Luxury hotels in Cape Town

Cape Town guide

Table Mountain and the Cape Peninsula

Cape Town's icon by cable car at the right hour, then the drive to the Cape of Good Hope.

Table Mountain, flat-topped above the city and one of the New7Wonders of Nature, is the first name on every Cape Town list. The cable car turns as it climbs, and the summit paths look over the city, Robben Island and the Atlantic. The mountain is often covered by its tablecloth of cloud, so we keep the first clear morning free.

Then drive the Cape Peninsula: Chapman's Peak, the penguins at Boulders Beach and the Cape of Good Hope. Add a day in the Winelands of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, and travel from October to April for long, sunny days.

The Cape Winelands

The Cape Winelands, under an hour from Cape Town, are the most cited excursion from the city: Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, valleys of historic estates with whitewashed Cape Dutch gables, mountains behind and some of South Africa's best restaurants. The Franschhoek Wine Tram links several estates.

Constantia, within the city limits, is South Africa's oldest wine region, with estates such as Groot Constantia. Harvest is from February to April, and a private driver makes a day of tastings easy.

Robben Island and the V&A Waterfront

Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for eighteen years, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Cape Town's most cited visits; ferries leave from the V&A Waterfront, and tours are led by former political prisoners. Tickets sell out, so we book them ahead.

The V&A Waterfront also holds the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, in a converted grain silo. On the Cape Peninsula, Boulders Beach is home to a colony of African penguins, viewed from boardwalks.