jmcovin

I'll have a free day in JoBurg, and then planned for a few (2) days in/near Cape Town before I return to Eurpoe - what to do? Where to stay in Cape Town? What sites and eats would my fellow Fodorians reccommend?

Need some help, please...

LadyOLeisure

Do you want to stay in a Hotel or a guesthouse? We stayed at a lovely guesthouse www.davids.co.za
a year ago in May, and liked the personalness of it very much. The hosts were terrific (the breakfast was extremely tasty) and it was well located, in Greenpoint.

The V&A Waterfront is pretty and while touristy, we found it a lot of fun. We ate dinner at Quay Four, which we enjoyed and caught a taxi back to our guesthouse.

If you have a bright clear day, go immediately to take the cable car (or hike) up Table Mountain. The views are stunning.

We also enjoyed strolling through the "Company Gardens" in downtown Capetown, which served as a simple introduction to the magnificent Kirstenbosch Gardens (at the foot of Table Mountain) -- if you even the slightest bit of a gardener, you will be amazed at KG.

Capetown is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable cities in the world.

moremiles

You should go on the Robben Island tour if you have time, just catch the ferry at the waterfront. It's a very interesting and emotional site and tours are given by ex-inmates. I've stayed at both the Table Bay Hotel at the Waterfront which was wonderful but expensive, and a small hotel years ago called The Vineyard which was charming, and I believe it is still there. Cape Town is a wonderful city-you will enjoy it.

SSN

LadyOLeisure:
Are there other things to do than shopping and eating in V&A Waterfront? How's the shopping there? Do they have reasonable prices? Are there any shops that you would recommend? It will be our first time to Cape Town and we don't know much about it. Thanks!

Roly

Two days are not enough! Cape Town has everything you could want from a destination - depending what you enjoy. If you enjoy the outdoors, then do what LadyOLeisure said - go for a hike on Table Mountain - even if you go up & down by cable car and walk around at the top of the mountain. Best done on a clear day as you can see for 100s of km!

Or hire a car/tourguide and go for the Peninsula drive - from Cape Town central through Sea Point, Camps Bay (stop here and take a walk on the beach if the weather is good - have a drink at the street cafes), Hout Bay (have lunch/snacks here at Dunes on the beach, Chapmans Peak Hotel, or Fish on the Rocks), go over Chapmans Peak Drive (well worth the few Rands toll) to Noordhoek (walk on the beach again if you want, visit the farmstall), carry on through Kommetjie, Scarborough, etc. towards Cape Point where you can watch the "two oceans meet", and may even see some wild life! This is merely a short start to what can become a week-long exploration of our beautiful Peninsula! You need to come back for longer, but I think you'll gather that very quickly!

Maybe Selwyn can answer you and you could arrange his very knowledgeable presence during your tour of the Peninsula! (capetowntour.com)...Selwyn?

jcasale

A trip out to the Cape Peninsula should defnintely be on your list. We had a private driver since there were 4 of us and that was very nice, but I'm sure there are some small group tours going out there that you could join in with. 2 days is not going to be enough. That was all I could convince DH and my parents to allow for Cape Town and everyone agreed we should have had more time. But even 2 days will give you a taste. We stayed at the Portswood Hotel near the V&A Waterfront. Very nice hotel with a great breakfast included in the room cost. Didn't get a chance to do much shopping at the waterfront since we tended to only be down there at night to find dinner (We ate at the City Grill and found it good). Hopefully you will be there when Table Mountain is visible and you can get up it. It was totally cloud covered the whole time we were there (plus we didn't have time to even try to get up it). We didn't even see it until the morning we left. Oh well - guess we'll just have to go back !

Selwyn_Davidowitz

jmcovin,

Well you have heard it from others and now you are hearing the same story from me too - 2 days in Cape Town just wont be enough. :'( With that said if you only have 2 days available I do not suppose there is much that you can do about this so I suppose we have to advise within these parameters.

Most visitors who come to Cape Town visit Table Mountain, Cape Point, Robben Island, the penguin colony at Boulders Beach, the V&A Waterfront, the aquarium and Kirstenbosch gardens. Thereafter it becomes a case of personal choices that have to be made by the individual.

As far as touring the city is concerned the majority of visitors would go on what is called a Cape Peninsula tour, a Cape Winelands tour, a city tour and a tour through a township.

Personally if I could suggest an itinerary to you I would do the following in 2 days:

Day 1. Travel on the Cape Peninsula

Day 2. Visit Robben Island, walk the city and end your day by ascending Table Mountain

With all of the above said you can now probably see why 2 days in Cape Town just wont be enough however what you can now do is look through the above list and choose what suits you relative to what you could do in a two day period.

Hope this helps and heres hoping that you have an amazing time in our wonderful city and enjoy yourself to the full.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa