48hr guides
Cape Town
Inspiration for a mini break to the Cape!
There are several areas to Cape Town – The Waterfront, Camps Bay, Stellenbosch and the CBD to name just a few. It is simply impossible to cover all of these areas in such a short trip so this guide sticks to our personal experience of 48hrs in Cape Town and should be used as inspiration rather than a definitive guide.
Cape Town comes with the allure of wine, beaches, mountains and meat (apologies to the veggies/vegans amongst you!) A fairly hefty 11 hour flight away, but with only a 2 hour time difference, many UK flights leave in the evening putting you down in the Cape late morning. Traffic can be bad getting too and from the airport but hopefully luck will be on your side and your journey will not only be a quick one but offer you your first glimpse of the iconic Table Mountain!
Day 1
Having arrived at your hotel and got settled in why not head down to Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront for a spot of tea (you will be hungry but its too early for dinner!) The V&A Waterfront is a new development which feels remarkably like San Francisco’s pier area. Catering to local and international visitors the area is always buzzing and has a really great vibe about it. We followed our ears and ended up at Ferryman’s Tavern for laid back beers accompanied by a live band playing classic rock. Sure fire way to keep you going. Or if that doesn’t float your boat pick one of the other numerous eateries to fill that hole. If shopping is your thing and you aren’t too tired then there is a mall for you to wander. Arrived on a Saturday or Sunday? Head to the market! Fancy some culture? The recently opened Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) hosts the world’s largest collection of contemporary art from Africa. There is so much to see and do around this area, including boat tours and sunset cruises, and you could quite happily keep yourself entertained here for more than the 48 hours we have for our whole trip!
Ubers are super cheap in Cape Town so everything becomes accessible and nothing is impossible, even when you’re tired! Head to Kloof Street and the surrounding area for bars and eateries. Grab rooftop cocktails at Cloud Nine or lively drinks at Tiger’s Milk. Then head to Kloof Street House which serves up the most amazing dinner! From the relaxed ambience, to the vibey staff and simply divine food I really don’t think you can go wrong with this fabulous eatery! Cocktails, a bottle of wine and 2 courses each came to approximately £60 and was the perfect end to our first night in Cape Town.
Day Two
You might find it relatively hard to get up the next day as Cape Town is 2 hours in front of the UK meaning a slightly earlier start than usual but there is so much to see and do! We chose to tick off that ultimate bucket list entry and climb Table Mountain. Table Mountain was voted one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in 2011. At its very highest it stands 1,086m above sea level. My recommendation would be to set off as early as possible. The weather around the mountain can often be unpredictable and wind can cause the cable car to shut. What goes up must come down so you need to factor time to walk both up and back if necessary. We were very lucky and managed to get the last cable down the mountain complete with the staff and rubbish bins! That was at 3.30pm and they were not going to reopen that day.
There are several routes you can take up the mountain. We chose to follow the route through Platteklip Gorge. This should take about 2 and a half hours but we managed to cut up the mountain slightly early which added some time to our climbing route. Make sure that you have downloaded Google Maps so you can always check that you’re heading in the right direction as sometimes it can be a little confusing. Don’t always assume that you are going the right way. One junction with no sign would have looped us back to the car park if we’d picked wrongly!
We knew when we started that we were heading up into cloud but as we didn’t want the pressure of climbing on the day we were due to leave (especially with the unpredictability of the cable cars) so we decided to head up anyway. Pros: it wasn’t overly hot, although we did still manage to get burnt so make sure you wack on that sun cream regardless of the weather. Cons: we obviously didn’t get a clear view from the top and ended up with far less time than I would have liked due to the impending departure of the last cable car! We did, however, get some fabulous views till about 3/4 of the way up.
When we finally summited, standing in the cloud it felt like you were on the moon. A surreal experience and definitely one that I’m glad I had. The best was to come though.
The rolling clouds over Table Mountain are simply incredible!! If you are lucky enough to experience a break in the blanket of white then you can literally see the cloud role over you and down the mountain. It is phenomenal to experience. Make sure Take Mountain is in your Cape Town bucket list whatever the weather.
We ended up coming down the mountain at about half three. This leaves you a couple of hours to get changed, have a much needed drink by the hotel pool and then head over to Camps Bay for sun-downers. The Bungalow, Cafe Caprice and Tiger’s Milk (the same venture as on Kloof Street) are all very popular. Camps Bay Beach has been a Blue Flag beach since 2008 and is the largest white sand beach in Camps Bay area (there are several, each with their own identity as you will find out if you do the Red Bus tour!) Be aware that it can be INCREDIBLY cold and the wind is fierce if it is blowing off the mountain so make sure you are prepared, even if otherwise it seems like a beautiful day (we weren’t and we suffered). The sunset is always spectacular though and there are multiple bars and venues along the road where you can shelter and have a drink or two (alcohol is not allowed on the beach). Sundays in Camps Bay are pretty special! If you fancy something naughty after all your climbing try La Belle where they have the most amazing and delicious variety of cake. Not that we’d know of course!
After the beautiful sun has set – literally one of my favourite things to watch in life – head to Codfather for the mother of all fishy food. We did try to make a reservation but we could not get through so we went and booked a table as soon as we got in to Camps Bay and managed to bag one for 9pm. A host takes you to the fresh fish counter where he tells you about all the fish, their flavours, textures etc, and then you chose your quantity and it is weighed before they tell you the total price. I have to admit that I struggled slightly with this notion as I’m a bit tight and I like to know how much things are going to cost before I buy (the scallops were way more than I would have liked to pay and The King Clip was expensive too), however, despite going in blindly our bill was no more expensive than the night before (some fish is incredibly reasonable). I particularly liked the Moon Fish.
You can choose to have vegetables, rice or potatoes with your fish or all three! There is also a wide variety of sushi on offer.
Day 3
Now, I know many people will sneer at this but a red open top bus is simply THE BEST way to see a city when you’re limited on time! I’ve done them in several countries and never been let down. Cape Town is no exception. How interesting is that fact about the trees?? Now you know you’ll have to do it, right!?
City Sightseeing Cape Town has 4 routes that you can explore and you can hop on and off wherever you like. If you are slightly more organised than us (and the bestie didn’t want to do the bus on this trip anyway) then you can get a 2 day pass which will take you to the start of your Table Mountain hike on Day 2 and give you a free sunset cruise. Or, if you’re really ambitious, you could get a 3 day pass and cover the city on day 1, leaving day 3 for the wine region loop. Just don’t get too drunk to make that plane!
Due to time limitations on our last day we (lost the bestie but picked up a couple of friends) covered the red and yellow routes which take in the city and Table Mountain loop.
We built in time for a pit stop totally cool House of Machines which is a convenient 2 block walk away from the main transit hub in town (81 Long Street). If we had had longer I would have definitely headed back here for their live music evenings. As it was we had to settle for the perfect combination of delicious coffee, excellent muffins, uber cool vibe and friendly staff.
And with the beautiful back drop it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready to make our long way home. Cape Town can be whatever you make it. From a 48hr, city based, whistle stop tour to a blissfully chilled out 2 weeks (or more!) of wine tasting, safaris and beaches. You will never get everything done in a short trip, but Cape Town has so much to offer it is definitely somewhere that will remain on my travelling agenda for the foreseeable future! If nothing else I need to climb Table Mountain in the sun. With a VERY agreeable exchange rate I say head for the Cape. You wont regret it!
