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Stories from Cape Town, South Africa

Every story, long read and guide in the ULTIMATE Cape Town City Guide, in one place.

Culture

Arts + Culture

All of Arts & Culture

Zeitz MOCAA in its grain silo, the Norval Foundation’s sculpture garden, opera at Artscape and the District Six Museum.

The atrium of Zeitz MOCAA, carved from the concrete tubes of the old grain siloArts + CultureArts & Culture in Cape TownMuseums, galleries, stages and festivals

Areas

Cape Town, around the mountain

Eight parts of the city, each with its own guide: the City Bowl and the painted Bo-Kaap, the harbour at the V&A, the Sea Point promenade, the beaches of Clifton and Camps Bay, Hout Bay, Constantia’s vineyards, Woodstock’s studios and the False Bay coast.

Red, orange, yellow, pink and turquoise houses on Wale Street in the Bo-KaapNeighbourhood guideThe City Bowl & the Bo-KaapUnder the mountainTable Mountain above the V&A Waterfront harbour at dusk, with a sailing ship at its berthNeighbourhood guideThe V&A Waterfront & Green PointThe harbour quarterVillas above the rocks of the Atlantic Seaboard in evening light, with the Twelve Apostles beyondNeighbourhood guideSea Point & Bantry BayThe promenadeCamps Bay beach and its houses below the cliffs of the Twelve ApostlesNeighbourhood guideClifton & Camps BayBeaches under the Twelve ApostlesCape fur seals basking in Hout Bay harbour, with boats at the marinaNeighbourhood guideHout Bay & Chapman’s PeakHarbour and cliff road

Read the wind

When the south-easter blows on the Atlantic side, head over the mountain to Constantia, or round to the shelter of Clifton’s boulders.

  1. Neighbourhood guideConstantia & the Southern SuburbsVines and gardens
  2. Neighbourhood guideWoodstock & Salt RiverStudios and the mill
  3. Neighbourhood guideFalse Bay: Kalk Bay & MuizenbergThe warmer coast

Practical

Before you go

Visas and the new ETA, the airport bus, the wind on the mountain, and four days that work for a first visit.

Table Mountain, Devil’s Peak and the Twelve Apostles above the City Bowl and Camps Bay, seen from Lion’s HeadBefore you goCape Town essentialsEntry, the ETA, money, safety and 112A MyCiTi bus at the Civic Centre station in the city centreGetting aroundGetting aroundThe airport, MyCiTi and the trainsA cableway car rising above the cliffs, with Camps Bay and the Atlantic far belowItineraryCape Town in four daysThe mountain, the island and Cape PointA suite at The Silo Hotel behind its faceted, pillowed-glass windows, with a chandelier and the harbour beyondLuxury guideLUX LivingThe finest addressesThe colonnaded gateway of the Mount Nelson Hotel, with cloud pouring over Table Mountain at sunsetItineraryThe Gold weekendThe Mount Nelson, FYN and Pier
  1. ItineraryThe Platinum weekendEllerman House and La Colombe

Our advice

Go up the mountain on the first clear morning

The cableway stops in high wind and cloud. Check tablemountain.net when you wake up, and if the summit is clear and still, go that day, whatever your plan said. Cape Town essentials

Day trips

Beyond Cape Town

Stellenbosch and Franschhoek lie over the mountains to the east; Cape Point is at the end of the peninsula, Hermanus along the coast and the West Coast to the north.

A white Cape Georgian house under oak trees on Dorp Street, StellenboschBeyond Cape TownStellenboschOaks, gables and wineThe Huguenot Monument at Franschhoek below the mountains that ring the valleyBeyond Cape TownFranschhoekThe Huguenot valleyThe path along the ridge to the lookout at Cape Point, with the ocean on both sidesBeyond Cape TownCape Point & Simon’s TownPenguins and lighthousesVoelklip beach and the houses of Hermanus below the mountainsBeyond Cape TownHermanusWhales from the cliffsOrange and pink spring flowers carpeting the Postberg section of the West Coast National ParkBeyond Cape TownPaternoster & the West CoastFlowers and fishing villages

Our advice

Book Robben Island before anything else

The boats to Robben Island fill up days ahead in summer and sail only in good weather. Book with the Robben Island Museum as soon as your dates are set. Robben Island

In depth

Cape Town in depth

The mountain and the island, the great tables, the arts, the hotels, the buses and trains, and where people buy: the stories behind Cape Town.

African penguins gathered on the sand beside a granite boulder at Boulders Beach, Simon’s TownIn depth: nature & wildlifeWild Cape TownPenguins, whales, baboons and fynbosBobotie, the Cape Malay baked dish, with yellow rice, banana and chutneyThe back storyCape Town at the tableThe great tables and the seaThe Artscape Theatre Centre on the ForeshoreThe back storyArt in a grain siloCape Town’s arts

At the table

Lunch is the Cape’s great meal: book a long one in the vineyards, and keep the evening for the sunset.

  1. The back storyWhere Cape Town sleepsThe harbour, the mountain and the sea
  2. The back storyCape Town by bus, train and seaMyCiTi, the Southern Line and the Blue Train
  3. The back storyBuying in Cape TownNeighbourhoods and the transfer
  4. Fun factsCape Town fun factsThings you might not know

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