From the time of the first recorded discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, seafarers looked forward to the sight of Table Mountain from as far as 200 km away - today one of the world's most famous landmarks
Cape Town is steeped in a rich history and is a cultural melting pot with a diverse and vibrant character. Here you will find a mix of cultures, landscapes, fauna & flora, architecture, lifestyles, customs and scenery.
Cape Town is
dominated by a towering, table-shaped mountain, set on a peninsula of
soaring, rocky heights and lush valleys, where two oceans converge -
Indian and Atlantic.
Cape Town offers the visitor immense
natural beauty which melds effortlessly with the fast pace and bright
lights of a great urban centre. Cape Town offers a myriad things to do
and places to see, whatever your tastes, inclinations or budget.
Go with the Fun Bus (Cape Town Explorer)! Experience Cape Town by Topless Bus. Operates daily. Hop on, Hop off service.
The bus departs from the Two Oceans Aquarium in the V&A Waterfront.
There are three ways to buy your tickets:
Abseiling off extreme cliff-faces and waterfalls is a totally safe, mind-blowing outdoor adventure you can enjoy in Cape Town.
All the trips are day trips and walking shoes or boots are essential and you are required to sign an indemnity form.
No
experience is required, just a little courage. Certain disabilities and
medical conditions may preclude individuals from abseiling.
Chapmans Peak
On
South Africa's most famous and dramatic coastal drives is "The Peak"-
extreme abseil. You will "hang out" over crashing waves in "freefall
abseiling", and attempt face first "Rap Jumping".
Table Mountain
The big one! A day of extreme abseiling on a range of awesome cliff-faces. Dope on a rope!
Kamikaze Canyon
It
helps if you're crazy. Hike into this magnificent river gorge, attempt
"kloofing" - cliff jumps into rock pools, and the exhilarating
Thunderfalls 60 metre abseil.
Contact
Abseil Africa at Tel +27 (0) 21 424 4760 for details.
Cape Town gives you the opportunity to experience something different - every day!
Options for Accommodation in Cape Town & Peninsula are numerous; with a large variety of different types spread throughout the Peninsula.
Table Mountain National Park
Magnificent views, cable car rides, hiking, serious rock climbing, cross country running, fascinating botany, birding and for the more adventurous, abseiling and paragliding. Or just enjoy some of the many Hikes on Table Mountain
A stop at Cape Point gives the visitor the opportunity to boast of having been at the most southern point of the Cape Peninsula.
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
The most visited attraction in Cape Town with its assortment of shopping, eating, entertainment and sightseeing facilities, all set within a working harbour.
Cape Town also has many markets and impressive shopping centres and malls - such as the impressive 400-outlet Canal Walk Century City. For adrenaline-pumping entertainment, theres Ratanga Junction, a 30-attraction theme park with and the glitzy Grand West Casino & Entertainment World. Dontforget to explore the fleamarkets too.
Whilst in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront visit the Two Oceans Aquarium to experience the undersea world as only the divers normally do.
Robben Island
Take an emotional journey to the former prison of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and many other anti-apartheid activists spent many of their adult years. An absolute must on any journey to the Cape.
Fabulous Beaches in Cape Town
Theres a beach to suit every mood in Cape Town: Clifton for those who want to see and be seen, Sandy Bay for the nudists, Muizenberg with its colourful bathing boxes for a good swim in warmer waters, Kommektjie for watersports, Fishhoek a quaint seaside village, Houtbay a colourful fishing harbour and craft market, Kalk Bay for antique hunters and Boulders Beach at Simons Town is home to a colony of Jackass penguins.
And to top it, Cape Town offers excellent surfing spots.
The Cape Fortress
The oldest surviving building in South Africa is the Castle of Good Hope - the pentagonal fortress built by personnel of the Dutch East India Company back in the 1660s-70s.
Or visit the South African Museum - the oldest museum in sub-Saharan Africa - as well as various other museums in and around Cape Town.
The legendary city of Cape Town offers you a rich history of 350 years
that can be traced in its museums and historical landmarks.
South African Museum
Founded
in 1825, the South African Museum is the oldest museum in sub-Saharan
Africa. Exhibitions, designed to educate, stimulate and entertain,
include the only preserved specimen in Africa of the extinct quagga,
dioramas depicting the mammal-like reptiles of the Karoo and some of the
finest examples of rock art in the world, including the Linton
painting.
The essence of the museum is found in the great
diversity of specimens exhibited. Housed in a magnificent old building
to which modern facilities have been added, it showcases the natural
history of South Africa, as well as the early human inhabitants of the
sub-continent.
This is the only museum in South Africa with an
adjoining planetarium, with regularly changing daily shows, and an
experience not to be missed.
Address:
25 Queen Victoria Street, Gardens
Tel: 021 424 3330
Fax: 021 424 6716
Other places of interest that are definately worth visiting as well, includes Robben Island, Groot Constantia, Groote Schuur, the Castle of Good Hope, the Old Town House, the City Hall, Houses of Parlaiment, Greenmarket Square and the Grand Parade.
The following other museums are worth exploring while in Cape Town:
Bertram House
- (Government Ave, Gardens.) patrician red-brick Georgian Townhouse,
with a rich collection showing the English way of life in the mid-19th
century Cape Town.
Bo-Kaap Museum - (71 Whale St, Cape
Town.) one of the oldest houses in a vibrant "Malay Quarter", exhibiting
the style of life of a Cape Muslim family of the late 19th century.
District 6 Museum
- (25A Buitenkant St, Cape Town.) celebration of the vibrant way of
life of a community removed in the infamous incident of Group Areas Act
during south Africa's apartheid era.
Chavonnes Battery Cannon Museum in the V A Waterfront that takes you back into Cape Town of 280 years ago.
Jewish Museum - (Government Ave, Gardens.) Cape Town's first synagogue in Byzantine-revival style tells of the original jewish community.
Josephine Mill
- (Boundary Rd, Newlands) 1840 fully operational mill with a massive
waterwheel, an important exhibit of the industrial past; also Treshers
Restaurant.
Koopmans De Wet House - (35 Strand St, Cape Town.) a superb collection contained in an eloquently patrician Cape Dutch Townhouse.
Michaelis Collection
- (Old Town House, Greenmarket Square.) Cape Town's first City Hall, a
superb baroque building with a outstanding collection of Dutch and
Finnish old masters.
SA Airforce Museum - (Air Force Base, Ysterplaat.) a comprehensive collection of military and rescue aircraft and paraphernalia.
SA Cultural History Museum
- (49 Adderley St, Cape Town.) a former slave lodge of the Dutch East
India Company, now holding collections from other civilisations and
superb exhibitions of diverse peoples making up the Cape foundation.
SA Fisheries Museum - (West Quay Rd, V&A Waterfront.) the South African commercial fishing industry explained in detail.
SA Maritime Museum - (Dock Rd, V&A.) - the exploration of maratime archeology, shipping, harbours and the romantic days of sail and mailships.
SA National Gallery
- (Government Ave, Gardens.) the country's premier art museum has a
constantly engaging exhibition of South African and international art.
SA Sendingstigting Museum - (40 Long St, Cape Town.) an immaculately restored building, housing the story of missions and missionary work in the Cape.
William Fehr Collection
- (at the Castle and Rust-en-Vreugd, Cape Town.) Cape Town, well
illustrated through this superb collection of furniture, ceramics,
silver and artworks, as well as early pictorial records.
The Heart of Cape Town Museum
(Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory) honours all those who played a
major role in the worlds first heart transplant led by Professor
Christiaan Neethling Barnard - a surgical feat that pushed the
boundaries of science into the dawn of a new medical era, an era in
which it became possible to transplant the symbol of the essence of life
our human heart.
Guided township tours are extremely
popular with international tourists whowant to get to know the real
Cape Town. In Guguletu and Langa expect to be overwhelmed by
hospitality, informal roadside traders, rowdy taverns servinglocal beer
and toe-tapping jazz.
A day in Cape Town might end with a classical concert at sundown in one of the worlds great botanical gardens Kirstenbosch, a repositoryfor many rare fynbos species and a wealth of indigenous plants, trees and flowers.
The
narrow finger of land of the Cape Peninsula with its many beautiful
valleys, mountain peaks, bays and beaches offers the visitor a number of
parks and nature reserves with many destinations.
Cape
Town city centre is known to many as the party capital of Africa, down
just a few streets in the Mother City there are hundreds of bars,
restaurants and clubs just waiting to be explored through to the wee
hours of the morning. Cape Town is also known as a pink city, offering a
warm welcome to the gay and lesbian community.
Boulders Beach situated in Simons Town and home to 570 pairs of the endangered African penguin.
Table Mountain National Park features amongst the top five most popular destinations in South Africa. Cape Point can be accessed by foot or by funicular.
Kirstenbosch (on Rhodes Drive) - on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain is a spectacular repository of indigenous plants.
Silvermine Nature Reserve
(situated on the M64) - has a network of tracks and paths; walks
include the Noordhoek Peak circuit of 7 km (3 hours) and Kalk Bay
mountains and Echo Valley, 4 km (2 hours), one way.
