5 Best Sights in Cape Town, South Africa

The center is both a memorial to the 6 million Jews and other victims who were killed during the Holocaust and an education center whose aim is to create a caring and just society in which human rights and diversity are valued. The permanent exhibit is excellent and very moving. A multimedia display, comprising photo panels, text, film footage, and music, creates a chilling reminder of the dangers of prejudice, racism, and discrimination. The center is next to the South African Jewish Museum.

Experience real Cape Town local life every Thursday from 5 to 8 in this rented church hall space. With fresh produce, a wide variety of really good food, craft beers and wines, and even clothes and jewelry on sale, this is a vibey City Bowl social gathering.

Founded in 1825, this natural history museum houses more than 1.5 million scientific specimens, but is most popular for its "Whale Well," where life-size casts of enormous marine mammals are suspended over a multi-storied chamber, which leads to displays of marine and terrestrial animals in the old diorama style. International photography exhibits are often on display upstairs, and there is an interesting if creepy section on the fossil remains of prehistoric "mammal-like" reptiles. In the adjoining planetarium, visitors can experience the thrills of a 360-degree multisensory, full-dome theater, where a variety of shows for children and adults play throughout the week.

Housed in the Old Synagogue—South Africa's first synagogue, built in 1863—this museum sits in the same complex as the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and spans 150 years of South African Jewry. The themes of Memories (immigrant experiences), Reality (integration into South Africa), and Dreams (visions for the future) are conveyed with high-tech multimedia and interactive displays, models, and artifacts. The complex also includes the Great Synagogue (built in 1905), an active place of worship, a temporary gallery for changing exhibits, an auditorium, and a museum restaurant and shop. The museum also exhibits the extraordinary Isaac Kaplan collection of Japanese netsuke, considered among the world's finest.

This museum houses a good collection of 19th- and 20th-century European art, but its most interesting exhibits are the South African works, many of which reflect the country's traumatic history. The gallery owns an enormous body of work, so exhibitions change regularly, but there's always something provocative—whether it's documentary photographs or a multimedia exhibit chronicling efforts to "disrupt" traditional boundaries. The museum would like to position itself as a leader of contemporary and traditional African art. Free guided tours on Tuesday and Thursday take about an hour.