By Car & Motorcycle in Cape Town

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By Car & Motorcycle

A car is by far the best way to get around Cape Town, particularly in the evening, when public transportation closes down. The Automobile Association has a presence, and if you're a member of any organization at home affiliated with AIT (Automobile International Travel), you qualify for basic benefits here, including breakdown service, towing, and transportation to the nearest provincial hospital. Fill in a form at the airport's Imperial Car Rental depot (Imperial has a rental-discount deal with the AA) or at any of the city's three AA auto shops.

Cape Town's roads are excellent, but they are unusual in a few respects and can be a bit confusing. Signage is inconsistent, switching between Afrikaans and English, between different names for the same road (especially highways), and between different destinations on the same route. Sometimes the signs simply vanish. Cape Town is also littered with signs indicating "Cape Town" instead of "City Center." Good one-page maps are essential and are freely available from car-rental agencies and tourism information desks. Among the hazards are pedestrians, particularly those looking for a quick route across highways, and speeding vehicles, especially minibus taxis as they race to drop one load of passengers and pick up the next. Roadblocks for document and roadworthiness checks are also becoming more frequent, and there are concerted attempts to catch people who drink and drive.

Parking attendants organized by municipal authorities and private business networks provide a valuable service. Most wear brightly colored vests; pay them R2-R3 for a short daytime stop and R5-R10 in the evening. Parking in the city center can be a hassle. Longer-stay parking spaces are so scarce that most hotels charge extra for them, and even then you won't be guaranteed a space. For short stays you may get lucky and find metered parking; this requires a special parking card, which you can usually buy from nearby shops or from parking attendants. Be sure to watch while details are fed into the meter. There are numerous pay-and-display (i.e., put a ticket in your windshield) and pay-on-exit parking lots around the city. For central attractions like Greenmarket Square, Parliament, the Company's Gardens, museums, the South African National Gallery, and the Castle of Good Hope, park your car on the Grand Parade in Darling Street. The Sanlam Golden Acre Parking Garage, on Adderley Street, offers covered parking, as does the Parkade, on Strand Street.

The main arteries leading out of the city are the N1, which bypasses the city's Northern Suburbs en route to Paarl and, ultimately, Johannesburg; and the N2, which heads out past Khayelitsha and through Somerset West to the Overberg and the Garden Route before continuing on through the Eastern Cape to Durban. The N7 goes up to Namibia and leads off the N1. The M3 splits from the N2 at Hospital Bend, so called because of the high number of accidents and the presence of South Africa's leading teaching hospital, Groote Schuur. The M3 leads to Muizenberg via Claremont, Constantia, and Tokai, and is the main route to the False Bay suburbs on the city's south Peninsula. Expect delays in drive time from 7 to 9 and 4 to 6:30.

Most large car-rental agencies have offices in the city and major suburbs as well as at the airport, and all offer similar rates. You'll pay R200-R250 per day for a basic no-frills vehicle including standard insurance coverage (extended coverage costs more). If you want air-conditioning, power steering, or automatic transmission, you'll pay R250-R300. Rates come down by 10%-20% on longer rentals. Some companies include unlimited mileage, but more common is 200-300 km (125-185 mi) a day plus R1.50-R3 per km thereafter. Try to negotiate if it's low season or you're renting for a longer period. Some companies throw in free delivery and pickup. Expect to pay a bit more on one-way rentals. Airport rentals carry a 10% surcharge, so you may want to pick up a car elsewhere or have it delivered.

Another option is to rent a scooter or motorbike. African Buzz has scooters for around R190 a day (motorcycle license required). Motorcycles can be rented from Mitaka or Moto Berlin at R650-R800 a day for a 650-cc and R900-R1,000 for an 1100-cc machine. At Café Vespa you can rent a trendy Vespa and discuss the rental agreement over an excellent cappuccino.

Roadside Assistance

Automobile Association (080/001-0101 or 080/011-1998. www.aasa.co.za).

Car-Rental Companies

Aroundaboutcars (021/422-4022. www.aroundaboutcars.com). Avis (0861/113-748. www.avis.co.za). Beach Buggy Rentals (021/423-1912 or 0860/000-060. www.drivesouthafrica.co.za). Budget (0861/016-622. www.budget.co.za). CABS (021/683-1932. www.cabs.co.za). Hertz (0861/600-136. www.hertz.co.za). Imperial Car Rental (086/113-1000. www.imperialcarrental.co.za). Value Car Hire (0800/040-7557. www.valuecarhire.co.za).

Motorcycle/Scooter-Rental Companies

African Buzz (021/433-1244). Café Vespa (021/426-5042. www.cafevespa.com). Mitaka (082/577-5797. www.mitaka.co.za). Moto Berlin (021/421-3092 or 083/588-5225).