Top Ten Attractions
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Table Mountain
The great flat-topped sandstone icon that dominates the Cape Town skyline. Most visitors ride up in the new gondolas which carry up to 65 people at a time. http://www.tablemountain.net
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V & A Waterfront
A chic area offering many activities from shopping malls, with all the designer names, to chartered boat trips and helicopter rides. http://www.waterfront.co.za
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Robben Island
The place that served as the infamous maximum security prison, with Nelson Mandela its most famous inmate. http://www.robben-island.org.za
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Castle of Good Hope
A five-sided, stone-walled fort, which is a military base but also houses a museum, gallery and restaurant. http://www.castleofgoodhope.co.za
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Cape Point Nature Reserve
An abundance of plants and wildlife combined with fantastic scenery make this a very special place. http://www.capepoint.co.za
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Penguins at Boulders Beach
This protected sanctuary has a walkway which allows you to view the penguins without disturbing them.
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Two Oceans Aquarium
Situated at the V & A waterfront, it features more than 300 aquatic species.
http://www.aquarium.co.za/ -
Whale watching
From July to December.
http://www.cybercapetown.com/WhaleWatching -
Kirstenbosch
The National Botanical Garden: an ideal spot for a picnic and to view the extensive range of trees, flowers, herbs and exquisitely kept gardens.
http://www.sanbi.org/frames/kirstfram.htm -
Township visits
A sobering insight into how thousands of Cape Town residents live and work. http://www.go24.co.za/categories/3/9/18/1150/to...
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Travel Tip: The Cape Town Pass gives you free entry to more than 50 of the best attractions and activities as well as more than 20 special offers and discounts for the best that Cape Town and surroundings have to offer. It’s valid for 1, 2, 3 or 6 days. http://www.thecapetownpass.co.za/capetownpass/i...
Eating and Drinking
Unlike the rest of South Africa, Cape Town likes to eat out, a fact that’s reflected in its multitude of restaurants – and the extent to which they get packed out. There are restaurants for all preferences and pockets. A number of places double as taverns that occasionally feature live music or other entertainment. The Sports Café chain of pubs and restaurants combines conviviality with sporting interest: television sets beam local and international events while patrons eat and drink. The city is blessed with spectacular outdoor eating locations, as well as fresh ingredients and first-rate cooking. Summer is the most popular time for eating out, and the Waterfront, perhaps the city’s most popular eating area, gets very busy. Booking ahead is often a good idea and essential on Saturday nights. You are likely to eat very well here. Much of the food is seafood, which is always good value and usually very fresh. Meat lovers are very well served – South Africans are big meat eaters, and it tends to be of high quality, especially steak. Exotic game such as kudu or springbok makes it on to plenty of menus and ostrich is also a local favourite. A popular snack is biltong, strips of specially prepared dried meat. Like the Australians, the South Africans love a barbecue. Here it’s known as a braai and features the usual meaty ingredients of steak, lamb and chicken. It’s clear, then, that in Cape Town vegetarians may have a harder time. Although the city is more sympathetic to non-meat dishes than most of the country, choices are limited and often quite bland. There are a handful of vegetarian restaurants though, and these are generally very good.
There are some 4,000 locally produced wines on the market, from delicate dry whites to full-bodied reds. All of them are drinkable, many are noteworthy and a few are truly memorable. Beer drinking is also popular – the local lager is Castle. A very popular non-alcoholic drink in the Cape is the distinctively fragrant rooibos tea, which is made from the leaves of an indigenous herbal bush. It’s described as ‘sweet and slightly nutty.’http://www.cybercapetown.com/WhaleWatching/
Shopping
Shopping in South Africa is generally inexpensive because of the undervalued currency and relatively low production costs. Jewellery is particularly cheap. Many talented goldsmiths and jewellery designers live in the Cape and their creations cost comparatively little. Textiles are also good value, especially leather, sports and outdoor wear. The same applies to antiques, books and wine. In Cape Town there’s a mix of big shopping centres and small shops. For many reasons, the V & A Waterfront, which has grown a lot over the past few years, is still the best and most popular shopping complex in the city. Its unique position and harbour atmosphere, the well kept historical buildings, the great number of excellent restaurants, the many cinemas as well as artistic presentations create an ambience which considerably enhance the shopping experience. At the Waterfront you’ll find good clothes, jewellery, African curios, gifts and books. Look out for woven grass tablemats, elaborately painted ostrich eggs, colourful bead necklaces, wooden sculpted figures, copperware, ceramics and items made from wool and mohair. Another impressive shopping Mecca is the Canal Walk, a part of the Century City complex on the N1 Freeway near Milnerton (Exit 10). The shopping temple, with its architectural style borrowed from the Orient and the Renaissance, houses more than 400 shops as well as restaurants, fast-food outlets and cinemas. Outside, a system of canals has been built that's reminiscent of Venice. You can buy clothing, toys, decorative household goods, books and jewellery here. Before buying African curios in a shopping centre, you should compare prices. The open markets often offer much better value. For the biggest variety in goods and the best prices visit the Green Point Market on Sundays. With its hundreds of stands, it spreads over a wide area at the stadium in Green Point. On offer are all sorts of woodcarvings and ethnic jewellery from Kenya, Zimbabwe, South and West Africa as well as paintings and bric-a-brac, African material and clothing. Other good places for buying curios are the Red Shed Market at the Waterfront, the multi-storey Pan African Market in Long Street, Greenmarket Square between Short and Longmarket Street, and the Sunday market in Hout Bay.
Shopping hours in Cape Town are generally 0800-1700 on weekdays and 0800-1300 on Saturdays, but the shops at the Waterfront are open until very late in the evening.
Night Life
Cape Town has many bars, clubs and restaurants catering for a variety of tastes. Bars open late and clubs get going from 2300. Cape Town has a great selection of cocktail bars which rate right up there with the best in the world because of their beautiful scenic locations. There are many trendy places along the Camps Bay strip that offer cocktails and sundowners and a place to see and be seen. Cape Town has numerous clubs which are excellent for dancing, drinking and socialising. The party atmosphere is great throughout the year but summer time is when things really liven up, with festive club atmospheres almost every night of the week. There are a host of clubs with different types of décor, people and music styles. Cape Town also offers you many bars and lounges ranging from warm taverns that are very relaxed to contemporary bars which have an air of sophistication.
South African gaming laws have changed radically during the past few years and restrictions on casinos have been lifted. There are three popular ones in the Western Cape – Grand West, Club Mykonos and Caledon. All offer popular games such as blackjack and roulette as well as slot machines.
