Cape Town Without a Car
 

Hi South Africa experts!

I've already done a search for this topic but am hoping to get some more recent feedback.

We are planning to be in the Cape Town area for about a week, splitting the time between Cape Town and Simonstown. Our family will be booking some daytrips/tours rather than renting a car, and we'd like to stay somewhere where we can safely walk to restaurants in the evening. We're on a budget (saving $$ for the safari part of the trip!), so we're thinking B&B rather than fancy hotel. One suggestion I've seen mentioned here is 4 on Varney's. Any other ideas? Do you really need to take cabs/drive everywhere, or is this a walkable city? (I've read both opinions in various guidebooks)

Also, has anyone used the hop-on/hop-off bus in Cape Town for sightseeing? It looks a bit cheesy, but convenient (and cheap!).

Any suggestions you have would be very much appreciated! :)

The on and off bus for Cape Town is really a great deal as there are two different routes so if you time it right (getting your ticket after noon or 1pm) you can have two days for a one day price. You pick it up on the V and A waterfront by the aquarium(which I enjoyed although small).One route is the city type tour and the other goes along the coastline to places like Hout Bay-gorgeous!

I have spent numerous days in Cape Town both for work and on an extended vacation with my kids last year.I have stayed at the Proteas which are nice but pricey for work and spread out.When I went back with my kids we stayed at DAVID's guesthouse B and B and loved it. It is right near the soccer stadium area which you could either bus,walk or a $2USD taxi to the waterfron area.There is a chain hotel near V and A that my daughter stayed at which escapes me at the moment and it was about $100USD a night with breakfast.

You could walk but cabs in this city are very cheap in my opinion. On our family vacation we stayed in CPT and then had a rental car to Simonstown and over to Hermanus,Stellenbosch,etc.The drive is easy and the roads are well marked.
Boulders Beach down by Simonstown with the penquins is one of my favorite places on earth-we splurged and stayed at the Boulders Beach Lodge for two nights so that we could sit out on the water at night and early morning before the tourists and watch the crazy antics of the penquins by the sea.Truly magical!
Have a great guide down there if you need him-my airline friends always called him as soon as we got our schedule and knew we were going to be there as he books up quickly! Have a wonderful time-

Thanks so much! I'll definitely check out David's. And please tell me more about your great guide... :)

Part of the reason I'm asking about walking vs. taking a cab is that we are likely to have a group of 6 adults, so I don't know if we'd all fit in one cab.

Oh, and I should mention that Boulders Beach Lodge is where we were hoping to stay, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

Cabs are cheap but make sure, esp at night, that your hotel or restaurant calls a radio one for you rather than hailing a gypsy cab on the street. The town is somewhat walkable, but the sites are scattered. We took a cab to Kirstenbosch Gardens and there weren't many available to take back. We wanted to have lunch in Constantia first (a bit farther than Kirstenbosch), and couldn't get a cabbie to go there unless we booked the lunch trip AND the trip back to the city AND his waiting time. WE were near the V&A waterfront, so that was convenient, but the walk to the city center is a good, possibly tiring, hike.