Cape Town: the mountain at the end of Africa

It’s 6:30 a.m. and I’m climbing Lion’s Head — the secondary peak west of Table Mountain — for the sunrise. The trail is busy at this hour with Capetonians doing a pre-work hike. A woman in a corporate office suit is walking down past me, having clearly summited an hour ago. A man with a dog passes. The view from the summit — Table Mountain to the east, the Atlantic to the west, the city below — is, in the morning haze, one of the best one-hour walks you can do in any major city on earth.

Why I keep coming back

Cape Town has a mountain at the centre of the city. Table Mountain, a flat-topped sandstone block 1086 m high, rises sheer from the coastal plain and structures the entire urban geometry. The city wraps around its base in three directions; the south side is the long peninsula running down to the Cape of Good Hope. The two oceans (the Atlantic on the west, the warmer Indian on the east) meet just offshore.

The city is also, by a margin, my favourite food city in Africa. Cape Malay cooking from the Bo-Kaap (the historic Muslim quarter of slaves and political exiles from Indonesia and Madagascar), Afrikaner farm cooking from the surrounding winelands, modern South African fusion in the V&A Waterfront and Sea Point — the layers reward a week of eating.

Where to base yourself

De Waterkant or Bo-Kaap for the central historic neighbourhood, walkable to the harbour and the city centre.

Sea Point for the long coastal promenade and the easier evening walks.

Camps Bay for the Atlantic-side beach hotels — touristy, beautiful, expensive.

Constantia if you want a quieter, leafier, vineyard-adjacent base 25 minutes from the centre.

What to actually do

Climb Table Mountain. The Platteklip Gorge trail is the direct three-hour climb; the cable car is the eight-minute alternative (and the most ridden in the world). Conditions change quickly — the famous ‘tablecloth’ cloud can wrap the mountain in minutes. The summit plateau itself takes another hour to walk.

Drive the Cape peninsula. From the centre, south through Camps Bay, along Chapman’s Peak Drive (one of the most beautiful coastal roads in the world), past Hout Bay, down to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. A full day. The penguin colony at Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town is on the way back.

Spend a day in the Cape Winelands. Stellenbosch (the largest, most accessible), Franschhoek (the prettiest), or Constantia (closer to the city, the oldest wine farms in the country). Wine tasting at Tokara, Babylonstoren, Boschendal. Lunch at Reuben’s or La Petite Colombe.

Visit Robben Island. The prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 of his 27 years. Half-day. Book in advance; ferries leave from the V&A Waterfront. Solemn and essential.

Walk the Bo-Kaap. The brightly painted hillside neighbourhood of Cape Malay descent; one of the most photographed streets in Africa. Stop at the small Bo-Kaap Museum. Eat at the Biesmiellah Restaurant for genuine Cape Malay food (curries, koeksisters, sosaties).

Surf or kitesurf at Muizenberg or Bloubergstrand. The warmer-water side for surfing; the wind-swept side for kitesurfing.

Where to eat

Cape Town has, in my view, the most exciting restaurant scene in Africa.

La Colombe (Constantia) — Tasting menu, repeatedly Africa’s top restaurant. The Test Kitchen is now closed but The Pot Luck Club (its successor) is still going strong. Wolfgat (Paternoster, 2 hours up the coast) — Tiny, very small-fishing-village seasonal Cape coastal cooking; won World’s Best Restaurant in 2019. Worth the day trip. Biesmiellah (Bo-Kaap) — Authentic Cape Malay; the chicken curry. Kloof Street House — Old-villa contemporary South African. Mzansi (Langa township) — Township home-style dining with a music welcome; tour-included options. A braai — A South African barbecue. The boerewors sausage, the lamb chops, the chakalaka relish. Book a braai-night at a guesthouse, or join one with locals if invited.

When to come

Late October through April is the South African summer — warm, dry, the most reliable weather.

January and February are peak (and most expensive); March and April are the sweet spot.

Winter (June–August) is wet and windy on the Atlantic side but mostly mild; whales come into False Bay (June–November is the calving season).

Practical notes

• Visa: 90 days visa-free for most Western passports.
• Money: South African rand. Card almost universally; cash for tips and small purchases.
• Transport: A rental car is essentially required for the peninsula and winelands. Uber works well in the city. The MyCiTi bus network connects the city, V&A Waterfront, and Sea Point.
• Safety: Cape Town has crime, including violent crime, mostly concentrated in specific areas. Don’t walk on Table Mountain alone; don’t walk after dark in unfamiliar areas; don’t show valuables. The standard urban precautions, slightly heightened.
• The water crisis: Cape Town came close to running out of municipal water in 2018 (the ‘Day Zero’ crisis) and water-conservation norms remain: short showers, no baths in some accommodations. Respect it.
• The ‘two Capetowns’ reality: The city is one of the most beautiful on earth and has one of the most extreme post-apartheid inequalities in the world. Township tourism is available and morally complex; the locally-led tours (Coffeebeans Routes, Andulela) are the better options if you choose to do one.

A final thought

Cape Town is the rare African destination that is, for the first-time Western visitor, almost too comfortable — the food, the wine, the weather, the wineries — and that comfort can mask the more difficult realities of contemporary South Africa. The city is breathtakingly beautiful. The inequalities are vast. Both are true and both belong in the experience.

Go for at least eight days. Climb Table Mountain or Lion’s Head. Drive the peninsula. Spend a day in the winelands. Visit Robben Island. Eat in the townships and in Constantia. Talk to people. The city earns its reputation for beauty and asks you, quietly, to take seriously the difficulty of what surrounds the beauty.