Couple travelling to Cape Town, lots of the must-do sights

by Sandra
(London. England)

We wish to visit, Table Mountain, Robben Island, Boulders Beach, Game Park, Shark cage diving, Whale watching, Horse riding on the beach and similar activities to this.

We are able to split our trip into different accomodaton and are wondering which towns are the best to stay in to enable us to do these things?

I hope this makes some sense to you, many thanks for your help, if you could assist in making up some kind of itinery for us that would be great, Thanks again

Sandra x

Alison's reply

Hi Sandra,

It sounds like you and Vernon have an amazing holiday in mind!

There are a few pieces of info that would have been helpful (e.g. when you are coming, the duration of your trip and the type of accommodation and budget you had in mind, will you be renting a car?) but I can give you broad guidelines and you can always ask for specifics later :)

Transportation wise, see what I have to say about car rentals before you make up your mind.

As you mention whales and sharks I imagine you wil be here between June and September? That is THE best time for those.

I suggest you plan to stay in at least two places - somewhere in reasonably close to the city centre for 2-3 days to visit Table Mountain and Robben Island. City Bowl, Waterfront, Sea Point and Camps Bay are all options to stay in.

Then move down to the South Peninsula and stay there to visit Boulders Beach, go beach riding at Noordhoek, and whalewatching and shark diving from Simonstown. You can base yourself in Fishhoek, Noordhoek or Simonstown depending on your transport plans.

If you are here after September you may want to go to Gans Baai for shark diving as the sharks move inshore in False Bay come spring and summer.

Game park wise, I highly recommend a night or two at Sanbona (pricey but the best near Cape Town) or Inverdoorn (still a great option). Unless time and budget are very tight don't do a safari day trip, it is such a rush...

I hope that helps :)