Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Cape Town 3 Day Advice

Country forums / Africa / South Africa

Hi! Have a short time in Cape Town and want to get the most out of seeing its beauty from a November Monday landing around 3PM to Wednesday around 2:45PM departing flight. Staying at City Center Hilton. Got advised to rent a car.

Would like to hike places but hearing it is not a good idea solo and also have limited time. Have considered some of the tours but i think most of them leave at times that I would not be able to do Monday or Wednesday and I think I need the whole day Tuesday for the Peninsula drive.

Tentative schedule for your feedback:

Monday
Land 3PM, take cableway up to top of Table Mountain, dinner
Tuesday - early start, drive peninsula (Camp's Bay, Chapman's Peak, Simon's Town, Boulder Beach, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point). If energy in evening, go to one of the wineries in Stellenbosch.
Wednesday - What can I do in the morning ending before 12? Kirstenbosch botanical garden?

Restaurant recommendations appreciated (fish place in Simon's Town, dinner in Stellenbosch, early morning breakfast places, a dinner place in V&A)

Not sure where you heard it's not safe to hike alone but I can assure you that it is fine in Cape Town. The best easy hike in Cape Town is definitely Lion's Head in my opinion. The views are superior to Table Mountain as well so if you want to get the hike in, I would skip Table Mountain and hike Lions Head when you land, and it'll be just in time for the beautiful sunset views. For Tuesday, you can squeeze all those things in if you get an early start. The Cape Point hike is about 45 min and the cape of good hope hike is 2 hours so if you are looking to do both, it takes a lot of time.

It's unlikely you'll have the time or energy to go to the wine farms by the time you're done but if somehow you find a way, it's certainly worth it. Delaire Graff is my favorite wine farm in Stellenbosch. If not, I would just go Wednesday morning as the airport and wine farms are in the same direction. All the wine farms open around 9 so you'll eb able to see one or two before heading to the airport!

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Restaurant recommendations
fish place in Simon's Town: Black Marlin http://blackmarlin.co.za/
dinner in Stellenbosch: All the wine farms have great restaurants. In the town itself, the area between Plein, Bird and Church Street has lots of nice places and its easy to choose a nice one - just avoid the students.
early morning breakfast places: Batavia in Rose Street (around the corner from the Hilton), Arnolds in Kloof Street
a dinner place in V&A: Willoughby & Co - highly recommended

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Thanks so much
> Not sure where you heard it's not safe to hike alone but I can assure you that it is fine in Cape Town. The best easy hike in Cape Town is definitely Lion's Head in my opinion. The views are superior to Table Mountain as well so if you want to get the hike in, I would skip Table Mountain and hike Lions Head when you land, and it'll be just in time for the beautiful sunset views. For Tuesday, you can squeeze all those things in if you get an early start. The Cape Point hike is about 45 min and the cape of good hope hike is 2 hours so if you are looking to do both, it takes a lot of time.
>
> It's unlikely you'll have the time or energy to go to the wine farms by the time you're done but if somehow you find a way, it's certainly worth it. Delaire Graff is my favorite wine farm in Stellenbosch. If not, I would just go Wednesday morning as the airport and wine farms are in the same direction. All the wine farms open around 9 so you'll eb able to see one or two before heading to the airport!

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Awesome, I appreciate it!

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