JMK38

Our direct flight into Cape Town will arrive at 9:30 pm. As we will need a rental car for part of our stay in Cape Town & Winelands, it may make sense to pick the car up that night and drive into the city to our hotel; But, from a practical and safety standpoint, I don't know whether this is a good idea. Would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

annhig

Honestly, a very bad idea. It's never a good idea to drive anywhere after a long flight, and you are adding night-time, complete ignorance of the city and driving on the left [assuming you're not a Brit when of course this would be the one bonus] and a high crime rate into the equation. What could possibly go wrong? When we went 15 or so years ago we spent out first day on CPT itself, [there are tourist buses which will take you from place to place] and then had our hire car delivered to the hotel the next morning when we had got our bearings. Being from the UK we didn't have any jet lag but if you are from elsewhere you might want to factor that in too. Driving was really not bad [try not to do what my DH did and burst a tyre going round a corner on the first day in the car] but I suggest taking it easy the first day before you start to become more adventurous.

JMK38

annhig, you have confirmed my gut feeling. We will make arrangements through our hotel for transport into the city and will pick a car up several days later. Thank you!

annhig

That sounds like a great plan. One thing we were told [and turned out to be spot on advice] was to go to the top of Table Mountain the first time you can see it without the "tablecloth" as very often it is swathed in cloud. We did so and were very pleased that we had. Don't know if these are still offered but we discovered that free guided tours of the top are offered by locals [at 11am and 2pm when we were there] and it was very informative. Our other local highlight was Kirstenbosch gardens which were wonderful.

Heimdall

Yes, go up Table Mountain the first time you can see the top, but check the Table Mountain website I gave you in the other thread to make sure the cableway is running. Cape Town can be very windy in summer, and weather is different at the top from where you will be at sea level.

I absolutely agree with annhig to wait for the rental car until you need it, not at the airport. If your flight arrives at 9:30 pm it will be 10:30 pm or later by the time you get through passport control, customs, and check out the rental car. The N2 road from the airport to central CT is a very good divided highway, and you will be fine as long as you stay on it, but it passes through the Cape Flats where you don’t want to turn off or get stuck.

Right now South Africa is experiencing load shedding, which we call blackouts, and it probably won’t get any better between now and next February. Most hotels and restaurants have adapted to this with generators that kick in when the power goes off. Unfortunately that doesn’t apply to traffic lights (called robots in SA) which won’t be operating when the power goes out. The blackouts alternate between different parts of the city, and usually last about 2 hrs at a time.

JMK38

The airline has changed the time of our flight, so now we are scheduled to arrive Cape Town at 6:00 pm - does this change your advice re: picking up rental car at airport vs in the city several days later?

Also, what rental car company would you recommend?

Thank you in advance.

Heimdall

Were it me I would still arrange with the hotel for a transfer from the airport even though it will still be daylight when you arrive. After that long overnight flight from Newark you will likely be tired, and have to adjust to driving on the left with a RHD car, finding your way to the hotel, and other factors unique to driving in South Africa. The N2 from the airport to central CT is safe enough as long as you don’t stop, but there are places in between where you wouldn’t want to turn off by mistake. Then, when you get into the city, if the robots (traffic lights) aren’t working due to load shedding you would have to be very careful.

I’m fortunate that when visiting Cape Town I stay with in-laws who drive me around, so I don’t have suggestions for rental cars.

crellston

We spent nearly three months on a road trip around South Africa. arriving in Durban and departing Capetown. Even though we were flying from London (no jet lag) we just got a taxi to our accommodation on arrival and picked up the car a few days later when departing the city. We used Avis for the rental as we got a pretty good deal booking alongside our flights. Make sure to check out your car thoroughly before driving too far. We were a couple of miles down the road when ours started making horrible noises and bits dropped off. We returned and they exchanged it but we had to wait whilst they located another automatic. We have done a lot of such trips around the world and always make a point of using one of the big players - Hertz, Avis/Budget , Europcar etc. rather than a local firm. I also have a standalone CDW excess insurance policy as it is way cheaper than buy the rental insurance.

Despite all the warnings re danger in South Africa we experienced no problems at all though the condition of many of the roads outside of the cities was not good. I was driving but my wife was on constant watch for potholes some of which were VERY big!

We spent a week in Capetown at the end of our trip with our car and frankly, we could have done without it. Uber was fine for getting around the city and the beaches though you would clearly need it for the garden route.