Route 1
Hike Table Mountain with a FairTrade guide, then dive into Cape Town’s creative pulse by shopping its uber-chic independent boutiques like Afraid of Mice on Bree Street and sipping Fair Trade coffee at Bean There on Strand Street. Uncover the San people’s history at the Castle of Good Hope and reflect at the globally significant Robben Island Museum before dining in style at ethical restaurants such as Aubergine and Fyn, or enjoying sustainable bistros like Miller’s Thumb. Swig wine with Black female winemakers at Wine Shaq, reculture at What If The World—an urban art gallery in Woodstock—and dance pantsula, drink umqombothi, and eat shisanyama at Mzoli’s. Round it all off by snorkeling with fur seals in Hout Bay, savoring organic wine from Africa’s oldest wine region at Silvermist in Constantia, and getting goosebumps with a Xhosa Gospel choir on a Sunday morning.
Thrilling, laid back, chaotic, refined – Cape Town is all of these and the contradictions don’t end there. The layers of history in Cape Town stretching right back to the San people and coming right up to date with the winter sun residences of the jet-set make this a city where nothing is what it seems and innumerable visits uncover surprising contrasts every time. Small wonder then that it’s the continent’s most visited city.
Just over Signal Hill and not even ten minutes away from Cape Town’s City Centre lies the Atlantic Seaboard and Camps Bay: this wonderful stretch of coastline was for many years considered to be a hinterland but now plays host to the most popular city beaches and has the vertiginous backdrop of the 12 Apostles, the side buttresses of Table Mountain. This area is all about the beach, glamorous lifestyles and glorious views.
Connected to the city by a serpentine coastal road, perennially popular with a bizarre mix of cyclists, runners, Harleys, divers, whales and hikers, the Republic of Hout Bay (as locals like to call it) is a microcosm of South Africa all in one seaside village. The beautiful croissant-shaped beach gives way to the working fishing harbour on the one side, the precipitous Chapman’s Peak Drive to the other and in the middle a blend of hippy and beach chic. Hout Bay residents have a little Cape Town of their own right here and that’s just the way they like it.
Stretching down towards the tip of South Africa, the Cape Point Nature Reserve’s raw and wild splendour will have you leaning into the wind at the lighthouse or sharing a beach with a zebra. Coming back up the other side of the Cape on the eastern side you’ll meet the South African ‘Cinque Terre’: a collection of pretty seaside towns connected by a rickety railway line, each with their own character and distinctions. Here one floats from coffee shop to junk shop to bakery to beach all year round.
From the small and intimate to the brash and extrovert, Constantia is both a suburb and a wine region that never ceases to surprise: the estates here house spectacular wine, yes, but also endless tree-lined avenues, expansive sculpture gardens and art galleries, water gardens and lily ponds. Picnic below monkey-puzzle trees, dine formally in total refinement or discover the cool green corridors that web through this district.
Back inland from the coast and right at the southern base of Table Mountain, the northern half of the Cape Peninsula houses the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and the splendid Newlands Forest: in this most verdant of areas one finds a calm more associated with deep rurality, yet you’re not even 20 minutes from the city centre. Life here is slow-paced and filled with gardens, trees and flowers and a sedate oxygenated tranquillity – a place to catch your breath!
Ask any resident of Langa where the centre of Cape Town is they will say ‘right here’ – and they’re right. Langa, meaning simply ‘Sunny Place’ is where the soul of Cape Town is to be found. Home to some of the most influential South Africans from the arts, politics and academia, if you don’t visit Langa and its neighbouring districts like Gugulethu you’re really only seeing half the city. Life here is visceral and effervescent and the welcome you’ll receive is second to none.
Download the Route 1 Guide as a PDF to keep the full itinerary, maps, and travel tips with you while exploring. Perfect for offline access when you’re on the road or discovering hidden spots along the coast.