What are the main Cape Town tour attractions?

Cape Town tour attractions are fairly numerous and as you’ll read in every marketing spiel, there is something to suit every taste.

This page is designed to help you as you decide what tours are considered the must-sees of Cape Town so that you can plan a few DIY routes with your own vehicle, a taxi or the Cape Town sight-seeing bus.

The Peninsula and its surrounding Winelands are incredibly beautiful, so there are a lot of scenic tour options.

It is home to a variety of intriguing animals from ranging from the large (migrating whales and Cape buffalo) to teeny, stripey field mice scurrying around Kirstenbosch Gardens.

There’s the flora -- fynbos, (“fine bush”) which makes up the smallest yet richest Floral Kingdom on earth.

There are loads of adventure possibilities aimed at indulging the adrenaline junky in you.

Last but not least, there’s the history and culture of this melting pot, which straddles two oceans and weaves the lives of migrants from East and West into a saga in which the facts are harder to believe than fiction!

As with any industry Cape town tour attractions have given rise to some ‘standard’ tours. If you want something different and more individually tailored you can do it yourself (a great independent traveler option!) OR (if you are prepared to pay extra!) you will need a tour guide who will adapt to suit your specific needs.

The starting point for Cape Town tour attractions

• CBD Cape Town tour attractions and city sights
  

  These tours focus on sights and history in the city centre, nestled between Table Mountain and the harbour.

  Weather permitting you should also include trips to Robben Island and Table Mountain.

  The City Bowl is where European and African cultures first clashed and mingled, and many historical sites such as the Castle of Good Hope and Company Gardens are found here.

  It is also home to various Cape Town museums, though some of the smaller (and to my mind, more interesting) ones such as the Irma Stern, Rhodes, Post Office museums are found further afield.




• Cape Point and Peninsula
  The Cape Peninsula stretches some 90 km south and west of the city centre. The distance is not that relevant but the driving time is – it’s a good 90 minute drive one way and you’ll need a full day to begin to explore it at all.

  Formal tours of the Peninsula will generally take you to the lighthouse at Cape Point and its nature reserve, including the penguin colony at Boulders Beach near Simonstown.

  They take in the vineyards and museum at Groot Constantia and some of the most scenic routes along the coast (depending on whether Chapman’s Peak is safe against rock falls at the time!) Kirstenbosch Gardens is often included on the return journey.

• Winelands

Winelands tours will generally focus on Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek.

Constantia is closer to Cape Town and easy to visit without a tour arranged at all.

Typically you will visit a variety of wine estates to sample wines, cheeses and possibly olives and olive oil and to delve a little into some of the European settler history.



• Whales and/or Great White shark viewing or diving

Head off to Hermanus and watch the whales breach and blow between June and November. You can watch from the cliff tops or ask for a boat trip to be arranged.

If you are interested in more predatory marine creatures, allow extra time to do a trip from Gansbaai. For the daring, shark cage diving is also available.



• West Coast wildflowers (may include San culture on request)

The West Coast National Park has a wildflower area that is open only in August and September.

On a day tour from Cape Town this is the most you can comfortably accomplish but for the determined it is the beginning of the Spring flower ‘route’ that stretches hundreds of kilometres up through Namaqualand.

With a hire car or a guide you can flower 'hunt' all the way to Springbok, some 560 km from Cape Town. Due to the distances involved you will need 3 or 4 days to get the most out of a trip like this.

• Garden Route (allow a minimum of 4 days, 3 nights)

A very popular tour option, the Garden Route is worth taking some time to reach and enjoy.

It is wonderfully beautiful and quite varied – plan your itinerary to take in only the things interest you!



• Township visits and cultural tours

There is increasing debate around township tours. I’m all for connecting people with South African township residents so that their tenacity and the ongoing divide between rich and poor can be seen and appreciated, not to mentioned reduced.

But township tourism has not greatly benefitted those it showcases so there is a need for some changes.

Please don’t take a tour there unless you are looking to connect in person with people in the townships. Anything else is just disrespectful and quite justifiably resented by township inhabitants.







You may find the following related pages helpful:
Cape town touring overview
Day Tour Inspirations
Fun tour operators
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