Cape Town Travel Guide

Our Cape Town Travel Guide will introduce you to the Mother City, her places and her people. A great deal of what Capetonians have done and will do is ruled by the city's location on the edge of the continent; her complex history and the warm people and culture of Cape Town.

Finding your way around the Cape Peninsula is easy; just make sure you know where Table Mountain is. Standing 1,086m at its highest point, this rock solid beacon is visible from most parts of the peninsula. If you can't see the mountain, there's a problem - either it's cloudy or you're in Johannesburg.

Each of Cape Town's areas has its own character and personality. Running along the Cape's western coastline is the Atlantic Seaboard comprising Sea Point, Clifton, Camps Bay and Hout Bay. Some of Cape Town's top beaches are along this coastline.

East of Table Mountain is the Southern Peninsula. The further south you go, the closer to Cape Point you'll get (Cape Point being the south westernmost point in the country).

The route will take you past Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek, Simon's Town (also written as Simonstown) and cheeky jackass (African) penguins at Boulders Beach. Stop to cool off in the sea as it is warmer here than on the Atlantic Seaboard side.

Also east of the mountain, and inland, is the Cape Flats, a flat (it is aptly named) sandy plain of sprawling suburbs and townships. This includes Langa, one of the oldest townships in South Africa and Khayelitsha, with more than a million residents, one of the largest. Township Tours are available as an excellent way to sample life on the Flats.

To explore some of Cape Town's surrounding areas start heading up the West Coast of Africa, past Blouberg with its iconic views of Table Mountain and kite surfers, towards Langebaan, Saldanha, the picturesque Paternoster and the unspoiled 16 mile beach of Yzerfontein. Stop off and have yourself a lazy crayfish lunch on the beach.

Head north out of Cape Town and you'll soon find yourself surrounded by vineyards in the Cape's famed winelands. Get a map, pick any well marked route (there are three main routes: Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek), select a designated driver and get tasting and buying.