Area Guide for the Cape Peninsula

Results of a recent BBC television programme “50 Places To See Before You Die” proved Cape Town’s leading position internationally. Cape Town was the only city in the world featured in the top five on the list of 50, beaten only by World Heritage sights and attractions such as, the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef and Walt Disney World. Cape Town was placed at No. 5 on the list, ahead of Sydney, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Barcelona. Cape Town is further considered to be the world’s best value for money city.

Thanks to its scenic beauty and many attractions, tourism is a major and growing force in the Western Cape, which hosts over 50% of the country’s international visitors.  For more on particular suburbs and residential areas in Cape Town select the Suburb Guide above, while for more on the Regions of the Western Cape please select the Cape Regions option above.

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The Big Attractions in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
The area between Table Mountain and Hottentots Holland comprises the Cape Town Metropole and encompasses pulsating cosmopolitan city life, beach playgrounds, forests and exquisite nature parks.

•  Table Mountain
  Cape Town’s most famous landmark – a quick spin by revolving cable car to the 1 086m summit will give the visitor a grand view of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and of course the equally famous South African `Alcatraz’ – Robben Island.
•  The Famous V & A Waterfront
  The most visited attraction in Cape Town is the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront with its assortment of shopping, eating, entertainment and sightseeing facilities, all set within a working harbour.
•  Robben Island
  The V & A Waterfront is also the gateway to Robben Island, a former prison (now national monument) where a visit is an emotional journey echoing with the sorrows of stalwarts of ‘the struggle’ against apartheid. The island was `home’ to many of South Africa’s freedom fighters including Nelson Mandela.
•  Cape Fortress
  The oldest surviving building in South Africa, and well preserved too, is the Castle of Good Hope, the pentagonal fortress built by personnel of the Dutch East India Company back in the 1660s-70s. Today it houses the regional headquarters of the South African Defence Force in the Western Cape, and a military museum.
•  Africa’s Most Southerly Point
  A stop at Cape Point gives the visitor the opportunity to boast of having been at the most south-westerly point of Africa, where the cold Benguela and the warm Agulhus currents (west and east respectively) meet. Some 26 shipwrecks have been recorded at Cape Point, some of them presenting good diving spots. A funicular takes visitors on scenic trips to an old lighthouse and the spot is a bird watcher’s paradise.
•  Township Vibes
  Township tours will remind the tourist how the will to survive can overcome any adversity. In Guguletu and Langa expect to be overwhelmed by hospitality, informal roadside traders, rowdy taverns serving local beer and toe-tapping jazz. Guided tours are recommended to get to most out of the experience.
•  Most Fabulous Beaches in the World
  Clifton for those who want to see and be seen
  Sandy Bay for the nudists
  Muizenberg with its bathing boxes for a swim in warmer water
  Kommetjie for watersports.
  Fishhoek is a quaint seaside village
  Hout Bay has a colourful fishing harbour and craft market
  Kalk Bay attracts antique hunters
  Boulder’s Beach at Simon’s Town is home to a colony of Jackass penguins.
•  Shopping
  Cape Town has many markets and impressive shopping centres and malls. One of the most talked about shopping venues is the impressive 400-outlet Canal Walk Century City. It also boasts a 20-theatre cinema complex and for adrenaline-pumping entertainment, there’s Ratanga Junction, a 30-attraction theme park with and the glitzy Grand West Casino & Entertainment World.
•  Great Gardens of the World
  A day in Cape Town might end with a classical concert at sundown in one of the world’s great botanical gardens – Kirstenbosch, a repository for many rare Fynbos species and a wealth of indigenous plants, trees and flowers.
•  Nightlife
  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.

The Waterfront is centred on the Alfred and Victoria Basins, which are both still working harbours. This nautical atmosphere together with the excellent tourist facilities makes the Waterfront such an interesting place to visit. Highlights are an undercover craft market, a brewery, an elegant shopping centre, a theatre, an aquarium, two floating museums, guided walks, boat trips, live entertainment, luxury hotels and many fine restaurants and pubs.

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