Cape Town to Cape Point - a perfect day out

A visit to Cape Point and Boulders Beach is a fabulous day out combining spectacular scenery and opportunities to see wildlife. You can do an organised trip, but the best option by far is to hire a car and do it at your own pace. You leave Cape Town by Camps Bay on a road which hugs the mountains and gives you amazing views. After this it gets even better as you drive along Chapman’s Peak. It really is a drive which has to been seen and experienced to be fully appreciated. There are various stop off points where you can take your pictures and will just stare in wonder. Chapman’s Peak is all too short a drive, but there are plenty more attractions when it has finished. There are numerous small coastal towns where you can stop for lunch. Simons Town, with its naval base is one option, but I prefer the livelier Kalk Bay. If you want to rub shoulders with local people and enjoy some tasty fish and chips, then go to Kalkys. Next stop is Boulders Beach where you can see a penguin colony up close. It is likely to be very windy, but you will see lots of penguins from the viewing platforms. If you avoid weekends and the middle of the day you may be able to stand near the penguins on the beach or the rocks, watch out though they peck. The final stop is Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope; both are close to each other and offer walking opportunities as well as a chance to see ostriches, baboons and other wildlife. We were lucky to see a couple of families of baboons and I got some pictures of them. We also saw a wild ostrich by the road gazing into the ocean, what a great picture that would have been. Never mind at least I got a picture of the ostrich. This is a rewarding and memorable day out as anyone could wish to do and an easy drive from Cae Town.


One of the many spectacular views along Capman's Peak drive

Boulders Beach

Baboon family close to Cape Point

Ostrich close to the Cape of Good Hope

Dining on Kloof Street

Kloof Street brings you from the edge of the centre of Cape Town up a steep hill onto the slopes of Table Mountain. The hilly nature of the street and some of the architecture makes it feel a bit like the sort of street you find in San Francisco. It has a good choice of places to eat, testified by how many locals eat there and is a great alternative to the more touristy places like Camps Bay and The Waterfront. So where should you dine? At the top of Kloof Street is Baccinis, a cheap and reliable Italian restaurant which does great Pizza and serves draft Perioni. Shelly’s, is a nice place to go for lunch as it offers a good range of gourmet sandwiches and light lunch options. Inside is stylish and outside is a good spot for people watching and starring at Table Mountain. Right next door is Tonis, where you can get tasty and reasonably priced Portuguese – Mozambique food, which is quite spicy. A little further down on the corner of Kloof and Camp Street, Saigon serves the best Vietnamese food in Cape Town.

The Bo-Kaap, Cape Town

The Bo-Kaap is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Cape Town. The colourful houses really stand out against the backdrop of Table Mountain and the high rise cityscape. The area has a high Muslim population and there are a few mosques in the neighbourhood. Unlike nearby District Six, the Bo-Kaap survived apartheid legislation which saw many communities forcibly displaced. The Bo-Kaap has an interesting museum on Wale Street, which is close to the city centre. Even if the museum isn’t open, it is still worth visiting and walking around the area soaking up the atmosphere and taking some pictures.

The Garden Route was more like Cloudy Bay

It was unfortunate that our time in the Garden Route was during a period of bad weather; it rained for much of the time and on some days the clouds were so low we saw very little. Our first stop was Mossell Bay, we then moved to Storms River Village and returned to Cape Town via Swellendam.

Mossell Bay is generally regarded as the first of the main seaside towns on the Garden Route and popular with tourists. Wilderness is a tiny town which has a fantastic long beach and unusual land feature called the Map of Africa. Knysna is the next main point of interest, with its lagoon and pleasant waterfront shopping mall. Plettenberg Bay is the next main town along the coast. Plettenberg Bay and Mossell Bay feel very much as though they have a large contingent of retired Europeans and South Africans. They are undeniably pretty, but some people may find them a little bland.

Storms River Village is in the Tsitsikamma National Park and just a few miles from Storms River Mouth. This is an idyllic setting close to woodland, the sea and with a mountain backdrop. It is a great base for outdoorsy types, with plenty of options for walkers. Those who want to live dangerously can do a bungee jump from Boukouran's Bridge (not possible when we went as it was covered in cloud). The village has a good feeling of community about it, for example one of the local tour companies, Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours is heavily involved with local projects and you feel local people are benefitting from the tourism. We finished our Garden Route trip with a night in Swellendam. It is a pretty enough town and a good stop over before moving on to Cape Town or the winelands of Paarl, Francheock and Stellenbosch.