Destination overview

You’ll need advance warning - there simply isn’t enough space to tell you everything about Cape Town in one article, so we’ll have to leave some surprises for you to discover all on your own. But that will be extremely fitting because Cape Town is full of little surprises. You will find hidden beaches, where you thought there were just jumbles of boulders, and cobblestone streets lined with beautiful old buildings, just around the corner from a busy modern thoroughfare.

Gourmet meals can be found in the most unlikely places. And everywhere, there’s the mountain - Table Mountain. Sometimes sharply etched across a sky so blue you’d think it was painted by an enthusiastic child. Sometimes covered in a cloth of cloud that falls off the edge in a state of constant motion, Table Mountain is always changing and always beautiful.

Take a cable car, climb its steep sides or hike across it from the must-see Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Abseil, skydive, mountain-bike or ‘kloof’ down it. Just make sure you go up there during your visit and while you’re up there, see if you can spot the little dassies (an African rodent) that live everywhere amongst the rocks.

The culture here is unique. It’s a melting pot of the many different races that have formed the creatively diverse city of today. Walk down one street and you’d swear you were in Europe. Go around a corner and you’re in Victorian England. Go a bit further and you’re back in Africa, with gaily painted walls and an almost-audible heartbeat.

If you visit in summer, the beaches are a must. The trendy café-lined crescent of Camps Bay, Clifton’s four sheltered pockets, Sandy Bay and the wide sweep of Milnerton Beach are all popular for their fantastic view of Table Mountain and big variety of water sports. Enjoy the sunset over the ocean on any of the beaches, preferably with a glass of local wine or beer in hand and a boerewors and lamb chop braai cooking nearby.

The teal-blue ocean sparkles in the warm sun, inviting you to cool off for a moment. And it will be for just a moment - the Atlantic has quite a bite! If you prefer warmer water, the long way round to Muizenberg, with its bright bathing boxes, is a journey well worth doing. The Chapman’s Peak road clings to the steep sides of the Twelve Apostles and offers superb ocean views. Stop off at the African curio stalls along the way and pause in Hout Bay, then come back via a lovely Constantia Valley wine estate.

Outdoor sports of all sorts are extremely popular in Cape Town. Look up and you’ll likely see a paraglider floating off one of the high spots, and surfing is huge, but you’ll need a wetsuit. And this has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world for mountain biking. It’s no wonder that Cape Town is home to one of the world’s largest bicycle races, the Cape Argus.

South Africa’s oldest golf course is found at the Royal Cape Golf Club, and the most scenic is the Metropolitan at Mouille Point. Plus, there are 11 others within a half hour of the city centre that you can use as reasons why you have to be in Cape Town.

Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for years, is a much-visited spot. Depending upon the time of year, you’ll see dolphins, seals, whales and maybe even a great white on the way there.

Very brave souls will go shark cage diving, while the rest of us will most probably be content to visit the magnificent aquarium with its spectacular kelp garden where you can laze your day away quite easily.

In winter, there are still plenty of things to do and you may prefer the fact that there aren’t crowds of people everywhere you go. In fact, the city makes sure it pulls out all the stops to keep things buzzing during the cooler months. Like challenging the excellent V & A Waterfront restaurants to create the most affordable dish that captures the essence of Cape Town’s many gastronomic influences - Italian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Moroccan, French, Portuguese, Congolese, Greek, Brazilian, Thai and Korean.

In fact, prepare to ease your belt a notch or two, because the food is superb. There are five S. Pellegrino Top 100 Restaurants and a plethora of other affordable places to eat. Don’t leave without trying the calamari, done the Portuguese way, or a traditional Bobotie, finished off with a rich Cape brandy pudding. And you can’t go wrong with grilled sole, or any other freshly-caught fish. Feeling adventurous? Try smoorsnoek, shwarma and koeksisters, though not all at the same time!

You will find the crisp, clear winter days in Cape Town particularly refreshing. Must-visits are the Museum Meander, or go to the National Gallery and see if you can find any squirrels in the Company’s Gardens (they began life as the Dutch East India Company’s vegetable patch) on the way.

Beach walks can be extremely interesting after a wild storm. It’s not called the Cape of Storms for nothing and you can never be quite sure what will be washed up after a good one. Art is everywhere in Cape Town. On walls, sculptures, galleries and in artists’ homes that have been transformed into museums. Opera and theatre are world-class and jazz is thriving. The Adderley Street flower sellers bring a burst of colour to every day and there’s nothing like a traditional Cape Malay or Xhosa meal in a local’s home.

We haven’t even touched on the many wine routes, nature hikes, caving adventures and National Parks. Again, this is typical of Cape Town, because during any visit it won’t be a case of what you're going to do, but what are you going to look forward to doing next time.