My husband and I will be spending 3 days in Capetown prior to our Botswana safari. So far, we are doing a City/Table Mountain tour, visiting Robben Island, and doing a Peninsula tour. We have one free day and I am looking for some suggestions/imput on what to do.

Some things we've considered:
-Winelands tour
-Township tour
-Shark diving

Or should we just leave the day open and explore? We are staying at the Cape Grace in the V&A Waterfront.

TIA!

Winelands are beautiful.
Kirstenbosch is great.
So is relaxing.

I vote for relaxing and spending some time in the V&A precinct- the watefront area ,customs house and the clock tower precinct are interesting shops, resteraunts etc.

Also - Green Market square in the city is worth a look.

Cheers and happy travels

uscmolly,

When will you be in our great city??
The weather will more than likely play a huge role in what you should do while you are in Cape Town hence my question.

When I know the above I will respond further.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa

Hi uscmolly

An easy combination of culture, relaxation, shopping and cuisine would be to spend the day strolling from the SA National Gallery (art gallery) in the Company's Gardens, then the Cultural History Museum (also at the bottom end of the Company's Gardens). Walk down Adderley Street and have lunch in Riboville restaurant (higher end) or grab a made-to-order schwarma (Egyptian pita filled with your choice of delicious things) from the schwarma king of "Cairo Schwarma" on the Shortmarket Street pedestrian section between Adderley and St George's Mall -- great people watching too. (Other lunch options are The Crypt restaurant in St George's Cathedral, the African Image Cafe on Church Street, or Baran's on the corner of Burg and Shortmarket overlooking Greenmarket Square -- sit on the first floor balcony!). Enjoy Greenmarket Square, then be sure to walk along Church Street and poke in the African Image shop for unique contemporary African gifts and curios. There are other shops there offering serious museum-quality African objects and also Cape antiques.

2 different options/directions to go from there:

You can either walk back to Adderley Street, stroll through the flower sellers and then across in front of the Old Town Hall to Buitenkant Street, then up to the District Six Museum, or just take a 20 rand taxi ride (from the taxi rank on Greenmarket Square) to the District Six Museum.

Or, from Church Street walk two blocks up Long Street to the African Music Store (just above Wale Street). Spend hours listening to an amazing array of CD's. They are the best stocked and most knowledgeable music shop in the city. If you're still on your feet...keep going up another block or so to Clarke's Bookstore, the best place for Southern African books of all stripes and genres, including literary magazines, local poets, etc. Not to be missed. Refresh yourself with a drink at Lola's (great people watching) or across the street from Lola's at the Long Street Cafe.

All of the above is safe walking and only rainy weather would get in the way.

Whatever you decide, enjoy our city!

Kurt

--
afrikatourism.blogspot.com

I wouldn't miss the winelands. You can easily walk around the waterfront the day you visit Robben Island, as the tour is only about four hours.
The winelands are beautiful, and if you're coming in 40 days, the weather will be cooler, wine farms will have fireplaces lit--very atmospheric. Try La Petit Ferme in Franschhoek for lunch--great food and beautiful view of the valley.

Thanks for all of your replies! As with any great city, there seem to be so many options and its simply overwhelming! With that said, I can't wait to be overwhelmed

Selwyn--I will be visiting Capetown on May 25-27. I look forward to your suggestions!

Also, a few questions about the winelands tours...my TA had suggested a private tour, but recently I've noticed that group tours are available for considerably less money. Has anyone done a group tour? Or do most do a private tour? Or should we look into a car rental for the day?

Even though I'm a UCLA fan, I'll answer this post!

Agree you can see the V&A Waterfront before and after your Robben Island tour (Do you have reservations? They book up fast. E-mail the concierge at the Cape Grace and they can set you up.) V&A is really just a big mall, which I get enough of in the US.

If the weather's decent, I'd visit Kirstenbosch gardens, which will eat up about a half day. Then explore the city on foot as some have suggested (though a waiter at one restaurant near Greenmarket Square warned it was NOT a particularly safe walk from there to the District Six museum, which we missed.

The Winelands are superb, but having been there for a 3-day visit, a one-day tour isn't enough IMO. We fell in love with Franschoek, but there's also Paarl, Stellenbosch, and endless wineries over a wide area. If you do decided to do this, a guide who knows the territory is preferable and will steer you away from the palces filled with huge tourist buses. We used Glen Christie of Vineyard Ventures, who we found on Fodor's. She is superb and will give you a wide variety of wineries. She doesn't come cheap, but we felt it was well worth it. Another area that you might consider, which is close to town near Kirstenbosch Garnes, is Constantia, which also has wineries plus Cape Dutch architecture and gorgeous horse farms.
We also booked Glen to take us along the coast for one day through the little peninsula towns on the way to the Cape of Good Hope. As a beautiful drive, it rivals California's Highway 1.
A tip about the Cape Grace hotel. While the restaurant is very good, it's mighty pricey. A good option is the Bascule bar downstairs, which has food from the same kitchen at much cheaper prices. Try the less smokey back lounge away from the bar.

Have a ball!
Leslie