Insight Guides Pocket Cape Town (Travel Guide eBook)

By Insight Guides

Insight Guides Pocket Guide Cape Town

Travel made easy. Ask local experts.
The definitive pocket-sized travel guide.

Compact, concise and packed full of essential information about where to go and what to do, this is an ideal on-the-move guide for exploring Cape Town. From top tourist attractions like Long Street, Boulders Beach and Table Mountain, to cultural gems, including the cell where Nelson Mandela was held on Robben Island, the elegant Cape Dutch mansions of the Cape Winelands, and the breathtaking Tree Canopy Walkway at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, plan your perfect trip with this practical, all-in-one travel guide. 

Features of this travel guide to Cape Town:
- Inspirational itineraries: discover the best destinations, sights and excursions, highlighted with stunning photography
- Historical and cultural insights: delve into the city's rich history and culture, and learn all about its people, art and traditions
- Practical full-colour map: with every major attraction highlighted, the pull-out map makes on-the-ground navigation easy
- Key tips and essential information: from transport to tipping, we've got you covered
- Covers: City Centre; Victoria and Alfred Waterfront; Table Mountain; Southern Suburbs; Robben Island; Excursions

Looking for a comprehensive guide to South Africa? Check out insight Guides South Africa for a detailed and entertaining look at all the country has to offer.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Jul 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781839051043

Insight Guides

Insight Guides wherever possible uses local experts who provide insider know-how and share their love and knowledge of the destination.

Book preview

How To Use This E-Book

Getting Around the e-Book

This Pocket Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration and planning advice for your visit to Cape Town, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.

The guide begins with our selection of Top 10 Attractions, plus a Perfect Itinerary feature to help you plan unmissable experiences. The Introduction and History chapters paint a vivid cultural portrait of Cape Town, and the Where to Go chapter gives a complete guide to all the sights worth visiting. You will find ideas for activities in the What to Do section, while the Eating Out chapter describes the local cuisine and gives listings of the best restaurants. The Travel Tips offer practical information to help you plan your trip. Finally, there are carefully selected hotel listings.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Cape Town are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Cape Town. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2019 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Cape Town’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

Top Attraction #2

Top Attraction #3

Top Attraction #4

Top Attraction #5

Top Attraction #6

Top Attraction #7

Top Attraction #8

Top Attraction #9

Top Attraction #10

A Perfect Day in Cape Town

Introduction

Poignant Past

Rainbow City with a Superb Climate

Spectacular Setting

A Bright Future

A Brief History

The explorers arrive

Colonisation Begins

British Influence

The City Evolves

The Apartheid Era

A New Start

Democracy & Drought

Historical Landmarks

Where To Go

City Centre

Around the Castle of Good Hope

Adderley Street

Around Long Street

Government Avenue

Bo-Kaap

Victoria And Alfred Waterfront

Table Mountain

Southern Suburbs

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Constantia

Other Suburbs

Robben Island

Excursions

Cape Peninsula to Cape Point

Atlantic Coast

Nature Reserve

False Bay Coast

Stellenbosch and the Winelands

Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch to Franschhoek

Franschhoek

Paarl

Hermanus and the Overberg

The Tip of Africa

The Garden Route

Mossel Bay to Wilderness

Little Karoo

Knysna

Plettenberg Bay and Tsitsikamma

The West Coast and Cederberg

What To Do

Shopping

Where to Shop

Entertainment

Theatre and Live Music

Nightlife

Sports

Spectator Sports

Active Pursuits

Beaches

Children’s Cape Town

Scenic Train Journeys

Calendar of Events

Eating Out

When to Eat

Cape Malay & Indian Cuisine

Stunning Seafood

Meat, Meat… and More Meat

Desserts

What to Drink

Restaurants

In Cape Town

Outside The City Centre

Excursions

Stellenbosch and the Winelands

Hermanus and the tip of Africa

The Garden Route

West Coast

A–Z Travel Tips

A

Accommodation (see also Camping, Youth Hostels and Recommended Hotels)

Airport

B

Budgeting For Your Trip

C

Camping

Car Hire (see also Driving)

Climate

Clothing

Crime And Safety

Customs And Entry Requirements

D

Driving (see also Crime And Safety)

E

Electricity

Embassies and Consulates

Emergencies

G

Getting There

H

Health And Medical Care

Holidays

L

Language

LGBTQ Travellers

M

Maps

Media

Money

O

Opening Hours

P

Police

Post Offices

Public Transport

R

Religion

T

Telephones

Tickets

Time Zones

Tipping

Toilets

Tourist Information (see also Websites)

W

Websites

Weights and Measures

Y

Youth Hostels

Recommended Hotels

In Cape Town

Outside The City Centre

Excursions

Stellenbosch and the Winelands

Hermanus and the tip of Africa

The Garden Route

West Coast

Cape Town’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

Alex Havret/Apa Publications

Long Street

Central Cape Town’s liveliest thoroughfare. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #2

Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa Publications

Boulders Beach

See thousands of African penguins. For more information, click here

Top Attraction #3

Cape Town Tourism

Table Mountain

This landmark offers sweeping views in all directions. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #4

Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa Publications

Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

Popular shopping and dining destination. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #5

Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa Publications

Castle of Good Hope

South Africa’s oldest building, dating to 1666. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #6

iStock

Hermanus

Go whale-watching. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #7

Ariadne Van Zandbergen/Apa Publications

Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve

The southern tip of the Cape Peninsula. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #8

Alex Havret/Apa Publications

Cape Winelands

Acres of green vines surround elegant Cape Dutch mansions. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #9

iStock

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Home to beautiful proteas, cycads and the Tree Canopy Walkway. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #10

Alex Havret/Apa Publications

Robben Island

Where Nelson Mandela was held. For more information, click here.

A Perfect Day in Cape Town

9.00am

Good Coffee; Great People Watching

Start your day with a flat white and croissant at Tamboers Winkel (www.facebook.com/Tamboerswinkel) on the corner of Kloof and De Lorentz Streets, a hip neighbourhood caffeine den on the side of Table Mountain. Enjoy an excellent cup of coffee among bloggers, models and Capetonians alike.

10.00am

Get your Green On

Stroll through the open-air market at Greenmarket Square, where you will find a variety of vendors selling clothing and sandals, as well as African jewelry, art, and fabrics.

11.00am

Art Old and New

Cross the Company’s Garden to the South African National Gallery, where you can view a cornucopia of old masters and South African contemporary art; look out for Jane Alexander’s three ghoulish figures, The Butcher Boys (1985–86), a response to the horrors of apartheid. The gallery is representative of South African history – as told through art.

12.00pm

The Call to Kalk Bay

Jump on the train south to Kalk Bay, to breathe the fresh sea air as you amble along cobblestone streets past tiny galleries and antique shops. The name Kalk Bay is derived from days when seashells were once baked in kilns along the shoreline to produce lime (kalk in Afrikaans). Buy seafood straight off the boat – the fish are still wriggling – or at one of the harbour-side cafes. If you’re feeling energetic, climb one of the stairways to Boyes Drive, where you can spot whales in False Bay below.

3.00pm

Shame and History

Late afternoon, head back to the central V&A Waterfront to catch the last ferry to Robben Island, which leaves at 3pm. Tours of the island are led by former prisoners, who recall hunger strikes and prison life under apartheid. The ferry ride over takes about half hour while the tour itself lasts around three. See this symbol of the apartheid era (1948–90) and you will come to understand more about South Africa’s present and future challenges.

7.00pm

Silo and Tapas

Stepping off the Robben Island ferry at the Nelson Mandela Gateway, you are close to the restaurants and bars of the V&A Waterfront, city centre and Atlantic suburbs. Perhaps wander through the Waterfront’s Silo District, and past the impressive repurposed concrete silo housing the Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa), to pick up a taxi. Tapas is popular in Cape Town, and the city’s excellent small-plate restaurants include La Parada, which has branches at the Waterfront and on Bree Street, and Chef’s Warehouse & Canteen, also on Bree. Especially at the latter, you will be wowed by one of the most innovative menus in Cape Town, excellent service, and a stylish setting. The small tapas dishes are especially tasty and easy to share.

8.30pm

Culture Fix

Head round the corner to the Waiting Room (www.facebook.com/WaitingRoomCT) at 273 Long Street, where live bands and DJs attract a young crowd most nights. For some highbrow entertainment, choral and classical performances take place at the famous St. George’s Cathedral (www.sgcathedral.co.za), and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (www.cpo.org.za) regularly plays City Hall. Beneath the cathedral, the Crypt Jazz Restaurant (www.thecryptjazz.com) is an atmospheric venue for live jazz from Tuesday to Saturday.

Introduction

From the first sight of the unmistakable profile of Table Mountain, Cape Town works its way into your heart. It is easy to fall in love with the city, and each year millions of people from all over the world do just that. Cosmopolitan Cape Town is one of the leading tourist attractions on the African continent, and two-thirds of all visitors to South Africa include it on their itinerary.

The blend of African, European and Islamic influences that gives the ‘Mother City’, as South Africa’s oldest city is known, its true magic is evident immediately. One minute