Above Stellenbosch
Itineraries
With Cape Town’s unbeatable mix of culture, culinary delights and natural splendour, you can easily have both urban experiences and outdoorsy fun. Mix days of mountain walks, museum visits and lounging on the beach with nights of fine dining and partying. Be sure not to miss the beautiful areas beyond the city limits, where activities from wine tasting on historic Cape Dutch estates to exploring the Garden Route’s old-growth forests await.
A Weekend in Cape Town
Day ONE
1 Table Mountain Get going early to beat the queue for the cable car, and enjoy exhilarating views of Cape Town from this 1000m-plus plateau.
2 Castle of Good Hope The city’s oldest building, the seventeenth-century fort’s courtyards and rooms were the centre of colonial administration.
3 City Centre African craft and grand edifices on Long Street and Greenmarket Square, and Bree Street’s hip boutiques and cafés.
4 V&A Waterfront Boats glide along the waterways of this harbourside complex between the aquarium, markets, museums, cafés and bars.
5 Bo-Kaap Smartie box houses and mosques climb the Cape Muslim quarter’s cobbled streets.
6 Dinner One of the centre’s more authentic African restaurants, Addis in Cape serves Ethiopian cuisine on injera (sourdough flatbread).
Day Two
1 Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden On Table Mountain’s eastern slopes, wander one of the world’s greatest botanical gardens.
2 Constantia The world’s oldest winemaking region outside Europe, with magnificent Cape Dutch estates.
3 Chapman’s Peak Drive Follow the Atlantic coast to this dramatic toll road cut into the cliffs.
4 Clifton Fourth Take a picnic blanket to this beach beneath Lion’s Head to toast to the sun melting into the Atlantic.
5 Dinner Sea Point’s La Boheme Wine Bar & Bistro emphasizes Cape Town’s Mediterranean climate and lifestyle with its French dishes, pavement seating and neighbouring espresso and tapas bar.
6 Drink An alternative to Clifton, Grand Café & Beach offers chichi sundowners on the sand.
Cape Cuisine
With its Mediterranean climate, the Cape is a breadbasket, fruit bowl and wine barrel all rolled into one glorious package. Weave the following into our other Cape Town itineraries or cover them in four days minimum.
1 Bascule Bar The Cape Grace hotel’s marina-side whisky bar has one of the southern hemisphere’s best selections of the amber nectar, and offers tastings with a whisky sommelier.
2 Cape Malay cooking safari Learn how to make local curries and specialities from a coloured culinary guru in a Bo-Kaap kitchen.
3 La Parada Tapas bars have taken off in recent years; sample the craze at this Bree Street hangout with communal tables, street seating and Andalusian attitude.
4 Truth Café It’s the world’s best café according to one British newspaper. Coffee roasters and flat-white aficionados abound, but none can compete with Truth’s steampunk decor and staff uniforms.
5 Neighbourhood Food and craft markets Recalling the days when farmers sold fresh fruit and veg to seafarers, food markets are hugely popular for supplies, snacks, a meal or a beer. Woodstock Old Biscuit Mill’s Saturday market began this latter-day trend.
6 Test Kitchen Book months ahead to experience the innovative cuisine at British chef Luke Dale-Roberts’ much-lauded restaurant.
7 Wine Tours On the great Cape Dutch estates around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, quaff wine including the locally devised pinotage.
