Table Mountain is 1 086 metres / 3 500 feet high!

The 5 minute ride up by aerial cable car, and 45 minute to 1 hour walk around the top, are rewarded with sensational views in every direction: over the city, Table Bay and Robben Island to the north, beaches to the west, and the coastline and other mountains of the Cape Peninsula to the south. If the cableway isn’t running, Signal Hill is accessible by road and gives excellent views from a different perspective.

I am a qualified hiking guide and can also lead longer hikes on Table Mountain (and other local mountains). This includes the easy circular hike around the flat top of Table Mountain from the cable car station to the summit at Maclear’s Beacon & back, taking 2 1/2 to 3 hours in total, and maxing out your Table Mountain experience beyond the typical “tourist visit”. Mostly flat, it’s an easy hike, but it’s still a hike rather than a stroll. This can easily be fitted into a Full day City tour, or into a Half day City tour (but not leaving a lot of time for other activities).

Driving through the city, we’ll take in sights such as the Castle of Good Hope, City Hall, and vibey Long Street and Kloof Street. The District Six Museum tells the sad story of Apartheid displacement.

But nothing beats getting out of the car and onto the streets to experience the city, its people and buzz. A great place for this is the historic Company’s Garden, to get a snapshot of Cape Town’s people and history, because it was from the Dutch East India Company’s fruit & vegetable garden here that the settlement started growing from 1652.

Walking through, you’ll pass the South African Museum & Planetarium, Synagogue & Jewish Museum, National Gallery, National Parliament, Slave Lodge and St. Georges Anglican Cathedral. Greenmarket Square and its bustling flea market can also be included just a few blocks away.

The historic BoKaap with its colourful houses and mosques on steep cobbled streets framed by the backdrop of Table Mountain, offers another delightful stroll.

If shopping or art is your thing, some unique local shops and galleries lie off the tourist trail.

The exclusive beach suburbs of Camp’s Bay and Clifton, and the Sea Point Promenade, attracting a mix of locals from across the city to walk, jog, cycle or relax along the Atlantic shore, are easily included in a city tour. These areas link up with the V&A Waterfront, one of the world’s most successful harbour redevelopments and one of South Africa’s greatest shopping, restaurant & entertainment hubs.

Instead of a brief orientation taking just half a day, you could extend your tour to a FULL DAY.

This enables you to enjoy lunch, and then either visit the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden and / or Constantia Wine Valley south of the city, OR explore the northern side of Table Bay to see the iconic postcard view of Table Mountain from the beaches at Blouberg, famous for kite surfing in summer.

Kirstenbosch is rated as one of the world’s finest botanical gardens, while Constantia has been producing some of the world’s finest wines since the 1680’s.

Lunch can be enjoyed in the heart of the bustling centre, in the colourful Bo Kaap known for its Cape Malay fare, at Camp’s Bay beach, or further out, either at a winery in Constantia (with a number of excellent options), at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, OR at Blouberg beach across Table Bay.

Alternatively, you might prefer to stay longer in the centre, giving you more time to visit museums or art galleries, a quirky coffee shop, or do some shopping.

Options include jewellery, African artefacts, ostrich and other exotic leather goods, small design studios, local craft projects, the informal fleamarket on Greenmarket Square, and the Watershed craft market at the V&A Waterfront.

Suggested pick up time: 8:30 am or 1 pm for Half day, duration 4 hours. 8:30 am for Full day, usually dropping off at about 5pm.

Price: Half day: R3 250 (South African Rand) for up to 3 passengers, R3 500 for 4 to 7 passengers. Full day: R5 200 for up to 3 passengers, R5 600 for 4 to 7 passengers. To maximize flexibility, this does not include entrance fees, which you can pay as you go.

Handy tip: If you’re planning to do a Cape Peninsula tour, then visiting Kirstenbosch or Constantia (both accessible on a Peninsula tour) on this day will free up time to explore the southern peninsula at a more leisurely pace while you’re down there.

To inquire about or book this or any other tours, please click here.