My Cape Town Recommendations

8/30/2018

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Where to Stay

The V&A Waterfront is the most popular spot for tourism and shopping, and with good reason. It's along the waterfront with unobstructed views of Table Mountain and provides no shortage of restaurants, stores, and tourist attractions.

Camps Bay is one of the wealthiest beachfront neighborhoods in Cape Town with beautiful vacation homes and ritzy waterfront restaurants. It has a similar feel Southern California.

Where to Eat

Col'Cacchio: (V&A Waterfront $$) The first night we landed in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, we had dinner at Col'Cacchio. It turned out to be a restaurant chain in the region because the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town has one as well. The menu has a wide variety of choices and a surprisingly large number of vegan options. Everything I tasted, from a couple different salads to a few vegan pizzas, were all delicious. The vegan cheese was made with almonds by a local business and was easily the best vegan cheese I've had on a pizza. As an added bonus, the restaurant does not use plastic straws and has promotional materials encouraging its guests to be more environmentally friendly.

Tashas: (V&A Waterfront $$) This restaurant has such a beautiful aesthetic. I want to call up their interior designer and have them decorate my future apartment. It has this modern, bohemian feel with white walls, clay pots, green plants, wood tables, and patterned cushions. I tried a number of salads there and they were all so delicious, not to mention huge portion sizes. I also fell in love with the handmade bowls they were served in. To my disappointment, they were handmade specifically for Tashas and they would not let me purchase one.

V&A Food Market: (V&A Waterfront $) The V&A Food Market is located in an old power station. It's actually the first pumphouse in Africa and administered the first electric lights to the continent of Africa. It's wide variety of food stalls and communal seating makes it the perfect stop for groups that can't agree on a place to eat or for anyone that just wants a quick bite. As an added bonus, you may be lucky and the pet adoption station out front may be open. It's an open-air structure with adoptable puppies and dogs. I squeezed in some adorable puppy snuggles one day and almost brought one of the dogs home with me. Here are some of my favorite places that I tried:
- Unframed Ice Cream Artistry has really delicious vegan ice cream. The turmeric latte flavor was not too savory and not too sweet, the perfect cold treat.
- Mex It Up has simple and delicious tacos.
- Dr. Juice has the best raw vegan cheesecake I've ever had.
- Thai Hut has yummy pad thai to satisfy Thai street food cravings.

FireFish: (V&A Waterfront $$$) I have to admit, when we first walked up to this restaurant, I thought we were in for an overpriced tourist trap. Thankfully, I was proven wrong! It's a beautiful waterfront Asian restaurant and everything we had was really satisfying. I especially enjoyed the tofu garden bowl, which essentially was a vegan sushi bowl and really delicious.

Bilboa: (Camps Bay $$$) This restaurant has unobstructed views of Camps Bay's beach and feels like it was plucked out of Miami. It's modern, sleek, and beautiful. I had the best soy cappuccino I've had in a long time and my pita with lentil dish was ridiculously good.

GOLD Restaurant: (Downtown $$) If you're looking for dinner and a show, look no further. This restaurant serves several courses of traditional South African food and provides entertainment. We were included in a African drum routine, had our faces painted, and watched as they danced in traditional South African clothing. It was definitely the most interactive dinner we had our whole trip.

What to Do

Stellenbosch Wine Country

The Stellenbosch wine country in South Africa is absolutely stunning and definitely worth a trip. Its cradled between gorgeous mountains and boasts some of the best wines in the world. I also know there's a train route that allows you to hop on and off at certain wineries, which sounds like a fun day for wine lovers. We took a private bus tour and here were my favorite stops:

Spice Route Winery: This winery is a one-stop shop for families, friends, lovers, and anyone in between. It's almost like a village of little shops with beautiful grassy areas overlooking the valley and mountains. We did a chocolate tasting at De Villers Chocolate, which was fun and tasty. I stopped by DV Cafe for a delicious latte and my sister and brother-in-law checked out Cape Brewing Company's shop there. They said the local beer was really good and worth a visit.

Franschhoek: Franschhoek is a lovely, French-style town in the wine country. We stopped at Richard Branson's winery, Mont Rochelle Vineyard, for lunch. The restaurant as beautiful views of Franschhoek and the food was delectable.

Delaire Graff Estate: Delaire Graff is one of the most popular vineyards and with good reason. It's a luxurious estate nestled between mountains that houses beautiful sculptures and shops full of diamonds. We stopped by to check out the views and sculptures, but did not stay for a wine tasting because we did not have time.

Hiking

Table Mountain: We chose to hike up Skeleton Gorge, which starts in Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. The hike itself only takes about 45 minutes to an hour, but to get to the top of Table Mountain and across to the cable car, it can take three to four hours. It was a really fun hike because it goes straight up the mountain, through the forest, and up a waterfall (more like a tilted river bed). You'll reach the waterfall and think you're going to the wrong way, but just carefully continue up the rocks and you'll make it to a dry path again. For any Table Mountain hike, make sure to wear proper shoes, bring water, and have a snack for when you reach the peak. We chose to take the cable car down to make our lives a little easier. Be warned, the cable car costs for one ride.

Lion's Head: My personal favorite hike! If you have time for only one, a sunrise or sunset hike up Lion's Head is definitely the way to go. We made sure to arrive at the base of the Lion's Head trail exactly when the first light of the day began. As we hiked up the mountain, we gazed over downtown Cape Town, shimmering with lights. As we rounded the mountain, we saw beautiful Camps Bay below us. The rest of the hike was on the side of the mountain with the sunrise, which turned a very beautiful pink as soon as the first light of the sunrise began. If you take the more difficult - and a little bit intimidating - route up the ladders and rungs, the hike should only take 45 minutes to an hour. There is a longer route without ladders, but it will take over an hour to reach the peak. I personally did not find the ladders to be that scary, but if you have any fear of heights, it will definitely be a challenge. The view from the peak is definitely worth it though! I reached the summit in about 45 minutes, with a few minutes to spare before the official sunrise. There is a 360-degree view of downtown Cape Town, the V&A Waterfront, Table Mountain, and Camps Bay. The hike down takes about an hour.

Pipeline: If you are not already staying in Camps Bay, I definitely recommend hiking the Pipeline trail to Camps Bay for lunch. The trail starts nearby the base of the Table Mountain cable car and takes about one and a half to two hours to hike into Camps Bay. It's a beautiful trail along the base of Table Mountain, overlooking Camps Bay the entire way. It follows an old pipeline, that you get glimpses of along the path. Definitely be sure to bring some water and wear proper shoes, as the terrain quickly changes from flat to rocky, despite the elevation staying about the same the entire time.

Devil's Peak: For my last morning in Cape Town, I wanted to do one last hike. I chose to conquer Devil's Peak, which also boasts 360-degree views of Cape Town. Except, instead of Camps Bay you get a glimpse at the less visited side of eastern Cape Town. The hike lasts about 3 hours going up and 2 hours going down. The trail goes up through the saddle between Table Mountain and Devil's Peak, then travels up to the peak. Be warned that it is extremely windy and should not be hiked if the wind is already fast at ground level. I was shocked by the wind tunnel created in the saddle between the mountains and even more surprised by how windy it was at the peak. I could not even keep my camera still as I tried to take a video of the view from the top. At the top, you will need to carefully cross some large boulders to reach the beacon at the peak. The views are absolutely stunning and definitely worth the trip if you have time for one more hike.

Cape Point Tour

We did a bus tour to Cape Point from Cape Town. Including lunch, it took us over five hours. It's a beautiful drive along the west coast of Cape Town, with stops along viewpoints in the different bays. The tour takes you to Cape Point National Park, where we saw wild monkeys and ostriches. It stops at the Cape of Good Hope Old Lighthouse. The walk up to the lighthouse takes about twenty minutes and it's a pretty view from the top. From there, our tour took us to Cape Point, which is apparently the farthest southern point in Cape Town... not South Africa haha. From there, we visited Boulder Beach to see the African penguins. On our way back to Cape Town, we stopped at Kalk Bay to get lunch at Harbour House on the water. If you're lucky, the fishermen will be throwing away scraps and there will be seals playing.

Robben Island and Nelson Mandela

We took a tour of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held a prisoner for 18 years of his 27-year prison sentence. Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid political leader, was South Africa's first black President and the first to be elected by a fully representative democratic election. The tour, including the ferry to and from the island, took over five hours. On the island, we were given a tour of the prison by a former prisoner and then a bus tour around the island, stopping at a viewpoint of Cape Town. The prison was the most interesting part of the tour, especially since the former prisoner could speak firsthand of the horrible conditions and he also knew Nelson Mandela personally. The former prisoner even lives on Robben Island in addition to some of the former prison guards, showing that they forgive each other for the atrocities that took place just a few years ago. The bus tour of the island was less exciting, but we learned some interesting stories about another famous political activist, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe. Sobukwe's ideas were so influential that the government put him into isolation on the island, fenced in a small home where his children were allowed to come visit every so often. Eventually, he was released to return home while on extreme house arrest. Sadly, the isolation took a huge toll on Sobukwe and his spirit was broken by the time he made it home.

The day after we took our tour of Robben Island, it was what was supposed to be Nelson Mandela's 100th birthday. South Africans and people around the globe recognize his birthday as Nelson Mandela day. For the 60 years Nelson spent making the world a better place, it is encouraged to spend 60 minutes on his birthday doing something positive for others.