Cape Town: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Cape Town sits in a bowl between a flat mountain and the sea. The Dutch arrived in 1652 to grow vegetables for ships on the way to India — not to found a colony — and that vegetable plot is still in the centre. The city grew round it, and the whole history of South Africa is written on it: a castle from 1666, a painted Muslim quarter, and a museum about a neighbourhood that was erased.
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A short history of Cape Town
The Khoikhoi grazed their herds here at the foot of Table Mountain until, on 6 April 1652, Jan van Riebeeck landed on behalf of the Dutch East India Company and set up a supply station for ships on their way to Asia. In 1806 the Cape passed to the British. From 1910 the parliament of South Africa sat in the city, and it has remained there. Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison on Robben Island in the bay, and on 11 February 1990, the day of his release, he spoke from the balcony of the City Hall.
The ten best sights in Cape Town
1Table MountainA flat top a kilometre above the city
2Lion’s HeadA spiral climb of ninety minutes, best at full moon
3Signal HillDrive up for the sunset, and a gun fires at noon
4V&A WaterfrontA working harbour with the mountain behind it
5Bo-KaapPainted houses on cobbles, and the oldest mosque
6Sea Point PromenadeEleven kilometres of path along the Atlantic
7Camps BayWhite sand under the Twelve Apostles
8Boulders BeachA colony of African penguins, on a public beach
9Cape PointCliffs at the end of the peninsula, and baboons
10Chapman’s Peak DriveNine kilometres cut into a cliff over the sea
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Cape Town →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Cape Town:
Free walking tours in Cape Town
The City Bowl
Cape Town sits in a bowl between a flat mountain and the sea. The Dutch arrived in 1652 to grow vegetables for ships on the way to India — not to found a colony — and that vegetable plot is still in the centre. The city grew round it, and the whole history of South Africa is written on it: a castle from 1666, a painted Muslim quarter, and a museum about a neighbourhood that was erased.
- Company’s Garden · The vegetable plot the Dutch East India Company planted in 1652 to supply passing ships with fresh food against scurvy. One pear tree in it was planted before 1700 and is still bearing fruit.
- Castle of Good Hope · The oldest building in South Africa, a five-pointed star finished in 1679. It stood on the shore when it was built; land reclamation has since put a kilometre of city between it and the sea.
- District Six Museum · Sixty thousand people were removed from District Six after 1966 and their houses bulldozed, because the apartheid government declared it a white area. The museum floor is a map of the streets, annotated by the people who lived on them.
- Bo-Kaap · Built as rental houses for freed slaves from Malaysia, Indonesia and East Africa. The law required them to be white while rented; when the residents were finally allowed to buy, they painted them every colour there was.
- Greenmarket Square · A slave market from 1696, then a vegetable market, then a car park, and now a craft market. A plaque in the paving names what it was, which was added only in 2008.
- Long Street · Victorian cast-iron balconies above second-hand bookshops and bars — the street was going to be demolished in the 1970s and was saved by the people living above the shops.
The mountain
Table Mountain is not only a view — it is one of the richest concentrations of plant life on earth. More species grow on its slopes than in the whole of Britain, and most of them grow nowhere else. You go up by a cable car that rotates, or climb Lion’s Head beside it — ninety minutes of spiral.
- Cableway · The car rotates three hundred and sixty degrees as it climbs, so everyone gets the whole view without moving. It carries water up and sends it down as ballast, which makes the descent nearly free of power.
- Table Mountain · Three kilometres of flat top at a thousand metres. When the south-easter blows, cloud pours over the edge and evaporates halfway down — the locals call it the tablecloth, and it means the cableway is about to close.
- Lion’s Head · A ninety-minute climb that spirals round the peak, so the view changes the whole way. On the night of a full moon hundreds of people walk up it with torches to watch the moon rise and the sun set at once.
- Signal Hill · A cannon has been fired here at noon, every day except Sunday, since 1806 — originally so ships in the bay could set their chronometers. It is the oldest gun in daily use anywhere in the world.
- Kirstenbosch · A botanical garden on the back slope, growing only plants native to southern Africa — the first in the world founded on that principle, in 1913. A canopy walkway called the Boomslang curves through the treetops.
- Rhodes Memorial · Forty-nine steps for each year of Cecil Rhodes’s life, on the slope of the mountain he once owned. It is contested, argued over and still standing, and the view from the steps is among the best in the city.
The peninsula
A sixty-kilometre spit of land runs south from Cape Town and ends in a cliff above the ocean. The road down goes along a cut cliff road, through a fishing harbour, past a beach with a penguin colony, to a headland where two sea currents meet. A full day, and you need a car.
- Camps Bay · White sand under twelve rock buttresses that the British named the Twelve Apostles, although there are eighteen of them. The water here is about twelve degrees and almost nobody swims.
- Hout Bay · A working fishing harbour with a seal colony on a rock offshore. Boats go out to it, and the seals come to the quay when the fish are landed.
- Chapman’s Peak Drive · Nine kilometres and a hundred and fourteen curves, cut into a cliff between the rock and the sea. It was built by convict labour between 1915 and 1922, and it closes whenever rocks come down.
- Boulders Beach · Two breeding pairs of African penguins arrived here in 1982 and there are now about three thousand. They live on a public beach between granite boulders, and there are boardwalks so people do not step on the burrows.
- Cape Point · A cliff two hundred and fifty metres above the sea with a lighthouse on it that was built too high — it was often in cloud, so a second one was built lower down. Baboons here open car doors, and they know how.
- Cape of Good Hope · Not the southernmost point of Africa — that is two hundred kilometres east — but the point at which a ship sailing from Europe stops going south and starts going east. That is why it mattered.
Getting to Cape Town and getting around
- Cape Town Airport · Twenty minutes to the centre, and hire a car
- Cape Town Station · The line to Simon’s Town runs beside the sea
- Table Mountain Cableway · The car rotates as it climbs — everyone gets the view
Museums in Cape Town
- Robben Island · Ex-prisoners guide it. Book weeks ahead
- District Six Museum · The floor is a map, written on by the people
- Zeitz MOCAA · A grain silo carved out from inside
- Iziko South African Museum · San rock art, fossils, and a hall of whale skeletons
- Castle of Good Hope · 1679, and the oldest building in the country
Parks and gardens in Cape Town
- Kirstenbosch · Only native plants, since 1913
- Table Mountain · A national park, and the cloud is called the tablecloth
- Sea Point Promenade · Eleven kilometres of flat path along the Atlantic
- Cape Point Nature Reserve · Ostriches on the beach, and baboons who open cars
Things to do in Cape Town with kids
- Boulders Beach penguins · Three thousand penguins on a public beach
- Two Oceans Aquarium · At the waterfront, and the kelp forest tank is the one
- Cableway · The floor rotates as it climbs
- Muizenberg · Warm water, small waves, and surf lessons
Cheap eats in Cape Town
Seven counters where Cape Town eats standing. A Cape Malay curry wrapped in a hollowed loaf of bread, a Saturday market in an old biscuit factory, and a fish and chips shop at a working harbour. Forty to a hundred and twenty rand.
- Bunny chow / Gatsby · R70, and one Gatsby feeds four
- Old Biscuit Mill · Saturdays only, from nine, and go early
- Oranjezicht City Farm Market · At the waterfront, Saturdays and Sundays
- Kalky’s, Kalk Bay · Fish and chips at a working harbour, R90
- Bo-Kaap koeksisters · Spiced, syrupy and rolled in coconut, R15
- Truth Coffee · A steampunk roastery in an old building
- Greenmarket Square · Food carts round the edge of the craft market
Nature and day trips near Cape Town
- Cape of Good Hope · Not the southern tip — the turning point
- Chapman’s Peak Drive · 114 curves cut into a cliff, built by convicts
- Groot Constantia · Wine since 1685, and Napoleon asked for it
- Stellenbosch · Oak-lined streets and wine farms, an hour out
Frequently asked questions about Cape Town
What is there to see in Cape Town?
The top sights in Cape Town are Table Mountain, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Cape Town?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Cape Town without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Cape Town?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Cape Town, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The City Bowl.
How do you get to Cape Town and get around?
The main ways are Cape Town Airport, Cape Town Station and Table Mountain Cableway. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Cape Town, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Cape Town that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Cape Town for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.