njs7

Hello and thanks for your help. My daughter (age 22) and I will be flying from London to Cape Town arriving 8 June at 10:00am. We leave for Botswana on 12 June. There are so many wonderful things to do but I have no idea what makes the most sense logistically and which activities are combineable. We are going to have to come back as we can't do everything but here are some of our "must dos" and "nice to dos." I would appreciate your help in organizing our time. We will have a driver as I don't feel comfortable driving. We are also open to suggestions for a first time visitor.

Must do:

Table Mountain

Robben Island

City Tour

Wine Tasting (2 wineries and a nice lunch. WE like both red and white. Interested to see beautiful scenery. We are from San Francisco so enjoy this kind of activity but a half day is fine)

Uthando Tour

Other things we'd like to do :

Penguins (Simon’s Town or Cape Town Central?)

Jewish Museum

The Great Synagogue

District 6 Museum

Interactive activity with animals

I think we would have some bandwidth to do a short activity the day we arrive, maybe outside where we can walk or one museum. Thanks for your help.

Nancy

ekscrunchy

Very high on my list would be a drive around the Cape Peninsula, driving more or less the perimeter of the Peninsula, to Cape of Good Hope and back, including stretch on Chapman's Peak Drive. We saw dozens of whales when we did this, along with assorted ostrich, baboon, antelope, birds. You can do Simonstown, viewing penguins, on this trip.

I would not look for "animal encounter" in a planned format since you are heading for Botswana.

Table Mountain should be on list, for certain, but this is weather dependent.

I've been to the city twice, for a week each time, and have not yet made it to Robben Island. Be aware that you need advance tickets for this, if you decide to include.


Have you booked dinner reservations????

julbal

WE just got back from Cape Town...You can do District 6 museum and the Jewish Museum/Holocaust Center all in half a day and they are near each other. Call ahead to get a private tour of District 6 museum…not expensive and more meaningful. Maybe do this the day you arrive…unless its a beautiful day then maybe go to Table Mountain so you are sure to get that in and don't have to worry about weather.
You can do the Winelands in half a day if you want to do an early morning shift..two wineries and then lunch at Jordan or Bread & Wine…then on the way back from the Winelands get a tour of a Township…we did Langa but I think you mentioned another. You can hire a driver/guide for the day to do this…we used PG Tops Tours and had Yolanda and Roelf who were fantastic.
Also..on the way back from winelands we did the Cougar reserve and got to touch a Cougar (but don't think you can do that and the township tour)
Table Mountain a 2 to 3 hour activity and very weather dependent. Get your tickets ahead of time..they are good for 2 weeks. Robben Island is also weather dependent and you have to pick a day and time so get those right away and that could be a 4 hour activity. Could do Table Mountain and Robben Island on same day…not near each other so will need cabs.
The Penninsula tour is a full day tour with Penguins, sightseeing and visit an Ostrich Farm and you can feed the Ostrich..very fun. Again we used PG Tops for this…fabulous private tour.
Fun great restaurant is The Grand Cafe and Beach. A fabulous restaurant is La Colombe but it is a half hour out of Cape Town. If you want to eat at Test Kitchen..make reservations right away..they book up over 3 months in advance.
For a bit more money…you can get a private tour of Robben Island that you may find more meaningful.

Lenska

Hi! I am living in Cape Town

Try keep Robben Island and Wine Tasting in the week… Weekends can be very very busy!

There are various routes up Table Mountain… do you want to walk it or take the cable car? We actually walked it today- we relatively fit and took about 1 and half hour going up and 45 min coming down. Nice to do on a morning or afternoon. Maybe try do on the day you arrive- as its a saturday it will be busy which is good safety wise. If you taking the cable cars maybe opt for a quieter time in the week and book ahead.

Penguins you could see at Boulders Beach (also on a day when weather permits)

Jewish Museum, The Great Synagogue and District 6 Museum are very close to each other so do those together. They are in town so if you want to see the city centre maybe do this all on the same day. Also near by is The V&A Waterfront- very good for shopping!

There are a lot of city tours and some more specific that others. for example I am an architecture student and do a lot of architecture based tours…

Let me know if you need any more advise! remember to bring warm clothes-very cold and rainy here in June.

Lovely interesting restaurants around, some fun, some fancy, some not, some experimental… shout if you want advise

canadian_robin

We also usually arrive on that 10am flight from Heathrow. Our favourite first day, when we are both exhausted from the flights, is to check in at our accommodation and then head to Rhode's Memorial for lunch. Lovely views of the city/harbour and great food - a wonderful way to start your visit. Book ahead online - it is very popular.

http://www.rhodesmemorial.co.za/

From Rhodes, depending on the weather and the state of the clouds over the mountain, we either head up Table Mtn on the cable car or go for a walk around the botanical gardens (Kirstenbosch).

A not-too-taxing first day, but with a couple of highlights covered! CR

Hobbert

For Robben Island, consider buying tickets ahead of time. We visited Cape Town several months ago and were unable to get tickets because of the volume of visitors. Apparently it was a school holiday.

Also, the penguins at Boulder's Beach are just charming. Definitely worth a visit. I also loved Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. It's like stepping into Narnia!

leopardgirl

We are from SF wine country also & have been there 5 times. Stellenbosch & Constantia wineries are close to get to from Capetown. The Old Bisquit Mill shops/ farmers market is great!Well worth doing the Cape Peninsula tour with seeing the Ostrich farm on the way, Penguins at Boulders Beach. Table Mountain is a must if weather good & they now have the new Boomslang walkway over Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens. Plenty of baboons at the Cape & the Spiers wild bird Reserve is wonderful in Stellenbosch. La Societe restaurant one of the best!

leopardgirl

I would also recommend hiring a guide/driver to get you around all places smoothly & you will feel relaxed/no worries. I can recommend some local fabulous guides if you need.