A helicopter flight over the Cape Peninsula, visiting Penguins in Boulders Beach, riding horses near giraffes and zebras in Stellenbosch: If you’re visiting Cape Town, these are the top 10 things to do around Cape Town!

A lifelong dream came true: We visited South Africa. We were there for 12 days and really made the most out of it!! We planned the whole trip by ourselves and managed to keep it within budget! Below I’ve written our itinerary and you’ll also find a cost breakdown.

         TOP 10 THINGS TO DO IN AND AROUND CAPE TOWN!

1. Table Mountain – Beautiful view over Cape Town city, the peninsula and Robben island!
2. Signal Hill (Lion’s Head) – You can see the Table Mountain very well and the view over the Atlantic Ocean is marvellous!
3. Old Biscuit Mill Market – The atmosphere of this place is amazing! Fresh made food, local shops, live music and many locals!
4. Bo-Kaap – The colourful houses will brighten your day, very picturesque!
5. Helicopter flight from V&A Waterfront – Because the best views are seen from the air!
6. Boulders Beach & Foxy Beach (Simon’s Town) – You want to see the penguin colony! They are the funniest little creatures, you’ll see them taking a bath, breeding on their eggs and feeding their babies!
7. Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point – Many people say it’s where the two oceans meet! It was historically called the Cape of the Storms, but was later renamed to Cape of Good Hope which sounded much more optimistic!
8. Chapman Peak Drive – On your way to go to the Cape Peninsula (or on the way back, or both!), take this very scenic coastal road, you won’t regret it!
9.  Horse Riding with giraffes & zebra’s in Stellenbosch- Well, what’s not to like? Close up with Zebra’s and Giraffes from a horse, in the beautiful nature of a wildlife sanctuary, followed by galloping (for the ones who want) through the vineyards!
10. Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch – Our wine tasting was a combination package with the fore-mentioned horse riding. There are many wine farms who are more than happy to show you around and let you taste their wines! My recommendation? Try the Pinotage, the grape variety that is bred in South Africa!

DAY BY DAY ITINERARY

DAY 1: We Arrived to Cape Town in the morning, we picked up our rental car and checked in at our Bed&Breakfast. We drove to the Table Mountain, but the cableway was closed that day and then drove to Signal Hill (near Lion’s Head) instead, to relax and watch the sunset. We found lots of locals who were enjoying the sunset there as well!

DAY 2: We woke up in our Bed&Breakfast in Woodstock district and walked to the Old Biscuit Mill where on Saturdays there is a market. We had breakfast there and did some shopping! We then took the car to the V&A waterfront, walked to Bo-Kaap to see the colourful houses and when back at the waterfront, the helicopter was waiting for us to take us on a 25-minute flight over the Cape Peninsula and around the Table Mountain. We saw Robben island, the Atlantic Ocean, Chapman Peak Drive, Twelve Apostles, Long Beach, Houtbay, the Indian Ocean, Constantia and all around the Table Mountain to come back via the city of Cape Town to the Waterfront! We did the Two Oceans tour (25 minutes) with Helicopters Cape Town.

DAY 3: It was a rainy day in Cape Town, but regardless of the weather we got in the car to visit the Cape Peninsula as planned. We took the Chapman Peak Drive, which because of the weather wasn’t as spectacular as it should have been! But arriving to Simon’s Town and spotting the first penguins at Boulders Beach, really made our day! After seeing hundreds of penguins with their babies, we continued our trip to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Spectacular! On the way back, we took the Chapman Peak Drive again, during sunset. The view was AMAZING!

DAY 4: We left our Bed&Breakfast and drove in 45 minutes to Stellenbosch. We went horse riding through a sanctuary and saw many springboks, zebra’s and even giraffes very close to us! Our guide said that it was the first time that mommy-giraffe let us be so close to her newborn!! When leaving the sanctuary, we passed on the horse through the vineyards and finished with a nice wine tasting, as Stellenbosch is famous for the wine! We had planned to stay in Stellenbosch the rest of the day, but there was one thing we felt we still really had to do: Go to the top of the Table Mountain! So we drove back to Cape Town and the cableway was open! We were very very happy to have seen the view from up there! After sunset we drove back to Stellenbosch to have some good rest for the next day.

Our South Africa adventure will continue through the Garden Route, De Hoop Nature Reserve, Plettenberg Bay, Tsitsikamma National Park, Port Elizabeth and Addo Elephant National Park, which you’ll read all about in the next article!

COST BREAKDOWN:

Entrance Fees: 

• Cape of good hope: 320 ZAR (20€) per person
• Boulders Beach: 160 ZAR (10€) per person
• Chapman Peak Drive Toll: 47 ZAR (3€) per car
• Table Mountain 330 ZAR (21€) Return Ticket per person

Activities:

• Horse Rides at Pete’s (Stellenbosch): 650 ZAR (40€) per person, including wine tasting
• Helicopter flight: We did the flight with ‘Helicopters Cape Town’, it was my gift for Diego’s birthday, so I did not count it in our budget. However, their cheapest flight is 2000ZAR (125€) per person for a 20 minute flight.

Food & Drinks:

• Breakfast + Lunch + Dinner: +/- 650 ZAR (40€) for 2 people per day (going to local restaurants)

Overnights:

• Happy Home Woodstock, Cape Town: 400 ZAR (25€) per night
• Joey’s Rooms, Stellenbosch: 500 ZAR (30€) per night

Here’s the link to the 2019 conservation fees in South Africa: https://www.sanparks.org/docs/tourism_tariffs/daily_conservation_fees_2019_20.pdf?time1547928154

I would really recommend to do a self-organised tour, if you can, because you will save A LOT of money AND you’re free to go wherever you want to go!

Watch below my VLOG of the Cape Town adventures!