If you’re a first-timer in South Africa, here are 12 of the best things to do in Cape Town, according to yours truly. Cape Town is a city that offers a bit of everything. From glamorous beaches, beautiful nature, a bustling city centre, and world-renowned vineyards! It ticks all the boxes.
A friend had recently visited on her honeymoon and I was dying to visit after seeing her photos. The scenery looked unreal, the food sounded delicious, the views of Table Mountain everywhere were spectacular, and don’t get me started on the wine region! So, when I saw £420 return flights direct it didn’t take much convincing!
I highly recommend renting a car so that you can travel around with ease, especially since there are so many incredible viewpoints. A car gives you the ultimate flexibility to stop and snap at any point. So, let’s dive into the 12 best things to do in Cape Town.
Table Mountain
I mean, you can’t come to Cape Town and just enjoy the mountain from a distance.
The easiest (and most popular) way to the top is the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. The rotating cable car gives you 360° views as you ascend, which is so clever! From the top, you’ll be greeted with panoramic views of Cape Town, the stunning coastline, Robben Island, and even the Twelve Apostles mountain range.
Top Tip: Try to go early in the morning or late afternoon to avoid the crowds and catch the best light for photos. We made the mistake of going at 10:00 AM and the queue was 2.5 hours!
For those a bit more adventurous, there are several trails up the mountain if you wanted to try one of them. To find out more, you’ll have to head to another blog because that is not a bit of me!
However you choose to get there, always check the weather conditions. Cape Town weather can often be cloudy and windy (if it’s too breezy, the cableway closes), plus you have to look out for the ‘tablecloth’. I.e. a thick cloud that rolls in over the top of the mountain – we spotted this while we were having rooftop drinks and whilst it’s impressive from afar, it’d be pretty disappointing to queue for ages to get up there only to have the view obscured.
Penguins at Boulders Beach
Just a short drive from downtown, in the charming coastal town of Simon’s Town, you’ll find one of South Africa’s most adorable attractions: Boulders Beach, home to a colony of wild African penguins. Yes, penguins. On a beach. In Africa. It’s just as incredible as it sounds.
Once endangered, they’ve found sanctuary at Boulders Beach since the early 1980s, and the colony now numbers in the thousands. Boulders Beach offers a protected environment with warm(ish) waters and giant granite boulders that shield the bay from wind and waves, making it a perfect habitat for penguins.
Can you swim with the penguins? Yes, technically you can. While the main penguin viewing areas are accessed via wooden boardwalks, there’s a nearby section of the beach where the public can swim, and sometimes the penguins will waddle over and hop into the water with you (from a respectful distance, of course). They’re wild animals, so it’s important to give them space and not try to touch or feed them.
There is a small entry fee, as it’s part of a protected national park, and the money helps fund conservation efforts. The facilities are well maintained, with toilets, a café nearby, and signs along the boardwalk with info on the penguins and local ecology.
The cost for Boulders Beach for International (non-South African) citizens is R215 (approx. £8.90)
Chapman’s Peak Drive
Who doesn’t love a beautiful coastal cliffside drive?
I think because a lot of people tend to stay in areas towards Camps Bay when visiting, it’s easy to just jump onto the Chapman’s Peak drive from that direction and head all the way down. However, I recommend doing it this way instead: Start in Kalk Bay (I talk more about this later in the post), before heading over to Boulders Beach and down to the tip at Cape Point – the very bottom of the continent. Here you can do a little walk around and see the Cape Point Lighthouse. Then start making your way back up through Chapman’s Peak. Doing it in this direction also means that you’re driving closer to the cliffside, meaning you get epic views as a passenger.
The drive is spectacular. You get to see a huge strip of Cape Town’s coastline and because you’re driving through the mountain, you get fantastic views throughout. One part that really stood out is where there’s a tunnel carved into the mountain in the most artistic way! At the end of the drive you end up in Hout Bay which is a great place to enjoy some beach side drinks (we visited Dune Beach Bar) or even grab dinner!
Sunset at Camps Bay
Camps Bay is a fab spot to spend a day in general. There are loads of gorgeous beach front restaurants and bars (I loved Chinchilla for rooftop drinks and nibbles and ZenZero had a beautiful filet steak!). There are also a couple of upmarket boutiques to explore, although I did come across a £200 bikini so maybe better for window shopping!
Sunset here is beautiful. Not only do you have a gorgeous beach to relax on with the sound of crashing waves but the dramatic mountain backdrop makes this a perfect spot to unwind at the end of the day. You can choose to visit a rooftop bar like Chinchilla to enjoy or you could grab food, like a pizza, to take away and set up a picnic on the beach. Once the sun sets the temperature drops and the wind can pick up so make sure to bring some layers.
Drinks at Silo Rooftop
Want delicious cocktails with the most incredible view of Table Mountain? Of course you do. The Silo Hotel’s Rooftop Bar was the first place we went to when we arrived and it was the perfect introduction to Cape Town. The building was originally a grain silo but now converted into a beautiful hotel with a rooftop bar and art museum.
We were actually seated on the sun terrace right at the top as we wanted the most sun (obviously) and it was breathtaking. Panoramic views of the city, oysters and a mango margarita. It was incredible to watch the thick, eerie clouds roll dramatically over the edge of Table Mountain.
Make sure to book a table before you go. I highly recommend booking a table a couple of hours before sunset so you can watch the sky turn beautiful shades of oranges and pinks as the sun goes down. Once the sun sets it gets pretty windy and chilly so bring a jacket!
Afternoon Tea at Mount Nelson
I just adore afternoon tea. It’s just such a nice treat, especially when you’re enjoying it somewhere as luxurious as the five-star Mount Nelson Hotel. You’re welcomed with a scented wet towel to refresh yourself before either being seated in the grand lounge or beautiful terrace flooded with natural light. A live pianist was playing beautiful renditions of songs that filled the room while you dined on delectable treats.
Tea consisted of a selection of sandwiches, devilled eggs, mushroom puffs, soup, scones with cream and jam, and so many sweet pastries! The mini desserts they provided looked beautiful, but they had a fresh cake stand they told us to help ourselves to, so we packed up our pastries to go and enjoyed the cake instead. We were stuffed to the brim! They were so generous with everything and told us we could order more sandwiches (we ordered a few more coronation chicken ones as they were so good). And get this, they even had a tea sommelier. An actual tea expert to talk you through their 75 varieties of tea! So fun!
And guys, this only cost £25 per person including a glass of sparkling wine!!! I can’t even fathom what an experience like this would have cost us in London. It’s so worth the money and a lovely way to treat yourself.
The exterior terrace at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town
Visit Franschhoek for the Wine Tram
If you didn’t know, South Africa is renowned for its wine regions like the Cape Winelands, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. For a unique experience, I’d highly recommend visiting Franschhoek for their famous wine tram! There are five different lines to choose from, each route taking you from vineyard to vineyard on their wine tram or bus. It’s so much fun and such a great way to visit a few vineyards with ease.
You can read more about the wine tram in detail here.
Wine Tasting in Constantia
If you don’t want to travel too far out of Cape Town or don’t have the time, there are plenty of beautiful vineyards to visit in the city itself. Constantia is a beautiful area in Cape Town that’s about 20km from Camps Bay (roughly 25 mins with good traffic).
There are so many options and it just so happened that our accommodation was only a 3-minute drive from Constantia Ustig. Our plan was to visit Groot Constantia afterwards but honestly we had such a nice time at Ustig, we just enjoyed the full day here. What I loved about Utsig was that it felt like there was a bit more to do here than just wine taste. There were so many restaurants to choose from here and we visited Ember & Oak and loved it! We also visited Kristen’s Kick-Ass Ice Cream for a sweet treat.
When we sat down we were given free tasters of some of their frozen cocktails – and even though we were at a vineyard, I couldn’t resist a frozen pina colada. Our server George was very passionate about the menu and explained the best items and what he would bring out first. I can’t pinpoint the cuisine other than it was all about fresh, quality ingredients with a fusion of flavours. We had linefish pani puri, a coconut curried cauliflower and lamb ribs. Stunning. Afterwards, we explored the rose garden and then sat on picnic blankets on the grass and enjoyed the scenery.
V&A Waterfront
The V&A Waterfront is one of the top places to visit in the city, and for good reason. It’s got a fantastic mix of shopping, dining, culture and history wrapped into one spot. There’s a mix of high street shops as well as cute boutiques. If you love locally made crafts, fashion and art, then you need to head to The Watershed, a vibrant market in a cool industrial space.
The V&A is also the gateway to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and is a must-do for history lovers. On the waterfront, you’ll also find Nobel Square, which features sculptures of South Africa’s four Nobel Peace Prize winners. For art lovers, visit The Zeitz MOCAA, Africa’s leading museum of contemporary art, which sits next door to the Silo Hotel.
The V&A Waterfront makes a fantastic day out and the best part is that it’s all set against the dramatic backdrop of Table Mountain. A perfect place to enjoy fresh seafood and oysters and sundowners.
Kalk Bay
We stopped at Kalk Bay for breakfast before we did our trip to Boulders Beach and Chapman’s Peak Drive. I think this is a great place to start the day as there’s so many cute boutique shops to explore and we also stumbled across a little flea market where we picked up some smoothies and little pieces of jewellery. If you’re brave enough to tackle the cool temperatures of the water, there are some really cute tidal pools to enjoy here too.
We enjoyed breakfast at the Brass Bell and the corner seat offered a stunning view over the bay as we enjoyed eggs benedict and a mimosa, plus we even spotted an otter! If you walk further down the bay you will also be able to spot seals swimming around the harbour.
Bo Kaap
Take a stroll through the vibrant streets of Bo-Kaap, a neighborhood bursting with culture and history. Perched on the slopes of Signal Hill, this area is instantly recognisable thanks to its brightly painted houses and cobbled streets.
Bo-Kaap is the heart of Cape Malay culture, a community descended from enslaved people brought from Southeast Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Aside from enjoying the colourful houses and bright atmosphere, visiting Bo Kaap is a great place to try Cape Malay cuisine like bobotie, samoosas, or a spicy chicken curry. You can opt for a walking tour led by a local that offers rich insights into Bo Kaap’s history and nowadays the ongoing struggles with gentrification. I wish I had taken a walking tour – I think they’re such a good way of getting to know more about an area from someone who knows all about it.
Alternatively, you can also visit Bo Kaap Museum – it’s small but informative and gives a great intro to the neighborhood’s origins.
Top Tip: Be respectful when taking photos. Bo Kaap is a residential area, not just an Instagram backdrop.
Street in Bo Kaap. Photo credit: www.capetown.travel
Robben Island
A visit to Robben Island is one of the most moving and essential experiences in Cape Town. Just off the coast and accessible by ferry from the V&A Waterfront, this island prison is where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in captivity. Today, it stands as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a powerful symbol of South Africa’s turbulent past and its journey toward democracy.
Tours start with a ferry ride from the V&A Waterfront, which takes about 30–45 minutes each way. If you get motion sickness, I’d advise you to bring some anti-sickness tablets because it can get choppy. Once on the island, a former political prisoner typically guides the tour through the maximum-security prison offering firsthand, emotional accounts of life behind bars.
You’ll see Mandela’s actual cell, hear about the day-to-day conditions, and learn about the island’s history both as a place of exile and education.
Top Tip: Book tickets in advance as they often sell out quickly, especially in peak season. Also, dress in layers because the weather on the ferry can be unpredictable!
