Cape Town & Environs

Why Cape Town is special
Travelers quickly fall in love with Cape Town, a harbor city with a picturesque location and a cosmopolitan air.

Top 3 attractions in and around Cape Town
Table Mountain viewpoint
See the city, sea, and landscapes from the top of Table Mountain, which you reach by trail or cable car.

Click the link below for my descriptive web page on Table Mountain, Signal Hill, Cape Point, Silvermine, Boulder Beach, and Chapman's Peak Drive:
Table Mountain National Park

Victoria and Alfred Waterfront
It's a working port and the tourism epi-center of Cape Town. Draws include restaurants, bars, nightlife, shops, tour operators, and people watching. V&A (as locals simply call this district) also has an aquarium and a marine museum.

Robben Island
Nelson Mandela and other political activists were imprisoned here during the Apartheid days. Half-day guided tours via boats leave from V&A.

More Cape Town tips & insights
Other attractions
They include:

• Wine country
  Tour the nearby Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wine-growing districts. The first produces the country's best wines, the second has some of its best restaurants.
• Camps Bay
  Its beach and ocean-view restaurants are favored by the rich and trendy.

When to go
There is no one perfect season. You face trade offs

• Summer
  It's generally warm and dry from mid-November to mid-March. However, you will likely encounter crowds and scarce bookings.
• Winter
  Cape Town is seldom overrun with visitors, but you risk wet and cold weather from mid-June to mid-September.
• Shoulder seasons
  These periods are unpredictable weather wise, but your odds of having beautiful sunny days are much higher than in the winter period. And, except during a school holiday, you won't face a summer-tourist crunch.

Location in South Africa