The Cape Town Experience: Part 1
I’ve been treating my move to South Africa’s Mother City as essentially a working holiday. Every weekend I try to experience at least one touristy thing in the hope of getting to better know South Africa’s best, and most beautiful city (seriously!). In turn I hope that I can then offer informed recommendations to any blog readers keen to visit Cape Town and its famous surrounding regions. The following are my first month’s general observations. It’s quite a lengthy post though so I’ll save my first month’s actual tourist experiences, and related reviews, for the next blog entry in the series.
View from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, looking up at Table Mountain.
The sun: I cannot stress enough the need to always have a hat and sunblock with you when travelling around Cape Town. Perhaps it’s the latitude of the city, but the sun’s rays feel incredibly strong here. I’m from Durban, South Africa’s perennially warm, Summery city and while it’s the humidity at home that’s a killer, here it’s just the sunshine on its own. I can feel my skin burning as early as 9am, and with the sun out in the Spring and Summer months past 7pm, the days are long. So be careful lest you end up a lobster shade of red.
The weather: Just as you should always have sun protection with you during your adventures, you should always carry a warm jacket. Cape Town’s weather is schizophrenic and the weather reports are NEVER right. The day can start off beautifully clear and within a few hours it’s clouded over, wet and miserable. The opposite is also true. Plus, the weather can be vastly different depending what side of Table Mountain you’re on – gloomy on the side of Hout Bay, Constantia, and Kirstenbosch Gardens, while the city centre, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and entire West Coast enjoys brilliant blue skies.
You should also be aware that Cape Town can be very windy all year round, and that cool to downright chilly breeze can make visiting exposed viewpoints and beaches very unpleasant when it enters powerful gust mode. The wind normally only strengthens in the afternoon though, so you can potentially avoid it if you plan your itinerary accordingly.
Table Mountain with its famous cloud "Table Cloth."
Self-drive: There are plenty of tour group companies operating in Cape Town, offering both full multi-day package trips and guided day tours. It’s worth noting though that it’s actually pretty easy to self-drive Cape Town and its surrounding areas.
Unlike Durban with its disastrous street renaming and sign defacements/destruction, Cape Town is a remarkably well sign-posted city, especially in regards to the main tourist attractions and other important features (e.g. the airport). You can get to most places just by sticking to the numbered main roads (M4 for example) and freeways (N1, N2). Very handy in regard to self-drive then is the latest edition MapStudio Street Guide for Cape Town – available for R150 from CNA, Bargain Books, Exclusive Books and general touristy shops.
For the record, I’ve found drivers in Cape Town to be pretty polite on the whole. While you will always encounter douches who prevent you from changing lanes, tail-gate you and are heavy-handed on their hooters, the speed limits are low all around (typically in the 60-100km range), leading to a much more chilled driving experience. Just be cautious, and always expect the unexpected from drivers around you and you should be fine. Also, try to avoid being on the main roads INTO the city (the various Ms and Ns) during the week between 7am and 8am, which is the Cape Town rush hour period.
Of course, all this said, if you don’t want to drive there are always the red hop-on and –off doubledecker City Sightseeing buses. And when Cape Town’s rapid transport system – with dedicated lanes for buses – kicks in, getting around without a car will be even easier.
View of Hout Bay from the scenic cliffside Chapman's Peak Drive.
Parking: Although there are no problems in areas outside of the city centre, parking can be a real pain in the Cape Town City Bowl (the CBD) if you are self-driving and want to experience tourist attractions in that area – such as the Castle of Good Hope and the Company’s Garden, with its various surrounding museums.
Parking can be annoying in terms of availability, but more often in terms of being so damn expensive – at the public parkades (R10 and up), malls, including the V&A Waterfront (R10+), and at the airport (minimum R8). In terms of Cape Town International Airport, beware the ridiculously overpriced undercover parkades if you intend hanging around for longer than an hour. I recently paid R24 for just over 2 hours! Rather, seek out the 2 shaded parking areas that can also be found at the airport.
You’ll also want to keep all your accumulated R1 and R2 coins for the bibbed and hat-wearing “car guards” who hang around non-parkade parking areas throughout the city, and other attractions in the region. You don’t have to tip these often scruffy looking men and women, but it’s kind of expected. It just gets very annoying very quickly when you’re road-tripping (along the False Bay coastline for example) and every time you get out of your car to explore a quaint town or attraction for 30 minutes to an hour, you have to fork out a tip on your return. Several stops over the course of a few hours quickly add up.
As for parking availability, side as opposed to main streets tend to be better in the City Bowl and narrow-streeted suburbs such as Observatory. However, if you get anywhere early – traffic around tourist attractions in Cape Town only really picks up after 10am – you shouldn’t have any problems slotting in somewhere.
Safety and security: For a South African paranoid about violent crime, I honestly feel pretty safe in Cape Town, which typically consists of upmarket areas sandwiched between rundown suburbs and industrial spots. Still, there is far less of the hideous barbed wire and thick burglar bars that locals in other major cities live behind. Admittedly theft and muggings are a problem in the Mother City, but that’s common to all big cities – and again it tends to be more threatening than actually violent. Simply exercise some common sense and you should be fine.
So don’t walk around with wads of cash (you can use a debit or credit card everywhere, pretty much) and don’t leave your expensive camera dangling. Most importantly, don’t go off into remote areas on your own – this includes hiking trails – especially after dark. Trust your gut. If you don’t feel safe in an area, just get out of there.
Getting up close and personal with the African/Jackass penguins of Boulders Beach.
Animal life: Cape Town is a bird lover’s paradise – particularly if you are interested in coastal and marine birds. It’s something special spotting pelicans and penguins in the wild. Then there are the squirrels in the Company’s Garden, baboons (do NOT feed!) on the coastal route to Cape Point, seals lurking in the various harbours (including the V&A) and the surprisingly cheeky but adorable dassies (rock hyrax) that make rocky areas like Table Mountain their home. And although their presence is seasonal, you may also be lucky to spot whales surfacing every now and then in False Bay.
Of course, after my month in the Mother City I now have to ask why there are not nearly as many seagulls in Durban?
A rabbit-sized dassie - related genetically to an elephant if you believe it!
Eating: As for eating and drinking in Cape Town, well, your choices are really endless – from fast food outlets and grizzly old pubs to trendy cocktail bars and extremely snooty sit-down restaurants. However, If you want to avoid the usual overpriced tourist traps where you’re paying more for location than quality, I asked Capetonians (locals) for recommendations via Twitter, and the following places came up as value for money eateries that combine excellent food with an enjoyable atmosphere.
Interior of the Wharfside Grill, Mariner's Wharf.
In terms of my personal dining experiences so far:
At first glance The Wharfside Grill at Mariner’s Wharf, Hout Bay seems to be a blatant tourist trap. This seafood restaurant’s interior has been given an “authentic” nautical theme and the waiters are even dressed like 19th century sailors. It all looks super cheesy. And you can even get the house wine (surprisingly good) in a souvenir fish-shaped bottle to take home. However, damn, as a dining experience The Wharfside Grill is top notch. There’s a welcoming family restaurant vibe about the place, the service is both friendly and excellent, and the huge portions of seafood are cooked to perfection… and available at not especially ridiculous prices. And with rival (and supposedly superior) eatery Fish on the Rocks just around the corner, Hout Bay seems to be your best spot in the Cape Town region for superb seafood.
Paulaner Brauhaus and Restaurant at the V&A Waterfront is a Cape Town offshoot of the famous German brewery that’s been around since the 17th Century. If it’s an authentic South African experience you’re after, then Paulaner obviously isn’t for you. However the atmosphere is great, particularly during the month long Oktoberfest celebration, as well as on Sunday afternoons when live bands entertain patrons. The authentic German beer and cuisine (you better like pork, potato and cabbage) are as excellent as expected… although a tad on the pricey side – R32 for a beer, R80 for a quarter chicken and chips, R100 for roast pork knuckle). This is obviously cheaper than a Munich Beerhall, but it does mean Paulaner is a place you only really hit on special occasions, or when you feel like spoiling yourself.
So I didn't get to Munich for the 200th anniversary. But this was a fantastic substitute - plus the beer was cheaper than in Europe!
The little known, Chinese-run Blue Marlin in the bohemian suburb of Observatory offers Asian cuisine in a very relaxed atmosphere. The place seems to be very popular with the budget-conscious twenty-something crowd, even if it can be a pain to find parking close by. The big draw here is the restaurant’s R99 buffet special offer: Eat as much sushi and/or Chinese food as you like. You simply order items off the lettered and numbered menu, and then keep ordering until you’re satisfied. The portions are quite small but if you really like something, you can just order more of it. And given that service can be slow, you’ll likely be hungry again by the time later rounds of the meal arrive.
For the record, it’s quite easy to eat R100 worth of sushi. As a Chinese food eater I decided to make up that amount in terms of variety – so I tried everything from chicken spring rolls to prawn dumplings, from crispy duck to tuna. A real stand-out though is the honeyed pork rib skewer. Yum!
Nearby, also in Observatory, is the very bohemian A Touch of Madness. An old Victorian era house converted into a coffee shop and sit-down restaurant, it’s the kind of place you can relax on couches drinking coffee and eating cake while a Rastafarian sleeps off his hangover in the corner.
Highly recommended is the restaurant’s malva pudding – a sticky, sweet sponge cake that is uniquely Dutch-South African, and much raved about by Oprah out of interest.
Speaking of other South African delicacies to try, there’s also Cape Malay bobotie (a layered mix of mince, rice and egg sauce), potjiekos and tomato bredie stews, spicy sausage boerewors, smoked snoek (a tasty local fish), melktert (or milktart for English speakers) for dessert, and of course, the dehydrated meat snacks of biltong and droewors – which are like beef jerky, but better!
Finally, nobody really punts Cape Town’s unique fast food delicacy – the Gatsby. This artery clogger is a giant roll packed with meat, sauce and hot fries/chips. Think of it as the Mother City’s equivalent of Durban’s Bunny Chow.
Colourful fynbos plants at Kirstenbosch Gardens.
Time to visit: Given the city’s Mediterranean climate, the dry, sunny Summer months of December and January are Cape Town’s peak tourist season. Prices can be quite inflated during this time (don’t count on finding a glass of wine for less than R25 anywhere) and tourist attractions get packed very quickly. June through August – Cape Town’s Winter – is typically freezing, wet, windy and miserable. So honestly I would recommend visiting right about now – October and November, just outside of high season. The weather, especially the wind, may be a little wild during these months, but you’re far more likely to avoid the tourist crush and resulting, very frustrating queues.
Right, that’s Part 1 done. Parts 2 onwards in this series will centre on my tourist experiences in and around Cape Town.
Table Mountain and a shipwreck as viewed from Dolphin Beach on the West Coast of Cape Town.
View from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, looking up at Table Mountain.The sun: I cannot stress enough the need to always have a hat and sunblock with you when travelling around Cape Town. Perhaps it’s the latitude of the city, but the sun’s rays feel incredibly strong here. I’m from Durban, South Africa’s perennially warm, Summery city and while it’s the humidity at home that’s a killer, here it’s just the sunshine on its own. I can feel my skin burning as early as 9am, and with the sun out in the Spring and Summer months past 7pm, the days are long. So be careful lest you end up a lobster shade of red.
The weather: Just as you should always have sun protection with you during your adventures, you should always carry a warm jacket. Cape Town’s weather is schizophrenic and the weather reports are NEVER right. The day can start off beautifully clear and within a few hours it’s clouded over, wet and miserable. The opposite is also true. Plus, the weather can be vastly different depending what side of Table Mountain you’re on – gloomy on the side of Hout Bay, Constantia, and Kirstenbosch Gardens, while the city centre, Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and entire West Coast enjoys brilliant blue skies.
You should also be aware that Cape Town can be very windy all year round, and that cool to downright chilly breeze can make visiting exposed viewpoints and beaches very unpleasant when it enters powerful gust mode. The wind normally only strengthens in the afternoon though, so you can potentially avoid it if you plan your itinerary accordingly.
Table Mountain with its famous cloud "Table Cloth."Self-drive: There are plenty of tour group companies operating in Cape Town, offering both full multi-day package trips and guided day tours. It’s worth noting though that it’s actually pretty easy to self-drive Cape Town and its surrounding areas.
Unlike Durban with its disastrous street renaming and sign defacements/destruction, Cape Town is a remarkably well sign-posted city, especially in regards to the main tourist attractions and other important features (e.g. the airport). You can get to most places just by sticking to the numbered main roads (M4 for example) and freeways (N1, N2). Very handy in regard to self-drive then is the latest edition MapStudio Street Guide for Cape Town – available for R150 from CNA, Bargain Books, Exclusive Books and general touristy shops.
For the record, I’ve found drivers in Cape Town to be pretty polite on the whole. While you will always encounter douches who prevent you from changing lanes, tail-gate you and are heavy-handed on their hooters, the speed limits are low all around (typically in the 60-100km range), leading to a much more chilled driving experience. Just be cautious, and always expect the unexpected from drivers around you and you should be fine. Also, try to avoid being on the main roads INTO the city (the various Ms and Ns) during the week between 7am and 8am, which is the Cape Town rush hour period.
Of course, all this said, if you don’t want to drive there are always the red hop-on and –off doubledecker City Sightseeing buses. And when Cape Town’s rapid transport system – with dedicated lanes for buses – kicks in, getting around without a car will be even easier.
View of Hout Bay from the scenic cliffside Chapman's Peak Drive.Parking: Although there are no problems in areas outside of the city centre, parking can be a real pain in the Cape Town City Bowl (the CBD) if you are self-driving and want to experience tourist attractions in that area – such as the Castle of Good Hope and the Company’s Garden, with its various surrounding museums.
Parking can be annoying in terms of availability, but more often in terms of being so damn expensive – at the public parkades (R10 and up), malls, including the V&A Waterfront (R10+), and at the airport (minimum R8). In terms of Cape Town International Airport, beware the ridiculously overpriced undercover parkades if you intend hanging around for longer than an hour. I recently paid R24 for just over 2 hours! Rather, seek out the 2 shaded parking areas that can also be found at the airport.
You’ll also want to keep all your accumulated R1 and R2 coins for the bibbed and hat-wearing “car guards” who hang around non-parkade parking areas throughout the city, and other attractions in the region. You don’t have to tip these often scruffy looking men and women, but it’s kind of expected. It just gets very annoying very quickly when you’re road-tripping (along the False Bay coastline for example) and every time you get out of your car to explore a quaint town or attraction for 30 minutes to an hour, you have to fork out a tip on your return. Several stops over the course of a few hours quickly add up.
As for parking availability, side as opposed to main streets tend to be better in the City Bowl and narrow-streeted suburbs such as Observatory. However, if you get anywhere early – traffic around tourist attractions in Cape Town only really picks up after 10am – you shouldn’t have any problems slotting in somewhere.
Safety and security: For a South African paranoid about violent crime, I honestly feel pretty safe in Cape Town, which typically consists of upmarket areas sandwiched between rundown suburbs and industrial spots. Still, there is far less of the hideous barbed wire and thick burglar bars that locals in other major cities live behind. Admittedly theft and muggings are a problem in the Mother City, but that’s common to all big cities – and again it tends to be more threatening than actually violent. Simply exercise some common sense and you should be fine.
So don’t walk around with wads of cash (you can use a debit or credit card everywhere, pretty much) and don’t leave your expensive camera dangling. Most importantly, don’t go off into remote areas on your own – this includes hiking trails – especially after dark. Trust your gut. If you don’t feel safe in an area, just get out of there.
Getting up close and personal with the African/Jackass penguins of Boulders Beach.Animal life: Cape Town is a bird lover’s paradise – particularly if you are interested in coastal and marine birds. It’s something special spotting pelicans and penguins in the wild. Then there are the squirrels in the Company’s Garden, baboons (do NOT feed!) on the coastal route to Cape Point, seals lurking in the various harbours (including the V&A) and the surprisingly cheeky but adorable dassies (rock hyrax) that make rocky areas like Table Mountain their home. And although their presence is seasonal, you may also be lucky to spot whales surfacing every now and then in False Bay.
Of course, after my month in the Mother City I now have to ask why there are not nearly as many seagulls in Durban?
A rabbit-sized dassie - related genetically to an elephant if you believe it!- Aneesa's Fast Foods – Montague Gardens
- Brass Bell – Kalk Bay
- Royale Eatery and Royale Kitchen – City Bowl
- Miriam’s Kitchen – City Bowl, St George’s Mall
- Simply Delicious – Milnerton
- Blue Peter Hotel – Bloubergstrand
- Leonardo’s – Claremont
- Fisherman’s Basket – Claremont
- Golden Dish – Rylands
- Fish on the Rocks – Hout Bay
- Snoekies – Hout Bay, Eden at the Bay
- Atlantic Grill – Table Bay Hotel
- Sinful Ice Cream – Camps Bay
- San Julian – Rose Street, Greenpoint
- Mexican Kitchen – City Bowl
- Fat Cactus.
Interior of the Wharfside Grill, Mariner's Wharf.In terms of my personal dining experiences so far:
At first glance The Wharfside Grill at Mariner’s Wharf, Hout Bay seems to be a blatant tourist trap. This seafood restaurant’s interior has been given an “authentic” nautical theme and the waiters are even dressed like 19th century sailors. It all looks super cheesy. And you can even get the house wine (surprisingly good) in a souvenir fish-shaped bottle to take home. However, damn, as a dining experience The Wharfside Grill is top notch. There’s a welcoming family restaurant vibe about the place, the service is both friendly and excellent, and the huge portions of seafood are cooked to perfection… and available at not especially ridiculous prices. And with rival (and supposedly superior) eatery Fish on the Rocks just around the corner, Hout Bay seems to be your best spot in the Cape Town region for superb seafood.
Paulaner Brauhaus and Restaurant at the V&A Waterfront is a Cape Town offshoot of the famous German brewery that’s been around since the 17th Century. If it’s an authentic South African experience you’re after, then Paulaner obviously isn’t for you. However the atmosphere is great, particularly during the month long Oktoberfest celebration, as well as on Sunday afternoons when live bands entertain patrons. The authentic German beer and cuisine (you better like pork, potato and cabbage) are as excellent as expected… although a tad on the pricey side – R32 for a beer, R80 for a quarter chicken and chips, R100 for roast pork knuckle). This is obviously cheaper than a Munich Beerhall, but it does mean Paulaner is a place you only really hit on special occasions, or when you feel like spoiling yourself.
So I didn't get to Munich for the 200th anniversary. But this was a fantastic substitute - plus the beer was cheaper than in Europe!The little known, Chinese-run Blue Marlin in the bohemian suburb of Observatory offers Asian cuisine in a very relaxed atmosphere. The place seems to be very popular with the budget-conscious twenty-something crowd, even if it can be a pain to find parking close by. The big draw here is the restaurant’s R99 buffet special offer: Eat as much sushi and/or Chinese food as you like. You simply order items off the lettered and numbered menu, and then keep ordering until you’re satisfied. The portions are quite small but if you really like something, you can just order more of it. And given that service can be slow, you’ll likely be hungry again by the time later rounds of the meal arrive.
For the record, it’s quite easy to eat R100 worth of sushi. As a Chinese food eater I decided to make up that amount in terms of variety – so I tried everything from chicken spring rolls to prawn dumplings, from crispy duck to tuna. A real stand-out though is the honeyed pork rib skewer. Yum!
Nearby, also in Observatory, is the very bohemian A Touch of Madness. An old Victorian era house converted into a coffee shop and sit-down restaurant, it’s the kind of place you can relax on couches drinking coffee and eating cake while a Rastafarian sleeps off his hangover in the corner.
Highly recommended is the restaurant’s malva pudding – a sticky, sweet sponge cake that is uniquely Dutch-South African, and much raved about by Oprah out of interest.
Speaking of other South African delicacies to try, there’s also Cape Malay bobotie (a layered mix of mince, rice and egg sauce), potjiekos and tomato bredie stews, spicy sausage boerewors, smoked snoek (a tasty local fish), melktert (or milktart for English speakers) for dessert, and of course, the dehydrated meat snacks of biltong and droewors – which are like beef jerky, but better!
Finally, nobody really punts Cape Town’s unique fast food delicacy – the Gatsby. This artery clogger is a giant roll packed with meat, sauce and hot fries/chips. Think of it as the Mother City’s equivalent of Durban’s Bunny Chow.
Colourful fynbos plants at Kirstenbosch Gardens.Time to visit: Given the city’s Mediterranean climate, the dry, sunny Summer months of December and January are Cape Town’s peak tourist season. Prices can be quite inflated during this time (don’t count on finding a glass of wine for less than R25 anywhere) and tourist attractions get packed very quickly. June through August – Cape Town’s Winter – is typically freezing, wet, windy and miserable. So honestly I would recommend visiting right about now – October and November, just outside of high season. The weather, especially the wind, may be a little wild during these months, but you’re far more likely to avoid the tourist crush and resulting, very frustrating queues.
Right, that’s Part 1 done. Parts 2 onwards in this series will centre on my tourist experiences in and around Cape Town.
Table Mountain and a shipwreck as viewed from Dolphin Beach on the West Coast of Cape Town.
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