City guide: Cape Town

Cape Town is a city worth crossing the world for. First impressions simply don’t get any better – the city is dominated by the golden splendour of Table Mountain, its steep slopes and flat top towering between the wild shores of the Atlantic. It is a city that is at once intense and laid back. The severity of the mountain is tempered by the soft, white sand of its beaches, the grand pomposity of its colonial buildings mollified by the buzzing markets that surround them.

Its very nature seems audaciously fickle, evoking bafflingly conflicting images – notorious Robben Island and the body-beautiful hedonism of Clifton Beach, the call of the muezzin from the Bo-Kaap mosques mingling with the beats of funk and house in cool bars, the bronzed beach babe who drives in an open-top sports car past homeless, street-side families, opulent wine estates and the shanty towns of the Cape Flats. All of these images, however strange, are real and jostle for attention.

The main thing that will grab your attention though is the people – a mix of cultures, religions and ethnicities that drive the pulse of the city. Known as the ‘Mother City’ of South Africa, its uneasy past has done little to quench the communal vivacity that is so palpable in Cape Town today.

Where to go, what to do

Table Mountain

Cape Town is defined, first and foremost, by Table Mountain. The centre of the city nestles beneath it, and it seems almost rude not to make it your first stop. Being whisked to the summit by cable car and taking in the spectacular views is without doubt a highlight, and an excellent introduction to the layout of the city and the astounding variety of environments found on the peninsula.

Rising a sheer 1,073m from the coastal plain, the mountain dominates almost every view of the city. Its size astonishes visitors, but it is the mountain’s wilderness, bang in the middle of a bustling conurbation, that makes the biggest impression. Table Mountain sustains over 1,400 species of flora, as well as baboons, dassies (large rodents) and countless birds. Watch out for the ‘Table Cloth’, the impressive layer of cloud that descends on the top of the mountain most afternoons, its edges wafting down the highest slopes.

The City Centre

The city itself rolls from the lower slopes of Table Mountain and holds most of Cape Town’s major sights and attractions. From the Lower Cableway Station, you look out over City Bowl and the central residential suburbs.

From here the land slopes gently towards the Waterfront, with the commercial and historical hearts of the city laid out in between – a mish-mash of beautiful colonial buildings, modern office blocks and crowded shopping centres.

Highlights:

District Six Museum: One of Cape Town’s most powerful exhibitions, it gives a fascinating glimpse of the stupidity and horror of apartheid. District Six was once the cosmopolitan heart of Cape Town, a largely coloured inner city suburb. In 1966, PW Botha, then Minister of Community Development, formally proclaimed District Six a ‘white’ area. Over the next 15 years, an estimated 60,000 people were moved to the new townships. The area was razed, and to this day remains largely undeveloped. The museum contains a collection of photographs, articles and personal accounts depicting life before and after the removals.

Long Street: This stretch is one of the trendiest in Cape Town, and gets particularly lively at night. Lined with street cafés, fashionable shops, bars, clubs and backpacker lodges, it has a distinctly young feel about it, but is also home to some fine old city buildings.

Holocaust Centre: Cape Town’s newest museum is one of its best, comprising an intelligent examination of the Holocaust. The exhibits cleverly acknowledge South Africa’s recent emergence from apartheid and draw parallels between both injustices.

Castle of Good Hope: South Africa’s oldest colonial building (it was completed in 1679), its original purpose was for the Dutch East India Company to defend the Cape from rival European powers, and today it is an imposing sight, albeit a rather gloomy one. Since 1917 it has been the headquarters of the South African Defence Force.

Groote Kerk: One of Cape Town’s older corners, Church Square, is the site of the Groote Kerk, the first church of the Dutch Reformed Faith to be built in South Africa. Up until 1834 the square was used as a venue for the auctioning of slaves.

The Bo-Kaap: The Bo-Kaap is Cape Town’s historical Islamic quarter and one of the city’s most interesting residential areas. It’s characterised by brightly-painted Georgian facades, tightly packed along cobbled streets.

Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

Cape Town’s Victorian harbour is the city’s most popular attraction. Original buildings stand shoulder to shoulder with mock-Victorian shopping centres, museums and al fresco restaurants, all crowding along a waterside walkway.

Highlight

Robben Island: Lying 13km off Green Point’s shores, Robben Island is best known as the prison that held many of the ANC’s most prominent members, including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. It remained a prison until 1996, but in 1999 the island was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Atlantic Seaboard

Stretching from Green Point to the Cape of Good Hope, this is the peninsula’s most spectacular coastline, at times clinging dramatically to the Twelve Apostles, the spine of mountains stretching south.

Highlights:

Clifton Beach: Renowned as the playground of the young and wealthy, this is the place to see and be seen. Clifton’s four sheltered beaches are stunning, small arches of powder-soft white sand sloping gently into turquoise water.

Camps Bay: Backed by the Twelve Apostles, this is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The beachfront is lined with excellent seafood restaurants, and having a sundowner followed by a superb meal is the perfect ending to a day.

Chapman’s Peak Drive: This breathtaking 15km route is carved into the cliffs 600m above the sea. The views of the coast and ocean are outstanding and one of the Cape’s highlights. After a series of major rock falls in early 2000 much of the road remains closed. It was due to re-open by the end of 2002, but check before you go.

Southern Suburbs

Hugging the slopes of Table Mountain are the Southern Suburbs. These encompass the bulk of Cape Town’s suburban sprawl, once the enclave of largely affluent whites but today an interesting mix of areas with a number of attractions.

Highlight:

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens – Kirstenbosch are South Africa’s oldest, largest and most exquisite botanical gardens. They are among the finest in the world; their setting alone is incomparable. The gardens stretch up the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, merging seamlessly with the fynbos (area of low shrubs) of the steep slopes above.

Day trips

Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve: This is one of Cape Town’s highlights, a strikingly wild region straddling the ground between the Atlantic Seaboard and False Bay. The reserve was established in 1939 to protect the unique flora and fauna of this stretch of coast.

False Bay: This string of seaside towns and fishing villages has a very different feel from the Atlantic Seaboard. It is rather twee compared to the slick pace of Cape Town’s major haunts, but the main attraction here is the warm water; temperatures can be as much as 8°C higher than at Clifton. Simon’s Town is perhaps the prettiest town on False Bay, with a pleasant atmosphere and numerous old buildings. About 2km south of Simon’s Town is Boulders, a lovely series of coves surrounded by huge boulders. The real attraction here is the colony of African penguins that live and nest between the boulders. The best time to see large numbers is just before sunset, when they return from a day’s feeding.

The Winelands: The towns of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek are some of the oldest in South Africa. Today their streets are lined with beautiful Cape Dutch and Georgian houses, although the real architectural gems are the manor houses on the wine estates.

The Whale Coast: During the late winter and spring months huge numbers of whales come into the bays to calve. There is also a chance of seeing the great white shark, and standing on the southernmost point in Africa – Cape Agulhas.

Festivals & music

Karnaval: popularly known as the Coon Carnival (despite its derogatory connotations), is without doubt the city’s most popular festival. The procession of competing minstrel bands, complete with painted faces, straw boaters and bright satin suits, is quite the spectacle.

Cape Jazz: is perhaps Cape Town’s greatest cultural gift, and if you get the chance try and see some live acts while you’re here. The North Sea Jazz Festival is held every March and attracts a glittering array of artists.