Cape town suggestions
 

I have 3 full days there in January. I am planning to spend one of the days in the wine lands. My current thought is to hire a car and spend the morning at Robbens Island, then head up to Cape Point. Third day Table Mountain/Waterfront. Does this sound reasonable?

We were there for two full days (3 nights) in Cape Town itself and that seemed about right to us, although we certainly missed several things. The ferry to Robben Island leaves from the V&A Waterfront, so it is easy to combine Robben Island with some time seeing the V&A Waterfront itself. The wine country is beautiful. Have a great trip.

g2g,

To see what you want to see within a 3 day stay in Cape Town is reasonable however the way in which you are planning to do so is not a good idea in my opinion.

Let me firstly point out the following:

1. Doing the Robben Island experience is going to take close to 4 hours of your time of day.

2. Travelling down to Cape Point and back to Cape Town will take a full day.

3. Seeing the Waterfront would take at most half a day.

Knowing the above my suggestion to you would be to rather follow the following tourplan:

Day 1 – Travel down the Cape Peninsula to Cape Point and then return back to Cape Town via Chapmans Peak.

Day 2. – Do a day trip out to the Winelands

Day 3 – Visit Robben Island in the morning and then enjoy the Waterfront after the Robben Island experience. Try and do the first crossing to Robben Island in the day. May I also mention that you will be starting and ending your journey to Robben Island in the Waterfront thus you might as well explore the terrain while you are there as per my above suggestion.

If you follow the above plan bearing in mind that the Waterfront is nothing other than a shopping mall, I am reasonably sure that you will have a reasonable amount of time free. My suggestion to you would be to use this free afternoon time to enjoy the city centre.

Amongst the above three days an ascent of Table Mountain (weather permitting) would be a "must do" event and in my opinion, depending on weather and time permitting, it would be the perfect way to end your Robben Island, Waterfront city centre journey.

I can assure you that if you follow the above plan you will definitely find that you obtain a reasonably good idea of what Cape Town is about in a 3 day visit.

Hope this helps you in your planning to see our wonderful city to the full. If you need any further advice just ask. :)

Very proudly part of the wonderful ((r)) nation of South Africa

Selwyn,
Thanks. It is unfortunate that you are not availble during my trip, but I am speaking to the companies you have recommended about a car and guide to take us to Cape Point.

Your itinnerary makes way more sense than what we had planned.

I agree with Selwyn.
Day 1 - As he said it. Recommend Harbour House in Kalk Bay for Lunch or alternatively Olympic Cafe for Breakfast also in Kalk Bay and then for a quick drink The red Herring in noordhoek!

Day 2 - Must see winefarms Thelema, Glen Carlou, Fairview, Boekenhoutskloof, and of course Le Petite Ferme for lunch - you must book!

For Day 3 though I would say skip the Robben Island trip altogether and go up Table Mountain in the morning. Head down to the city centre and spend some time looking around the streets, company gardens and museums - the Cultural History museum offers some excellent exhibitions about SA's history and the District 6 museum also provides excellent info about apartheid and its legacy. This will give a more rounded perspective of Cape Town and its people I think.

Have fun!

Along with a visit to the District 6 museum, an even more rounded view of CT would include a visit to the townships. This combined visit can be arranged through several local tour groups.

You might want to skip the townships. Only recently a bus load of German travel agents(40) were robbed at Khayelitsha township by armed gunman on a familiarization trip.

We just returned from 6 days in Capetown. The places suggested are easy to get to and three days is plenty to see these things. We took cabs to the waterfront and to table mountain. I agree, Robbens Island goes with the waterfront since you are already there. I know it's a mall but it's worth just walking arround and people watching. We found the boat ride exhausting because the sea was uncalm and we needed at least an hour to feel better. A table mountain tour would go well with this for one of your days. It is less crowded later in the day. However, we found it closed on several days or for several hours while we were there due to windy conditions. You should plan your day around when you can actually ascend the mountain.
We rented a car to travel to cape point and to the winelands. It does take a whole day to travel the Cape Pennisula with the stops to see the penguins and the stop to have a look at Simon town and at the Cape.
Why don't you overnight in one of the beautiful wineland hotels? It would make the visit less rushed and you would not have to worry about how much wine you drink. It is so close to Capetown (1-2 hours) that you could overnight and still make a plane or whatever your next stop is.
Have a wonderful time....we did. What a country!

Aaahh yes on the robbing German tour group in township but the reality of South africa is that it could happen any where - statistically speaking I believe the townships are safer for tourists than a lot of the cities - that is statistically speaking though!

An excellent guide is a chap by the name of Paul Le Roux who can be contacted through www.thelastword.com