Seven days in Cape Town
by Travel Writer Sasha Arms
Cape Town and the surrounding area has such a range of activities on offer that you will not run out of things to do in seven days. There’s even a danger you wish you had longer when you see how much there is to do!
Day one
There’s no better introduction to the city you’ll be spending the next week in than from the top of its very own iconic mountain. For the perfect unveiling of your Cape Town stay, go straight to the cableway and take the rotating vehicle to the top. Enjoy breakfast at the eco-friendly café at the summit, and then take a stroll to take in everything from the city to the Cape Peninsula below.
Once you’ve had your fill of the arresting view (you may have to tear yourself away), take the cableway back down to the bottom and make your way into the city centre. In the area around Company’s Gardens, there are a number of really worthwhile museums to visit. After a stroll around the gardens, make your first museum the Iziko South African Museum. It charts the social and natural history of the country, and helps you to piece together the city’s past and present.
Next on the museum trail is the South African Jewish Museum and Holocaust Centre, which also sits at the edge of Company’s Gardens. It’s renowned for its architecture as well as its content, charting the Jewish experience on the Cape. There’s a courtyard area within the museum’s compound which is a really peaceful spot in the buzz of the city. Make the most of it and stop for lunch at the museum’s café, Café Retive. They serve really delicious lunches, including ingredients like pitta and hummus, to go alongside cake and tea.
Very nearby is the Iziko Slave Lodge Museum, on the corner of Wale and Adderley Streets, which housed up to 9,000 slaves during the era before slavery was abolished. There’s an eerie quiet in the museum now, given what you learn went on within the walls in the past. There’s a fantastic audio-tour too, which really brings the issues to life.
From the Slave Lodge, you’re only a block away from Greenmarket Square, where there are stalls with vendors from across Africa selling arts, crafts and other wares. While you’re in the frame of mind for shopping, head around the corner to Long Street and the Pan African Market. It’s a huge indoor market, with winding pathways taking you past more and more crafts and great gifts to take home.
You’ve still got time to fit in another museum – make sure it’s the District Six Museum. It charts the forced removal of coloured people from the area during the apartheid era and although one of the smallest, is also one of the best museums Cape Town has to offer.
Try a spot of African for dinner – ‘Addis in Cape’ on Long Street serves Ethiopian cuisine and also has some great vegetarian options.
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Day two
Start your day in Green Point for breakfast. ‘Miss K Food Café’ comes highly recommended and the breakfast menu is huge and varied, ranging from the Miss K breakfast smoothie to ‘Hangover eggs’ (cannellini beans, chorizo, fried eggs and feta).
Pass by the Green Point Stadium on your way to the V&A Waterfront, which was re-built for the 2010 World Cup.
The V&A Waterfront is a relaxed and indulgent way to spend the morning. Have a look in the red and blue sheds at their craft markets. The Waterfront Craft Market and Wellness Centre is in the blue shed – watch the craftsmen at work, visit the Siyakatala stall for some township-made crafts and indulge in an African Vunkuwa massage.
Next up, visit the ‘Two Oceans Aquarium’. There are thousands of species of marine life there and the feeding times are great to watch, especially the penguins and turtles.
Try some fast food for lunch with a wrap from one of South Africa’s favourite chains, ‘Anat Falafel & Shwarma’, in Victoria Wharf.
Next you’re in for a real treat – a thirty minute helicopter ride. The Huey Helicopter ‘Two Oceans’ flight takes you over the city, Hout Bay and Noordhoek, then over to the other coastline and the Constantia Wine Estates.
Following the air trip comes a trip at sea – hop on the Robben Island ferry for a tour of the former maximum security prison and precinct, and speak to an ex-political prisoner.
Relax after your busy day with a drink at the German bar and restaurant, Paulaner Bräuhaus, overlooking the water. Later on, order some food for dinner – they have a fantastic range of German favourites like sausages and sauerkraut.
Day three
By day three, you’ll feel like you’ve seen a lot of the city and the Cape area in general, so it’s time to keep things fresh and see a whole new side to the region. Many are surprised to learn that there are some fantastic safaris on offer, some just an hour away from the city, although you shouldn’t go expecting something the size of the Kruger.
Aquila Game Reserve is closer to two hours away from the city. Drive over there first thing so that you arrive at the reserve before lunch time. If you’re booked onto the reserve’s overnight stay, a welcome cocktail will be waiting for you which you can enjoy while relaxing by the swimming pool or a log fire, depending on the season. Then you’ll be served a buffet lunch before you are taken on a two to three hour game drive around the reserve. Game you can expect to see include zebras, hippos, lions, crocodiles, wildebeest, giraffes, cheetahs and rhinos.
On returning to the lodge, you’ll be served an African dinner or braai. You’ll sleep overnight in one of the lodge’s cottages.
Day four
Waking up early at the Aquila Game Reserve, you’ll go on an early morning game drive with coffee, and then you’ll return to the lodge for breakfast before you check out. 
Instead of heading straight back to Cape Town, go to the southern coastline to the town of Hermanus. You should arrive at around lunchtime, in which case go straight to the restaurant on the cliff-tops – ‘Harbour Rock’. There aren’t many places in the world where you can eat lunch while whale-watching, but that’s exactly what you can do here, as long as you’re there between about July and November. The seafood chowder is delicious.
While you can happily spot whales from the comfort of the restaurant and from coastal walks, you should also try your luck with a closer encounter out on the water. Companies like ‘Xplora Tours’ will take you out on the water for a few hours to try to spot the Southern Right Whales. (normally over whale season Sep - Oct)
The drive back to Cape Town takes about an hour and a half, or two hours if you take the coastal, more scenic route.
Back in the city, you’ll feel like a relaxing evening after your trip. Make your way to the Grand Daddy Hotel’s ‘Show Room Café’ for a tasty but unpretentious dinner. Then take the vintage lift to the hotel’s top floor, where you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find a penthouse with a difference. Next to the ‘Airstream Trailer Park’, you’ll find the ‘Pink Flamingo’ open-air cinema to catch a movie on a balmy Cape Town evening.
Day five
Make day five a day of the Cape’s rugged natural beauty. Start your day by driving down to Scarborough, on the Atlantic coast, and then carrying along to the bottom of Red Hill. Here you’ll find the ‘Cape Farmhouse restaurant’, surrounded by oak trees. The farmhouse is 250-years old and dining is al-fresco – the breakfasts are farmhouse style with home-made bread and free-range eggs. 
Continue south in the national park, until you reach the car park for Cape Point. Walk or take the cable car to the top, where you’ll see the lighthouse and ocean crashing on the rocks below. Although it’s not quite the southern-most point of Africa, it feels like it.
Next drive round to the Cape of Good Hope. Although you’ll feel wind-bashed, follow the trail – at the end you can look back up at the Cape Point lighthouse – it looks kind of mystical.
When you head back towards Cape Town, take the other coastline this time. Your first stop is Boulders – home of the African Penguin. Through the entrance to Foxy Beach, have a look in the visitor centre before walking down the boardwalks towards the beach – you’ll see more and more penguins as you go, peaking at the end where hundreds cluster on the rocks and the beach. Pay a visit to Boulders Beach a short walk along the coast before you leave – it’s a good spot for a swim.
Only five minutes up the road from Boulders is Simon’s Town – stop here for a late lunch and a wander round the sleepy town. For a bit of a different lunch, go to the ‘Tibetan Teahouse’. They serve vegetarian and vegan food and hot drinks you could drink all day, like homemade spiced chai and butter tea. You can enjoy picture-perfect views over False Bay from the cosy teahouse. Have a look around the Sophea Gallery while you’re there for ‘spiritual art’. After tea and art, have a look round the Victorian-style naval town – the South African Naval Museum, the Heritage Museum and the Simon’s Town Museum are all worth a look.
Next up, head up the coast to Kalk Bay for sundowners – ‘Cape to Cuba’ is a good bar for an evening cocktail. For dinner, go over to the ‘Brass Bell’ by the train station. Dining is unfussy and all seafood is sustainably sourced. There are some tasty platters for two to try.
Day six
Start your penultimate day in the Cape on the peninsula too, this time at Imhoff Farm by Kommetjie. The farmstead is home to a less mainstream community, and is a rare little find for the alternative side of Cape Town.
Start with breakfast at the ‘Free Range Coffee Shop’, for a free range and organic breakfast. There’s plenty to explore at Imhoff, but before you do that, head over to the Equestrian Centre for a spot of morning horseriding along the beach. It’s a refreshing, postcard-perfect way to start the day, and you can look out for dolphins, whales and birds at the same time.
Once you’re back at Imhoff Farm, have a walk around the shops that include ‘Over the hills and away’, ‘Artichoc Africa’ and ‘The Old Cape Wine Shop’.
For an afternoon of enjoying nature, head across the city to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Pick up a picnic hamper from the ‘Silvertree Restaurant’ – the hampers include treats such like pâtés and cheeses, salads, breads and cheese straws, chocolate brownies and jelly babies. Then find a picnic spot in the garden of your choice and wend the afternoon away. Kirstenbosch is a beautiful Cape spot – once you’ve had a look around the gardens you could follow one of the trails. There are some very gentle walks that are well-marked, like the Yellowwood Trail, which is mostly through shaded woodland.
If you’ve looked at what’s on in advance, you might be in Kirstenbosch for one of the infamous open-air summer concerts hosted there. The concerts start early evening and last for a couple of hours, so you can go out for dinner afterwards. Try the nearby ‘university suburb’ of Rondebosch. The French restaurant ‘Cargill’s’ is one of the most highly-regarded restaurants - there’s only a handful of dishes on the menu, cooked to perfection and complemented with Cape or French wines.
Day seven
On your final day on the Cape, have breakfast in Hout Bay. Seeing as it’s your last day, treat yourself to one of the restaurants on Mariner’s Wharf, where the views over the bay are perfect.
After breakfast, there are some quaint little shops to have a look around and get some last-minute gifts and trinkets.
Next, get in the car and drive along Chapman’s Peak Drive, which is famed for its fantastic views and scenery. There are several viewing spots along the way, where you can pull over and enjoy the view.
You’ll reach Noordhoek and a few other small towns on the other site of the Chapman’s Peak – stop at a supermarket to buy some picnic or braai food before you carry on.
Loop back up towards Cape Town by taking the ‘Ou Kaapse Weg’ – the ‘Old Cape Way’. The road cuts through the Silvermine Nature Reserve, which has more great views and walks. There are also picnic spots and braais dotted around the place, where you can stop for lunch.
After food and a walk, head back across the city to Camps Bay. Camps Bay attracts the elite of South Africa and international visitors, and it has its own scene that you have to see for yourself. The best way to enjoy it is to go for a stroll along the beach, then stop for a coffee at one of the beachside cafés (Vida e Caffe is good) to people watch.
Then it will be time to get ready for a real treat of an evening meal. ‘Azure’ at the Twelve Apostles Hotel is a Chaîne des Rôtisseurs-blazoned restaurant, serving exquisite cuisine on a terrace overlooking the ocean. Another claim to fame is that it’s the first restaurant to use fynbos – indigenous Cape vegetation – in its cooking. Watching the sun go down from ‘Azure’ is the perfect end to another Cape Town day.
© capespirit.com™
Sasha Arms is a freelance writer, editor and web communications strategist. She has travelled extensively, particularly across South Africa, Europe and the Americas and has contributed to a number of notable publications, including the Lonely Planet Bluelist. Read more about Sasha Arms
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