jebb

One week in early May -first time - ideas for top things to do and see? and place to stay? i like nice hotels but location is first.

Safari_Craig

Budget per person? Do you also want a safari experience?

craig beal - owner - travel beyond

MyriamC

In Cape Town: visit Table Mountain, Bo-Kaap (Cape Malay quarter). A nice city walk is Slave Tree Site, Koopmans-de Wet House, the Parliament in Company's Garden, St. George's Anglican Cathedral, de Groote Kerk. We were impressed by a very interesting exhibition about slavery in Slave Lodge Museum.
Daytrip to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. On the way, visit Simon's Town and Boulders Beach (penguins). On the way back drive the Chapman's Peak Drive and wait until sunset. Magical!

BahamaBreeze

If you are interested in music, and a different type of tour, try Coffeebeans Routes. We did a jazz safari with them which was excellent! http://coffeebeansroutes.com/

BahamaBreeze

If you are interested in music, and a different type of tour, try Coffeebeans Routes. We did a jazz safari with them which was excellent! http://coffeebeansroutes.com/

jebb

thanks all!!
craig - yes safari sounds great - but i only have one week - how many days for safari?
budget is good........

Safari_Craig

Location for Hotels - for hotels in Cape Town this would be the V&A Waterfront.
Location for wine country - Franschhoek.
Location for Safari - definitely the Sabi Sands private game reserves.

Day 1 Arrive Cape Town and transfer to Cape Grace (currently offering stay4pay3) for a three night stay. about $2,000 for a single room for four nights.

Day 2,3,4 Explore Cape Town

Day 5 Back to Cape Town airport. Direct flight CPT-Nelspruit/MQP. 20 minute shared charter flight to Sabi Sands. Go to Lion Sands River Lodge for three nights (stay3pay2) or MalaMala Main Camp ($625 per night). Both lodges have one single room with no supplement. Total costs about $600 per night. Lion Sands rates drop a lot on May 1.

Day 8 1 hour charter to JNB. Go home.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond.

BahamaBreeze

The Jazz Safari is only for one evening. You go the homes of two musicians and you have dinner at one of the homes. On Mondays they substitute a local Jazz club instead of a home.They run the Jazz "Safari" on Mondays and Wednesdays only. You can also choose other types of "safaris" - storytelling, artists, etc. If you are interested, contact Iain Harris, one of the owners at [email protected]

laurenanne

Hi,
I just got back from Cape Town a few weeks ago. WE LOVE WINE, so spend most of our time tracking down wineries. We spent the first three days on a wine farm in stellenbosch. Although everyone mentions Franschhoek, we found the stellenbosch area more appealing as far as visiting wineries. We drove into Franschhoek for a day, but the town wasn't that attractive, or at least as much as I was expecting due to the hype.

Anyway, if you don't want to travel up to Stellenbosch, a really easy and beautiful area is Constantia. That is right outside of cape town, and has 6 or so really nice wineries including a few new, smaller ones such as Eagle's Nest, plus the old, traditional ones on which you can bring a picnic. We really loved that area.

Also, Camp's Bay is beautiful. We went down towards simon's town, but didn't see the attraction. Fairly unattractive town, and we saw some penguins, but nothing I would go back for. Also, The bo kap area is a nice walk, took some lovely pictures, but that will only fill about 30 minutes of your day. Not much to do there really....

Just my two cents..

laurenanne

We stayed at the Hawksmoor House, just about ten minutes north of Stellenboch, and we loved it. The decor is gorgeous, they treat you like family, and the rates were way more reasonable that Franschhoek lodging. We spent 3 weeks traveling, one in CPT/Stell, and then 2 in Namibia. Hawksmoor was probably my favorite place:

http://www.hawksmoor.co.za/Framework...PagerName=Home

MyriamC

We also spent 5 days in Stellenbosch, which we found more appealing than Franschhoek.

jebb

so kind...thanks for all your tips!

capetowngrl84

Hi Jebb,

So glad you'll be visiting the Mother city; it is really one of the most beautiful destinations in South Africa.

A few exciting and interesting places to visit while in Cape Town:

1. Boulders Beach (http://www.bouldersbeachlodge.com) - Simon's Town: the beach is one of the best in the city and the penguins are so cute.
2. The Two Ocean's Aquarium - V&A Waterfront(waterfront apartments - http://www.rentalsincapetown.com/waterfront.htm): an awesome tourist attraction where you can see giant loggerhead turtles swimming amongst ragged-tooth sharks and rays.
3. The Camps Bay Strip - Camps Bay (apartments to rent in Camps Bay - http://www.rentalsincapetown.com/campsbaycapetown.htm): an assortment of 5 star restaurants, bars and clubs. Not forgetting the glorious white sand beaches.

I wish you a safe and happy trip

ILoveCapeTown

Check out the Penguins on Boulder beach. If you have time, drive out to Hermanus if you are there during whale season and Bientangs Cave http://www.sa-venues.com/things-to-d...ientangs-cave/.

Stellenbosch day trip for wine tasting, Long Street for local arts and culture and camps Bay or Llandudno for the best sunsets in the world.

For accommodation in CT, check out rentalsincapetown.com for well located apartments.

kurt_a

Just an alert that capetowngrl84 and ILoveCapeTown both joined Fodors in March, each has only one post (the ones above), and each posted a vapid comment with a recommendation to use the little-known website rentalsincapetown dot com.

Highly suspicious.

capetowngrl84

Hello everyone.

Kurt_a: I agree, it does look suspicious. However, I'd like to point out that I registered and posted first.

I am a proud spokesperson for Holiday Rentals in Cape Town and will offer advice and tips wherever possible.

I'm not sure who ILoveCapeTown is, but I ask that they please respect my posts and NOT comment on the same thread as me.

Thanks!

Selwyn_Davidowitz

Kurt good sleuthing re the rentalsincapetown.com linkup. It does however seem as if CapeTowngrl84 genuinely writes on the forum to want to help those visiting our city. What did bother me however was that in the single CapeTowngrl84 posting the question of what do rentals in Cape Town have to do with the Cape Town aqaurium really seemed weird - Just curious?

Also want to add that my Fodors identity is NOT to be confused with that of ILoveCapeTown. I have no idea who this Fodorite is. My company is called I Love Cape Town tours however I write on Fodors under my own personal name of Selwyn_Davidowitz.

Might also want to add that I would not recommend Bientangs Cave as a place to dine in Hermanus as ILoveCapeTown has done. There simply are much better eateries to frequent in the wonderfully quaint seaside village. Furthermore as I dont know or have not read anything by ILoveCapeTown I cant comment further about his/her Fodors activity.

Just my two-pence worth.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa

Selwyn Davidowitz