Three days in Cape Town

by Travel Writer Sasha Arms

If you have three days to spend in Cape Town, then you’ll have plenty of time to explore all the must-see spots of the region as well as some of the more unexpected sides of the city.

Day one

The best way to spend your first day in Cape Town is to explore the city, its surrounding area and generally get your bearings.

Wake up with a bit of African style at ‘Nzolo Brand Café’ at 48 Church Street, right in the middle of things in the city centre. Also known as ‘Afro Café’, it’s a cheerful place with local crafts as decoration. They serve their own blends of tea and coffee, which is the perfect way to start the day alongside an Nzolo breakfast. It’s open from 8am every day except Sunday when it’s closed.

This is your morning to explore some of the city’s museums, many of which are a short walk from the ‘Nzolo Brand Café’. Try the Iziko South African Museum at the edge of Company’s Gardens. You’ll find some fantastic exhibitions charting the natural and social history of the country. Afterwards, have a wander around the peaceful Company’s Gardens – the rose garden in particular is a favourite with visitors.

Next you should head over to the District Six Museum on Buitenkant Street. The museum is dedicated to conveying the forced removal of coloured people from the district, before it was bulldozed to become a ‘whites-only’ area. It’s a powerful and emotional museum – you’ll see the recreation of a home before the Group Areas Act came into force, and accounts from those who were displaced from the community.

Once you’re finished with your museum morning, head out of the city centre to see a different side of things. Driving to Hout Bay will take you about half an hour. To get there you’ll take a loop around Table Mountain and will pass by Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.

Hout Bay Harbour is the perfect place for lunch after a hard morning’s sightseeing in the city. Treat yourself to a meal at ‘The Lookout Deck’, which is right on the water. The restaurant specialises in seafood, including the legendary Cape Rock Lobster. You could always share one of the seafood platters, or go for something simpler such as a fresh salad.

After lunch, enjoy a bit of wildlife at the ‘World of Birds’. It’s a Hout Bay favourite and has loads of aviaries you can walk through. You’ll also find some other animals on-site, including the monkeys in the ‘Monkey Jungle’, meerkats and bush pigs.

On the drive back towards Cape Town, stop at the Imizamo Yethu Township. You can take a tour of the black township with a local resident – it’s a really eye-opening experience and an important one to show you Cape Town from all angles.

Your last stop of the day should be Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Famed for garden upon garden of delights, it’s also a popular picnicking spot. You can even pick-up a picnic hamper from the ‘Silvertree Restaurant’ or the ‘Kirstenbosch Tea Room’, and you might be lucky to coincide your visit with one of the open-air concerts on at the venue throughout the summer, when Kirstenbosch is open until 7pm. Check this out and book tickets in advance.

If you still feel like continuing your day after this, you’re not far from Rondebosch and the Baxter Theatre. They put on shows of live music, dance and plays. The theatre is highly respected and its productions always get rave reviews, so see if there’s anything on that takes your fancy. Again, it’s safer to book tickets in advance.

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Day two

Your second day in Cape Town is all about the rugged and wild nature of the Cape Peninsula. If you can bear to get up and drive before you’ve had breakfast, head straight down to Simon’s Town after waking up – it takes about 40 minutes by car from central Cape Town.

Go straight to the homely, whitewashed ‘Meeting Place’ on St Georges Street for a warm welcome, and peaceful breakfast from the balcony overlooking the sleepy town below. There are some lovely breakfast options on the menu including French toast with bacon, banana and maple syrup; a breakfast pizza; or the ominously-named ‘health breakfast’.

From Simon’s Town you’re only a five minute drive down the road from Boulders, home to the much-loved African Penguin. A short walk from the car park is the entrance to Foxy Beach, which is where the majority of penguins congregate. Once you pay your entry, you can follow two different boardwalks down to the beach, where you can spot the African Penguins through the vegetation before seeing a whole horde more on the sand and rocks at the beach.

Once you finish up at Foxy Beach, take the coastal path further along to Boulders Beach. Relax on the beach, have a swim and spot the penguins on the rocks nearby, before you continue your journey south along the peninsula. Before you leave however, try some Pacific Rim cuisine at ‘Boulders Beach Restaurant’. Part of the ‘Boulders Beach Lodge Resort’, the view from the deck of the beach is fabulous. Seafood is their speciality, and for lunchtime you could even order a few side dishes to share, like the beer battered potato scallops.

As you drive down the peninsula, human life becomes less and less obvious. While the drive in itself is spectacular, with uninhabited land stretching for miles and the ocean crashing alongside, Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope is your destination. You can walk up or take the cableway to Cape Point, all the way to where the lighthouse stands. It feels like the end of the world as you look out to sea knowing that there’s only Antarctica further south. The Cape of Good Hope has a wet, wild and very windy feel too. If you can brave the blasting winds, take a walk along the trail – at the end you can look back up at Cape Point’s lighthouse.

On your way back up the peninsula, drive up the Atlantic coastline this time for some different scenery, heading towards Kommetjie. Go straight to Imhoff Farm - the hippy farmstead full of quirky shops, a couple of eateries and some wildlife. Peruse the shops for a short while before heading off on your two-hour horse riding journey along the beach. Note that you should book this in advance to avoid disappointment, but you can easily do that by phone beforehand. It’s the stuff of dreams – riding a horse along a white sandy beach with the azure ocean lapping at their hooves. You’re likely to spot some ocean life such as dolphins or whales too.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, you’re in for a treat for dinner. A stone’s throw away from Imhoff Farm is the Noordhoek Valley. Bordering the Solole Private Reserve is ‘Rioja’ restaurant, where diners can enjoy their evening meal next to the reserve that’s home to buffalo, springbok, ostriches and other African wildlife. Their set menu and wine list is superb, as is the kids menu.

Day three

Your third and final day in Cape Town will see you back in the city again, truly seeing it from all angles.

Start your day in the vibrant De Waterkant, the Cape Town city centre sub-district that feels more like a village. Go Parisian and have breakfast at ‘La Petite Tarte’ at 72 Waterkant Street. It’s French through-and-through, both in ambience and cuisine. They serve breakfast all day – there are croissants with your choice of filling, muesli with yoghurt, and scrambled eggs with accompaniments like smoked salmon and avocado.

After breakfast, take a stroll over to Bo-Kaap. Formerly known as the Malay quarter, you’ll probably have seen photos of the homes painted in bright colours and the cute cobblestone streets. The area is actually famed for becoming the home to Muslim people and freed slaves after slavery was abolished. Learn more about the area in the Bo-Kaap Museum at 54 Jordaan Street.

Next, head over to the V&A Waterfront, where you can catch a ferry to Robben Island. It’s always best to book in advance to make sure you don’t miss out – it’s a popular trip in peak season. The whole tour takes about three and a half hours, which includes the boat trip, a visit to the maximum-security prison and the precinct. You’ll also get the chance to speak to a previous ex-political prisoner.

Once you’re back on dry land at the V&A Waterfront, stick around for a short while for a bit of shopping and to enjoy the waterside atmosphere. The red shed and blue shed craft workshops are worth a look, and make sure you visit the monuments at Nobel Square.

Your final stop of the day before evening is Table Mountain. The cableway to the top takes just fives minutes, but you won’t believe the journey was so short once you’re at the summit. The views are spectacular and far-reaching – you see the Cape spread out below you in all its glory.

Your final evening meal in Cape Town has to be an African one. Try ‘Khaya Nyama’ game restaurant at 267 Long Street. Decorated in the style of a bushman’s cave, often with live African music being played in the background, people rave about this restaurant. It’s also a great chance to try some game meat – they serve everything from crocodile and kudu to springbok and zebra.

© 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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