What to Do in Cape Town: 6 Can’t Miss Activities

What to Do in Cape Town: 6 Can’t Miss Activities

Cape Town is one of the greatest cities in the entire world. Bold statement, but absolutely true. I have never met someone who didn’t like it and the hype it gets it truly deserves.

My expectations were high, and surprisingly I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, Cape Town blew me out of the water and the bar has been set very high. My only disappointment was that we only stayed there 5 days. I could have stayed for weeks!

Cape Town has everything your imagined ideal city would have: natural beauty of the mountains and beaches, vibrant city life, some of the best wines in the world, reasonable prices, and endless high quality food.

Cape Town quickly became one of my top 3 favorite cities in the world, along with Rome and Istanbul.

So what to do in Cape Town? I could write a book about it, but here are my top pics:

What to do in Cape Town

1. Take a Hike

what to do in Cape Town

Cape Town is for fitness and nature lovers. Hike both Table Mountain or Lion’s Head in a matter of hours with a spectacular view along every step of the way

what to do in Cape Town

We hiked Lion’s Head during golden hour and it was spectacular. You could see the entire city, Table Mountain, and Camp’s Bay in the distance.

what to do in Cape Town

View of Table Mountain on the hike up to Lion’s Head

We didn’t have time to do the Table Mountain hike unfortunately, so we took the cable car instead. The panoramic views over the coastline and city are spectacular.

what to do in Cape Town

2. Grab a Bite to Eat

Hold crap! I wasn’t expecting Cape Town to have such great food! I can honestly say in terms of quality, Cape Town had the most consistently good food out of any country I had ever been!

There are 2 open air markets that you can’t miss on your trip to Cape Town: Hout Bay and Old Biscuit Mill.

Where to eat in Cape Town

The Hout Bay Market (officially called Bay Harbor Market) runs Friday through Sunday and is the place to be on the weekends for good food and live music. Food and specialty shops line the cozy inside market and one could spend hours there. Make sure to go on an empty stomach because there is so much to try!! (There were also many gluten free options for those with allergies like me).

Where to eat in Cape Town

Tip: try the Springbok meat, it’s just like beef but a little sweeter. The springbok is the national bird of South Africa so a nice way to taste the local flavors.

Where to eat in Cape Town

Another favorite is the Old Biscuit Mill that’s only on Saturday mornings. This is another open air market with endless vendors offering a variety of foods. This was probably my favorite food experience in Cape Town, most likely because I found a number of gluten free tables offering delicate treats to satiate my cravings. It’s also another cool hangout spot!

what to do in Cape Town

Gluten free pastry..aka heaven in my mouth 🙂

Bombay Bicycle-order the Choco chili steak (signature dish that’s not on the menu). This was seriously one of the best meals of my life, if not the best. It sounds like a weird combo, but the flavors perfectly complemented the melt-in-your-mouth juicy steak. It was the most tender steak I’d ever tasted and I could have died a happy girl after my last bite. It’s that good. The restaurant also had a great ambiance and intimate setting.

Tip: you must make a reservation in advance as it’s a very popular place!

Bacini’s for pizza-right across from Bombay bicycle is Bacini’s. It’s nothing fancy inside, this is more of a local spot. The pizza was outstanding and they even had gluten free crusts! Avocado on pizza is a thing in Cape Town and it was friggin’ amazing! I’m hooked and now I’m always going to expect avo on my pizza wherever I go.

→An added bonus: we ran into Davos from Game of Thrones here! For extreme fanatics of the show, this made our whole trip!

Tiger’s Milk-another great restaurant downtown with that had the best gluten free leg of lamb pizza with a dallop of hummus and feta. Omg was it good.

V&A Market on the Wharf –this was the 3rd market we went to in Cape Town and it didn’t disappoint! It was great for fruit juices, shakes, pastries, and also lactose free froyo!

3. Take a Road Trip Down the Coast

what to do in Cape Town

The plunging coastlines around Cape Town are nothing short of spectacular. You can’t leave without getting to explore the area on a road trip! Drive down the Cape Peninsula all the way down to Penguin Beach. If you have time, stop in Muizenberg Beach to photograph the row of colorful beach shacks.

what to do in Cape Town

Penguin heaven 😉

If you have even more time, make sure to head down to Hermanus, a quint little seaside town a 2-hr drive from Cape Town, known for whale watching and shark tank diving in its neighbor city Gansbaii.

what to do in Cape Town

How pretty is Hermanus??

On the way back to Cape Town, drive along False bay, which I thought was prettier than the actual Cape Peninsula honestly.

Tip: on your drive back from Hermanus, stop at Betty’s Bay, the less-touristy version of Penguin Beach. There was hardly anyone there when we went and we got up close and personal with the little guys!  The cost is 10 rand for a parking permit but no one was there to enforce it.

what to do in Cape Town

4. View Cape Town from Above

One of my favorite things to do in a new city is get an epic aerial view. No view can get more epic than from a helicopter! We had 360 degrees of unobstructed views of the beautiful city, coast lines, beaches, peaks, and mountains. It was absolutely breathtaking.

what to do in Cape Town

Unedited GoPro pic from the helicoptor

We decided to go with NAC Helicopters for our flight over Cape Town, mainly due their almost perfect reviews as well as their impeccable safety record (100% accident-fee). The perfect safety record alone is a deciding factor when it comes to putting my life into someone else’s hands in the air.

what to do in Cape Town

NAC Helicopters also offers tailored destination flights, so if you really want to ball out and show up somewhere in style, this would be a fun thing to splurge on!

The staff was super professional and kind, and I felt safe from the minute I walked into the door greeted by their warm smiles.

Tip: make sure to schedule the helicopter tour early in the trip in case of cancellations due to weather. We actually had our first flight cancelled so ended up re-scheduling it on our last day luckily.

What to do in Cape Town

5. Hop On Hop off Bus (seriously)

I never in a million years thought I would recommend a “touristy” Hop on Hop off Bus, but this is definitely an exception! The public transportation in Cape Town and vicinity is not that great so this is actually a great way to see all that Cape Town has to offer! You can buy a one-day pass for around $12 and a 2-day pass for around $20.

Kirstenbosch gardens

Spellbound in the enchanted forest inside Kirstenbosch gardens

The Hop on Hop Off bus has 3 different color-coded routes and I recommend all 3 if you have time! It’s no surprise my favorite was the purple route since this was the wine route!

what to do in Cape Town

Camp’s Bay-what I called the Malibu of Cape Town

If you’re short on time like we were, we only had a day to do the bus tour. Our favorite can’t miss stops included:

  • Kirstenbosch Gardens
  • Camp’s bay
  • Purple wine route (the entire thing)
  • Table Mountain
  • Hout Bay

6. Drink World Class Wine

South Africa is known for its Pinotage red blend, distinctive to this area of the globe. Make sure you try a glass (or 5) of this delicious red wine, as this blend is not grown anywhere else in the world!

what to do in Cape Town

There are SO many vineyards within an hour or so drive from Cape Town and I recommend spending an entire day in Stellenbosch, and if you have time Franchoek as well.

what to do in Cape Town

The wine tasting crew! Carebear Abroad and I, along with our friend Nick, who lives in Cape Town. We met Nick on our 12-day Turkey trip 2 years before. #travelfriends

Our favorite winery was Vergelegen Estate. The property grounds were impeccably gorgeous and the staff was extremely interactive and fun. Oh, and apparently you can have a picnic in the camphor forest, which sounds amazing! Unfortunately it was closed when we went, but if you end up going, please let me know how it is!

 

If you’re planning what to do in Cape Town, hopefully these 6 recommendations are at the top of your list! There is so much more to discover in this unique city and we only just cracked the tip of the iceberg.

I cannot wait to get back to Cape Town and stay longer next time to enjoy more of the local life. Until then, I’ll keep dreaming about it. ♥

 

PIN for later 🙂

what to do in Cape Town

Disclaimer: I was a guest of NAC Helicopters. However, my opinions are my own and I am in no way obligated to leave positive feedback. I thought the helicopter tour was awesome and the best way to see the city!

Have you Been To Cape Town? What were Your Highlights? Did I miss Anything? Do tell! ♥

10 Comments

  1. This is PERFECT!!! Can’t wait to get back to Cape Town, and I’m so excited I have more time there this time! I am SO doing the hop on hop off bus LOL!

    Reply
    • Make sure you do the wine route! Needless to say it was my favorite! haha. Oh, and all the food markets were incredible! I def gained a few pounds on that trip. No regrets!

      Jelly you are going back, it’s one of my favorite cities ever and I can’t wait to return one day!

      Reply
  2. I live in South Africa so I’m fortunate enough to visit Cape Town at least once a year (usually). You’ve covered some of the best things to do in Cape Town but as you say, you could stay for weeks here (and not get bored). I’ve never done the helicopter ride. I’d love to try it out the next time I go.

    Reply
    • Wow that must be awesome to live in such a gorgeous country! I would die haha. Ya the helicopter gives you a different perspective on the whole city and it’s so cool to see everything from above. It really is incredible!

      Reply
  3. Oooh I see that little gluten free sign 🙂 Haha. Cape Town looks amazing – especially the helicopter ride and hikes as I’m a sucker for a good view!

    Reply
    • Ya it’s one of the best cities for panoramic viewpoints!! I was in complete heaven!

      Reply
  4. So glad you enjoyed my city! I have lived in Camps Bay my whole life and we are definitely lucky with all the natural beauty and good food and wine 🙂

    Reply
    • I’m obsessed! It blew me away. The city has literally everything you could ask for and more! Can’t wait to return! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Amazing photo’s! Cape town looks great. It is one of the places that I want to visit, but am sort of scared off as well.
    For some reason I keep thinking, is it safe? is it easy to travel through? are there any hostels? etc.
    x

    Reply
    • Don’t be scared!! Cape Town was great and I felt totally safe in the daytime. It can get a little dodgy at night, but still not that bad. I’ve never stayed in a hostel but im sure they have a bunch there. Cape Town is such an incredible place and you have to go!!! 🙂

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

%d bloggers like this: