Cape Town
South Africa

Encounters Travel is an adventure tour operator offering lively, good value South Africa Tours. e.g. The Garden Route & Lesotho including Addo Elephant Park, Lesotho pony trekking, Drakensberg hiking; Big 5 Encounters including Kruger National Park, Blyde River Canyon and more.

Cape Town see from Table Mountain, South Africa

Cape Town seen from 1,085m up Table Mountain in July (winter).

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Cape Town is a gorgeous city and by far the most appealing in South Africa, possibly in all of Africa! It's sophisticated, has a variety of attractive buildings old and new, excellent beaches, bars, restaurants, clubs and entertainment facilities.
Then there's the staggeringly beautiful Table Mountain in the middle of it all, a cluster of pretty, old Dutch style wineries and vineyards in the suburbs and some spectacular, scenic drives along the coast nearby.

The summit of Table Mountain with a dassie Rock Hyrax, South Africa

Victorian architecture near Lion's Head peak.

Main attractions

Table Mountain is our favourite memory of Cape Town. Photos and more information

Lion's Head sunset viewpoint, Cape Town, South Africa

Grand Parade market in the city centre, more for locals than tourists.

Cape Town horse police, South Africa

Policing a Pan African tourist market area downtown. Downtown Cape Town is relaxed and mug-free, at least in the daytime. At night we traveled by taxi.

Victoria and Albert Waterfront complex, Cape Town, South Africa

The Waterfront shopping and entertainment complex (including the excellent Two Oceans Aquarium and an interesting craft market), is the premier attraction, not unlike London's Covent Garden in atmosphere, but larger and with added water.
It's new and not exactly subtle but enjoyed by South Africans as much as tourists and is starting point for boat trips, including those to Robben Island.

Cape Town buildings, South Africa

Shortmarket Square. And it is still a market, if only for tourists.

Bo Kaap district of Cape Town, South Africa

18th century housing in the Muslim Malay Bo Kaap district of Cape Town.

Camps Bay is a suburb of Cape Town with plenty of rental accommodation available, but book early!

Beaches adjacent to Cape Town like Camps Bay and Clifton have good stretches of soft sand and lovely surroundings, but suffer from very cold Atlantic waters unlike Durban that borders onto the warmer Indian Ocean.

Scenic drives. Driving up the coast to the wild and craggy Cape of Good Hope is easy and delightful with plenty of walking possibilities en route. Photos and more information.

Activities

Cape Town is an attractive town with several worthwhile sights ranging from street markets to a modest castle, the pastel coloured houses of Bo Kaap and Victorian architecture elsewhere. It makes for pleasant walks as well as a superb base for adventure activities, with reasonable prices and imaginative organisers doing a fine job.

In Cape Town or within a couple of hours drive you can find superb rock climbing and fun abseiling (try it off Table Mountain for starters); horse riding; hiking and mountain biking in varied, pretty environments (the Table Mountain National Park is currently building the 6 day Hoerikwaggo trail from Cape Point to Table Mountain); excellent surfing and windsurfing; paragliding; caving; sandboarding and cold-water diving (with sharks if you wish).
And then there are rivers and Game Parks and more...

Downsides?

• There's still a certain nervousness about walking some of the streets at night, though Cape Town is nothing like as bad as Durban or Jo'burg.

• The weather is unpredictable. Locals say they can suffer four seasons in one day and Table Mountain's cloud cover is so common it's known as the 'Table Cloth'. But to British people at least Cape Town will be a massive improvement on their home climate!

Cape Town Top and Bottom Photos >>>

Take a trip up Table Mountain!