds like.

You go out on a boat, you get into a cage, and great white sharks come to investigate at extremely close range. It is not for the faint-hearted, but it is genuinely extraordinary, the kind of thing that recalibrates your sense of scale and your relationship with the ocean in about thirty seconds flat.

Several reputable operators run day trips from Cape Town, many of which have strong conservation credentials, which matters given the pressure these animals are under.

Book well in advance, go on an empty stomach if you’re prone to seasickness, and understand that sightings, while extremely common, are never guaranteed. If great whites are on your bucket list, there is nowhere better on earth to do this. Schedule your experience here.

19. Go Shopping

Shopping in Cape Town leans heavily into independent design, with a strong mix of fashion, art, and homeware that feels considered rather than mass-produced. The best finds are often tucked inside small boutiques or concept spaces where local designers take center stage.

Start with Bastille | Maison Mara for a polished edit of clothing and objects, then head to Tashas Home for interiors that are equal parts refined and relaxed. The Strangers Club is the perfect local cafe and boutique rolled into one. Saint VII is a go-to for contemporary fashion, while Nammu is all for local ceramics, and Research Unit and AKJP Studio lean more directional with a focus on emerging designers.

For art-led shopping, WHATIFTHEWORLD is worth a stop, and The Watershed offers a broader mix of local makers under one roof. Before you leave, make time for the design-forward gift shop at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, which is easily one of the best-edited museum stores around.

20. Seek out the City’s Viewpoints at Sunset

Sunset is one of the best times to see Cape Town at its best, when the light softens and the Atlantic catches the last of the day. Some spots are worth planning your evening around. The boulders at Llandudno Beach offer an uninterrupted view of the sun dropping into the ocean, while Maiden’s Cove frames the Twelve Apostles in warm light.

For a slightly more active option, the short hike up Kloof Corner Ridge gives you a wide view over the city and coastline. Signal Hill is another reliable choice for panoramic views, especially if you want something easy to reach.

Closer to the water, The Rock and Bakoven Beach are popular with locals who come to sit, watch the light change, and stay until it fades completely.

Best Tours & Activities in Cape Town

Once you’ve worked through the main sights, a guided tour or two will add a layer of context that independent exploration rarely delivers on its own.

Cape Town is a city with an extraordinarily complex history sitting just beneath its beautiful surface, and the right guide unlocks it in a way that a week of solo wandering won’t.

Whether it’s a walking tour through Bo-Kaap with a local resident, a township tour through Langa or Khayelitsha that challenges every assumption you arrived with, a private wine tour through the Winelands, or a boat out into Table Bay, the guided experiences here tend to be led by people with genuine stories to tell.

Discover the best Cape Town tours below:

Where to Stay

Cape Town has some of the finest hotels on the African continent, and the good news is that by international standards, even the top-end represents reasonable value.

The city broadly splits into two distinct bases — the Atlantic Seaboard, which puts you close to the beaches, Camps Bay, and Sea Point, and the City Bowl, which puts you closer to the V&A Waterfront, the Gardens neighbourhood, Bo-Kaap, and the cultural core of the city.

Both work. The choice comes down to whether you want to wake up closer to the ocean or closer to the mountain. Either way, the options below represent the best the city has to offer.

For a full breakdown of the best places to stay across every neighbourhood, see my complete guide to where to stay in Cape Town.

Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel — Cape Town’s most storied hotel, a colonial-pink landmark in the Gardens neighbourhood that has been the address of choice for the well-travelled since 1899. The gardens, the service, the sense of occasion — it earns every bit of its reputation.

Cape Grace — Sitting right on the V&A Waterfront, it’s intimate, impeccably run, and one of the finest positioned hotels in the city. The harbour views and the warmth of the staff set it apart.

Kensington Place — The boutique option. A small hillside retreat near Kloof Street with Table Mountain views, exceptional staff, and a breakfast worth waking up for. Understated and quietly excellent.

Ellerman House — The finest small hotel on the Atlantic Seaboard. A private house feel, a serious South African art collection, ocean views from every room, and service that anticipates rather than reacts. For those who know, this is the one.

Dorp Hotel — A beautifully restored heritage property in the heart of the Bo-Kaap, tucked into one of Cape Town’s most historically rich neighbourhoods. Intimate, characterful, and well-positioned for exploring the city on foot.

Where to Eat

Cape Town’s restaurant scene really surprised me on my trip. The combination of exceptional local produce, a serious wine culture on the doorstep, and a generation of chefs who have cooked internationally and come home has produced a dining scene that genuinely competes with the best in the world.

From the seafood shacks on the harbour at Kalk Bay to the fine dining rooms of Franschhoek, the range is extraordinary and the value, by European or American standards, remains very good.

For a full breakdown of the best restaurants across every neighbourhood and cuisine, see my complete guide to where to eat in Cape Town. In the meantime, here are some of my favorites.

Chef’s Warehouse at Beau Constantia — Set on a wine estate in the Constantia Valley with sweeping views over False Bay, this is the flagship of Liam Tomlin’s beloved Chef’s Warehouse group. Shared plates, exceptional ingredients, no reservations for the terrace. Go for lunch on a clear day.

PIER — A waterfront seafood restaurant with serious credentials and a setting to match. Fresh, precise cooking with the harbour right there. One of the stronger all-round dining experiences on the V&A precinct.

beyond — A Constantia fine dining room that has quickly established itself as one of the more exciting addresses in the city. Thoughtful, ingredient-led cooking with vineyard views all around.

Amura — Seafood and fish-focused restaurant at Mount Nelson. The decor is amazing but get the grilled fish. Also loved their cold seafood bar.

Upper Union — A Gardens small plates spot serving modern, creative food that has become a firm local favourite. Relaxed, well-priced, and consistently good. The kind of place you end up at twice in a week.

The Athletic Club and Social — A buzzy spot in the city that does everything from dinner through to late-night drinks with conviction. Good energy, good food, good crowd.

Café Sofi — A small, warm neighbourhood café that does some of the best breakfast and lunch in Cape Town. Unpretentious, seasonal and always busy for good reason.

Custodian Pastry Bar — Exceptional pastry work in a compact, beautifully designed space. Come for coffee and leave having eaten more than you planned. One of the city’s best recent openings.

La Colombe — Consistently ranked among the best restaurants in Africa, sitting on the Silvermist wine estate in Constantia. A tasting menu that is precise, inventive and deeply rooted in local ingredients. Book well in advance.

Between Us — An intimate, carefully considered restaurant with a menu that changes regularly and cooking that rewards attention. The kind of place that locals are quietly possessive about.

Our Local Kloof Street — A relaxed, well-executed neighbourhood spot on Cape Town’s most characterful dining strip. Exactly what a local restaurant should be — consistent, unpretentious and always worth a table.

Strangers Club — A members club that opens its doors to non-members for dining, with a menu and atmosphere that make it one of the more interesting rooms in the city. Worth seeking out.

Hemelhuijs — A long-standing Cape Town institution in the city centre that does beautiful, considered food in a space that feels genuinely designed rather than decorated. Breakfast and lunch only, and both are worth the visit.

Best Time to Visit Cape Town

November to April is when Cape Town is at its best. The weather is warm, the days are long, the beaches are in full swing and the city is operating at its peak.

January and February are the height of summer — expect blue skies, temperatures in the mid to high twenties, and evenings warm enough to eat outside without a second thought. The Winelands are spectacular during harvest season, roughly February to April, and Kirstenbosch’s summer sunset concerts run through until April. Cape Town in summer is genuinely one of the great city experiences anywhere in the world.

I’d avoid winter. June through August brings cold fronts, persistent rain, and wind off the Atlantic that makes the city feel entirely different. The cape has a Mediterranean climate, and winter is its off-season in every sense. It’s not without its own beauty, but if you have a choice, don’t go in winter.

I visited in April, and I have to say that we weren’t lucky with the weather, particularly in Cape Town, where we arrived for the first huge rainfront of the autumn, but when that cleared, the sunny days did bring high temperatures.

The weather in Cape Town is very changeable, and it’s a destination that sees all the seasons in one day, even in summer. Pack layers and bring a jacket everywhere you go.

Top Tips for Visiting Cape Town

Get a local SIM card on arrival — Vodacom and MTN both have desks at the airport and data is cheap but I do recommend an e-SIM via Airalo instead. Having local data makes Uber, Google Maps, and everything else seamless from the moment you land.

Book Table Mountain cable car tickets, Robben Island, and La Colombe well in advance — all three sell out consistently, and none of them are worth leaving to chance.

Check the weather daily; the mountain and the peninsula can change fast, and some of the best experiences, Chapman’s Peak, the cable car, and a peninsula drive, are entirely weather dependent.

Have rand in cash for smaller markets, parking/fuel attendants, hotel staff tips, and the odd spot that doesn’t take card, though Cape Town is broadly card-friendly.

If you’re planning a peninsula day, start early — Boulders Beach, the Cape of Good Hope, and Kalk Bay on the same day works beautifully, but only if you’re not fighting the afternoon crowds.

Download the Uber app before you leave home and have it ready to go.

Tip generously — the service industry here works hard, and service is generally fantastic everywhere you go. The exchange rate means that meaningful generosity costs you very little.

Is Cape Town Safe?

Cape Town is one of those cities where awareness goes a long way. It’s generally safe in well-trodden areas, central neighborhoods, the Atlantic Seaboard, and places you’re likely already heading for restaurants, cafés, and bars, but it’s not somewhere to switch off completely.

Avoid walking alone at night, use Uber rather than public transport after dark, and be mindful with phones and cameras, especially in quieter areas. Like many big cities, the experience is largely about how you move through it, so it helps to stay sharp and plan ahead, and you’ll likely find it an easy (and incredibly rewarding) place to navigate.

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Which of these top things to do in Cape Town, South Africa will you do? Share your questions and comments below—I’d love to hear from you!

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