Getting Oriented

Getting Oriented

Cape Town lies at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, a 75-km (47-mi) tail of mountains that hangs down from the tip of Africa, ending at the Cape of Good Hope. Drive 15 minutes out of town, and you may lose yourself in a stunning landscape of 18th-century Cape Dutch manors, historic wineries, and white-sand beaches backed by sheer mountains.

The area between Table Mountain and Table Bay, including Cape Town central and the nearby areas of Gardens, Oranjezicht, Tamboerskloof, and Bo-Kaap, is known as the City Bowl. An orderly street grid and the constant view of Table Mountain make it almost impossible to get lost. Major arteries running toward the mountain from the sea are Adderley, Loop, and Long streets; among the major cross streets are Strand, Longmarket, and Wale, which, be warned, is alternately written as wale st. (the English version) and waalst (in Afrikaans) on signs. The heart of the historic city -- where you'll find many of the museums and major buildings -- is Government Avenue, a pedestrian mall at the top of Adderley Street. St. George's Mall, another major pedestrian thoroughfare, runs the length of commercial Cape Town.

Once you leave the city center, orienting yourself becomes trickier. As you face Table Mountain from the city, the distinctive triangular-shape mountain on your left is Devil's Peak; on the right are Signal Hill and Lion's Head. Signal Hill takes its name from a gun fired there every day at noon. If you look carefully, you will see that Signal Hill forms the rump of a reclining lion, and the maned Lion's Head looks south past Table Mountain (this is best seen from the N1 as you drive in to town).

On the other side of Signal Hill and Lion's Head lies the fashionable Atlantic Seaboard. This stretch of coast, also known as Millionaire's Row, is made up of the cosmopolitan Granger Bay, Green Point, and Sea Point through to the exclusive suburbs of Clifton, Camps Bay, and Llandudno.

Heading the other way, around Devil's Peak, you come to Cape Town's Southern Suburbs -- Rondebosch, Newlands, Claremont, and the classy Constantia. The vibrant Waterfront lies north of the City Bowl on the other side of the freeways that separate the docks from downtown, and the nearby Waterkant is another fashionable enclave.

But there's a lot more to the city than these predominantly white suburbs. The infamous Cape Flats stretch over what used to be sandy flat areas (hence the name) between the city center and the northern suburbs of Panorama, Tygerberg, and Durbanville. The sprawling townships of Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Langa, and Gugulethu are also an integral part of Cape Town, and each year these informal settlements continue to grow as immigrants move from the countryside, and the rest of the continent, looking for work.

The Cape Peninsula, much of which is included in Table Mountain National Park (TMNP), extends for around 40 km (25 mi) from the city through to Cape Point. The park comprises Table Mountain, most of the high-lying land in the mountain chain that runs down the center of the peninsula, the Cape of Good Hope nature reserve, and Boulders Beach. The steep mountain slopes leave little room for settlement in the narrow shelf next to the sea. On the east side the peninsula is washed by the waters of False Bay. Here, connected by a coastal road and railway line, lie the suburbs of Muizenberg, St. James, Kalk Bay, and Fish Hoek, as well as the naval base at historic Simon's Town. The western shores of the peninsula are wilder and emptier, pounded by huge Atlantic swells. In addition to the hamlets of Scarborough, Kommetjie, Noordhoek, and Llandudno, you'll find the fishing port of Hout Bay.