Other sights in Cape Town
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, always just called the Waterfront is likely to be one of the first places you head to. It’s a great example of how to best redevelop a declining dock area into a tourist hot spot. The atmosphere is always buzzing and there’s plenty to do, including making a trip out to Robben Island, the infamous prison island that is now a fascinating museum.
The Alfred and Victoria Basins date from 1860 and are named after Queen Victoria and her son Alfred. Although these wharves are too small for modern container vessels and tankers, the Victoria Basin is still used by tugs, harbour vessels of various kinds and fishing boats. In the Alfred Basin y…
reviewed
-
!Khwa Ttu
Don’t miss a visit to the very special !Khwa ttu off Rte 27 just south of Yzerfontein, 70km from Cape Town. Billed as the San Culture & Education Centre, !Khwa ttu is a joint venture by the San people and a Swiss philanthropic foundation (Ubuntu) and is the only San-owned and operated culture centre in the Western Cape.
Set within the ancestral lands of the San, !Khwa ttu is based on an 850-hectare nature reserve. There’s a good restaurant serving traditional South African cuisine and a wonderful craft shop. All the buildings operate on solar power, and a crèche has been built for the workers’ children. The land itself is sandveld, rising to renosterveld on the eas…
reviewed
-
Tokai Forest Reserve
This wooded area, south of Constantia, is a favourite spot for picnics and walks, the most challenging of which is the 6km hike up to Elephant’s Eye Cave within the Silvermine Nature Reserve. The zigzag path is fairly steep and offers little shade as you climb higher up Constantiaberg (928m), so bring a hat and water.
At the walk’s base you’ll find the Tokai Arboretum, a planting of 1555 different trees representing 274 species, begun in 1885 by Joseph Storr Lister, the conservator of forests for the Cape Colony.
Here, too, is the very pleasant Lister’s Place Tea Garden, where you can pick up a map of walks in the area; excellent accommodation at Wood Owl Cottage; a…
reviewed
-
Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens
The scattered holiday village of Betty’s Bay is worth a pause on Rte 44. Here you’ll find the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens, which is definitely worth visiting. There are paths exploring the indigenous plant life in the area and, at the entrance, a tearoom and a formal garden where you can picnic. Try the Leopard Kloof Trail, which leads through fern forests and up to a waterfall. It’s a 3km round trip, and you’ll need to pay a key deposit (R30) and get your key and permit (from the main ticket office) before 2pm. Coming from Cape Town, look for the turn-off to the gardens after driving through Betty’s Bay.
reviewed
-
Conservatory
The main entrance at the Newlands end of the gardens is where you’ll find plenty of parking, the information centre, an excellent souvenir shop and the atmosphere-controlled conservatory. The conservatory displays plant communities from a variety of terrains, the most interesting of which is the Namaqualand and Kalahari section, with baobabs and quiver trees. Further along Rhodes Dr is the Rycroft Gate entrance, the first you’ll come to if you approach the gardens from Constantia.
reviewed
-
A
What if the World
These guys can be credited with kicking Capetonian creativity up the backside with this edgy gallery, which began in Hope St in the City Bowl and was the original base for the hit Neighbourgoods Market. Their design studio is still there and occasionally has small exhibitions, but head to these larger premises to witness the unruly forces of young South African art. They also host events such as the annual Numbers fashion and design show.
reviewed
-
B
MTN Sciencentre
One of the best reasons for visiting this enormous shopping mall is this fun interactive science centre. There are displays here on everything from the science of sailing to the technology behind the controversial pebble bed nuclear reactor that is planned for nearby Koeberg. Check the website for the program of daily events including guided tours to the wetland sanctuary of Intaka Island, also within Canal Walk’s vast compound.
reviewed
-
C
Waterworks Museum
reviewed
-
Indlovu Project
Through this amazing project so much had been achieved at the informal settlement of Monwabisi Park – a Montessori kindergarten, soup kitchen, community, health and youth centres, a backpacker hostel and Makazi’s Guesthouse – before a fire in December 2008 destroyed everything. The community and organisers are working to rebuild it all – and the 26 other homes burnt down – as an eco-village of buildings made from sandbags.
reviewed
-
Lookout Hill
The official name is Tygerberg Tourism Facility, but most people know it as Lookout Hill. Since this often-empty cultural and tourism centre was built it’s been viewed as something of a white elephant, although there were plans in 2008 to develop it into a restaurant and craft market. Its principal benefit comes from the impressive wooden staircase leading to the top of a sand hill for a sweeping view of the surroundings.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
D
Mutual Heights
Clad in rose- and gold-veined black marble and decorated with one of the longest continuous stone friezes in the world (designed by Ivan Mitford-Barberton and chiselled by master stonemasons the Lorenzi brothers) Mutual Heights is the most impressive of the City Bowl’s collection of art deco structures. Commissioned by the Old Mutual financial company, this was once not only the tallest structure in Africa bar the Pyramids, but also the most expensive.
Unfortunately the building’s opening in 1939 was eclipsed by the start of WWII. Additionally, its prime position on the Foreshore was immediately made redundant when the city decided to extend the land 2km further into th…
reviewed
-
E
Arderne Gardens
Planted by botanist Ralph Arderne in 1845, these shady gardens represent the oldest collection of trees in the southern hemisphere and include bamboo, fir, gum and enormous Morten Bay fig trees. It’s a lovely place to wander around for an afternoon, and is especially colourful on weekends when many Capetonian wedding parties arrive here to have their photos taken.
reviewed
-
Iziko Social History Centre
Behind Jan Hendrik’s statue in Church Square is the handsome facade of the old National Mutual Building, which is in the process of being turned into the Iziko Social History Centre to house the museum organisation’s library.
reviewed
-
John H Marsh Maritime Research Centre
A resource for those interested in South Africa’s maritime history. The main exhibition is about the ill-fated voyage of the Mendi, which sank in the English Channel in 1917 taking 607 black troops to a watery grave.
reviewed
-
F
Iziko William Fehr Collection
The highlight of Castle of Good Hope is the bulk of the Iziko William Fehr Collection, including some fabulous bits of Cape Dutch furniture, such as a table seating 100, and paintings by John Thomas Baines.
reviewed
-
Lighthouse Museum
The Lighthouse Museum is in the lighthouse itself, which is the second-oldest in South Africa, built in 1848. Climb the 71 steps to the top for a bird’s-eye view of the meeting of the oceans.
reviewed
-
G
Jetty 1
Preserved as a small museum is the Waterfront’s Jetty 1, the departure point for Robben Island when it was a prison.
reviewed
-
Bell-Roberts Art Gallery
A move to larger, light-filled premises has allowed this gallery and art-book publisher wider scope for its exhibitions.
reviewed
-
H
Robben Island & Nelson Mandela Gateway
Cape Town’s most infamous island lies some 12km out from the shore in Table Bay. On approach the flat island, just 2km by 4km, may look like a pleasant place with its neat village of stone buildings and white church steeple, but to the prisoners who were incarcerated here from the early days of the VOC right up until 1996, it was nothing short of hell. Now a museum and UN World Heritage site, Robben Island’s most famous involuntary resident was Nelson Mandela and for this reason alone it is one of the most popular pilgrimage spots in all of Cape Town.
While we highly recommend going to Robben Island, a visit here is not without its drawbacks. The first hurdle is getti…
reviewed
-
St Mary’s on the Braak Church
At the north end of the Braak, an open stretch of grass, you’ll find the neo-Gothic St Mary’s on the Braak Church, completed in 1852.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
I
University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery
This art gallery focuses on contemporary works by South African artists and students.
reviewed
-
J
The Braak
At the north end of the Braak, an open stretch of grass, you’ll find the neo-Gothic St Mary’s on the Braak Church, completed in 1852. To the west of the church is the VOC Kruithuis, which was built in 1777 to store the town’s weapons and gunpowder and now houses a small military museum. On the northwest corner of the square is Fick House, also known as the Burgerhuis, a fine example of Cape Dutch style from the late 18th century. Most of this building is now occupied by Historical Homes of South Africa, which was established to preserve the country’s important architecture.
reviewed
-
Table Mountain National Park
reviewed
