We began our three-week honeymoon in Cape Town, in South Africa, which just blew our mind. The natural beauty of Cape Town, its mountains, hiking, dining, views, history and adventure has quickly propelled it to my favorite city I’ve ever visited. With five whole days and nights to explore the epic city, I did a ton of research to curate the best of the best for the ultimate Cape Town, South Africa travel guide and itinerary.
Read on for everything we did in Cape Town. Disclaimer: we are avid travelers so we tend to pack in a ton of activities each day. If you are a slower traveler or not as active, you may want to go at a more leisurely pace.
Day 1: Table Mountain & Cape Malay Cooking Class
Hike Table Mountain: After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we put on our athletic wear, bought a bottle of South African wine and headed straight for Table Mountain, for the first of two epic hikes we would take in Cape Town. We loved doing this right after such a long day of travel since it helped us buck our jetlag and breathe in the fresh air.
Cape Town centers around this famous mountain, which has loads of hiking trails sporting the most incredible views. We did the Platteklip Gorge trail, which is the most direct route – but VERY steep and pretty challenging – in order to complete the hike in less than four hours. Note: if you are pressed for time or not into hiking, there is also the option (for a fee) to take a gondola up and down the mountain in order to get the views.
I absolutely loved this hike (and I loved that it counted as a workout!) because it provided beautiful views of Cape Town, the mountains and neighboring Lion’s Head mountain. There were great lookout points along the trail to take in the scenery and get insanely beautiful photos that don’t even look like they’re real. It’s one of the best hikes I’ve ever done, and we felt like we deserved that bottle of Sauvingnon blanc we brought with us to drink at the peak of the mountain by the time we got there.
We took the gondola down the mountain because but saved us some time and we had dinner to get to. Luckily, we timed the descent for sundown, so we got great views of Lion’s Head during peak sunset from the gondola.
Cape Malay Cooking Class: One of our favorite things to do when traveling someplace is to take a cooking class and learn their cuisine. For me, learning their signature dishes the best souvenir to bring home with me since I can make it at home and reminisce about my time in that country, plus it gives you an appreciation for the cuisine, people and culture of where you’ve traveled.
With this in mind, we booked a class at Top Nosh Cooking School, one of the preeminent cooking schools in Cape Town, where they teach a variety of different classes, ranging from traditional French cuisine to baking. We opted for a Cape Malay cooking class since this is a type of cuisine local to Cape Town, dating back to the time of Dutch settlers colonizing Cape Town and brining their Malaysian, Indonesian and Asian slaves with them. These slaves created a fusion from their dishes back home and blended it with local fare to create this delicious type of food.
Our instructor was Indian and well versed in Cape Malay cuisine. She taught us how to make traditional dishes such as Bobotie, Curry Chicken, Chutney and Saffron Rice. Learning the technique to each dish as well as learning about the focus on spices, seasoning and patience while creating these incredibly complex dishes was so amazing.
At the end of the class, we got to eat our creations and it was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before. The minced meat with milk custard and bread in the bobotie was just incredible. The curry chicken’s spices and sauce were so flavorful and paired well with the sweet rice, which contained delightful sultana raisins. The sweet chutney was dangerously good. We took the recipes back with us and I can’t wait to recreate them at home as we think back on our amazing time in Cape Town.
Day 2: V&A Waterfront, Robben’s Island, Brunch, Afternoon Tea, Test Kitchen
Robben Island:For us, it was important to understand the history of Cape Town, even its darkest days, while appreciating its current state. So, months in advance, we booked tickets to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.
These tickets fill up in advance, so we recommend you booking them once you have your dates in Cape Town. I also enjoyed reading Trevor Noah’s book: “Born a Crime” and reading Nelson Mandela’s biography “Long Walk to Freedom” prior to our trip to give me a really good understanding of apartheid.
The Robben’s Island tour is about four hours from start to finish. You will take a 30-minute ferry out to the secluded island. Once you’re there, you will board busses which will serve as your tour bus of the grounds for the day. You’ll end the tour in the prison houses where Mandela and other political prisoners were imprisoned and you are even given a tour by a former prisoner. I found he tours really rich in history and worthwhile.
Explore the V&A Waterfront: Robben’s Island boats depart from the scenic V&A waterfront, so after your tour, it’s definitely worth exploring this great port. We liked just roaming around the port, taking photos in front of the sailboats and finding the famous statues of Mandela and other historic South African figures. There is also a food hall that looked great in the area.
Lunch at Manna Epicure: We had worked up an appetite because of ur early start time, and we picked a great place to satiate it. (I will go into more detail about all of the great restaurants we ate at in Cape Town in our Cape Town Foodie Guide!).
Manna Epicure, located on Kloof Street, has a distinctly European vibe in all of the right ways. I loved the portico opening up to the street with natural sunlight flooding through as well as the tan and white muted décor, which made you want to sit back with a glass of rose and people watch.
The food at Manna Epicure was truly outstanding, so we let our waiter choose some highlights for us to share. Everything we ate (and drank – all South African wines) was absolutely delicious and the ambiance was unbeatable. We highly recommend!
Afternoon Tea at Belmond Mount Nelson: Next, we walked down the block to the Belmond Mount Nelson for some cocktails and Afternoon Tea. You’ll know if you read this blog that I am a HUGE afternoon tea fan, and the Belmond’s patio facing table mountain and ensconsed in palm trees is just the place to indulge yourself in some fancy cakes and gin cocktails.
Highly, highly recommend. Also, the entire yard and restaurant area is insanely Instagrammable. You’re basically in a Slim Aaron’s photo.
Dinner at Test Kitchen:We’ll get into ALL the details in our foodies post, but if you’re lucky enough to get a reservation at Test Kitchen (here’s our post on getting a reservation), then you should absolutely splurge and go for it. Test Kitchen is consistently ranked one of the world’s best restaurants, and their inventive tasting menu, which consists of more than 12 courses, was the most memorable meal of my life. This is a bucket list experience for foodies that is not to be missed.
Day 3: Company’s & Kirstenbosch Gardens, Neighbourgoods, Camp’s Bay & More
Company’s Garden:We started the day at the lovely Company’s Garden, which is Cape Town’s Central Park. This beautiful garden is free to enter and features stunning walking paths and scenes surrounded by colonial-era buildings. You can walk the garden inside 45-minutes and see many of the highlights, such as the rose garden, slave bell, statues and palm groves.
Bo Kaap’s Colorful Houses: From the Company’s Gardens, we headed up the road to Bo Kaap, Cape Town’s Muslim neighborhood which is famous for its brightly colored homes. This area is originally where the Dutch housed their slaves, and they were only allowed to live in houses painted white. When the slaves were freed, they painted those same homes vibrant shades to express their freedom. It now makes for cape Town’s version of Notting Hill or Rainbow Row, but we do advise keeping your wits about you, as the neighborhood is a bit rough. We didn’t even walk the few short blocks form Company’s Garden because there were some menacing people on the way, so we had our Uber bring us there for some photos on the way to our next destination. There is also a great, free Bo Kaap walking tour that didn’t work with our schedule, but is worth looking into.
Kirstenbosch Gardens: These botanical gardens, which require a ticket, are beautiful beyond description. We spent a few hours meandering the massive gardens, exploring the local fauna (such as the protea) and getting lost down winding paths and hiking trails. This is the absolute perfect spot to pack a picnic and lay out on the lawns surrounded by mountains and just enjoying nature. This is one of the (many!) highlights of our time in Cape Town.
Neighbourgoods: Next, we headed over the The Old Biscuit Mill for Cape Town’s weekly Saturday food market. Neighbourgoods is not to be missed. It reminded me of Brooklyn’s amazing Smorgasburg weekend market in a lot of ways, but with an African vibe. Each Saturday, Cape Town’s food purveyors and restaurants set up stalls here selling their best dishes, ranging from fried mac and cheese balls to ostrich empanadas and paella. You can walk the market picking up lots of dishes to try and share and then sitting at picnic tables to enjoy while a local band plays. Their is also a bar and wine store for a proper picnic in the sun. We enjoyed this immensely and highly recommend checking it out if you are in town on a Saturday. We ate: chicken wings, empanadas, Israeli salad, spanakopita, and more.
Camp’s Bay for Sundowners: Next, head to the beach town of Camp’s Bay for a walk along the coastline and drinks at sunset. Just at the edge of Table Mountain, this vibrant beach has loads of restaurants, bars, volleyball players and epic views. We posted up at the bar at Chinchilla for sunset drinks and soaked in the atmosphere. We highly recommend an afternoon at Camp’s Bay.
Dinner at Kloof Street House: This old mansion turned restaurant and lounge is my spirit animal. The decor of Kloof Street House is so artfully done, making you feel like you are stepping back into time into the home of an imperial baronness. For us, the aesthetic and cocktails outshone the food.
Day 4: Shark Diving, Spa, Sundowners
Shark Diving: South Africa is known for its shark population, so if adventure is your thing, you’ll want to check out their shark diving. We booked Apex Shark Expeditions for a trip out to Seal Island to shark dive. This group is known for their safety— Discovery Channels has gone out with them as has Tiger Woods— and shark diving is not an area you want to go with a low-cost provider. So, yes this will be an expensive day, but well worth it. My husband went and saw loads of cow sharks up close and personal, although great whites havent been seen in two years because of predatory orcas.
Spa Day: While my husband was off in a shark cage, I spent the day at The 12 Apostles Spa, getting a deep tissue massage and enjoying their baths. The treatment was wonderful, and super inexpensive by American standards.
Sundowners at Leopard Lounge: For sunset, we headed to the 12 Apostles Hotel’s Leopard Lounge and grabbed a table on their terrace for cocktails, sunset and unobscured views of Table Mountain. We posted up at one of the best tables in the bar’s terrace and ordered some bubbly and a delicious cheese board as the sky changed colors and we snapped copious photos. We ended the session with a delicious piece of cheesecake and decided we were too full to go to dinner for the night!
Day 5: Cape of Good Hope, Boulder’s Bay, Lion’s Head Mountain & Asoka
Explore the Cape of Good Hope: One of the excursions we were most looking forward to in Cape Town was a full-day trip we had planned with African Lynx to visit the penguins at Boulder’s Bay, go to the iconic Cape Point, picnic at a reserve and see the neighboring towns down the coast and all they have to offer. The drive itself fro Cape Town is just extraordinary. We’ll write more in depth about our amazing day with African Lynx, but here’s the essentials.
Boulder’s Bay: Want to get up close and personal to African penguins? Then make your way to Boulder’s Bay, where a big colony of penguins resides. We skipped the touristy boardwalk where you can see them from afar and opted to climb boulders in the park (thanks to the great navigation of our guide) and this resulted in our getting just inches away from dozens of penguins, watching them swim and play with one another. This was a total highlight of the trip.
Cape Point: One of the most Southern points in Africa, Cape Point is home to loads of animals and the famous “Cape of Good Hope”sign which you must take the obligatory photo with.
Kalk Bay: This seaside town on the coast of False Bay has a ton of character. We stopped for a coffee and croissant at Olympia Cafe and then headed out to the pier where fishermen were hanging their daily catch waiting for customers to come along. It’s a nice slice of life into the coastal town and has a very relaxed vibe.
Hike Lion’s Head Mountain: Our very favorite hike of the trip was hiking Lion’s Head, which neighbors Table Mountain. This hike is much less strenuous than Table Mountain and takes about an hour and a half round trip. The return on investment for this hike is just extraordinary. We timed our hike for sunset, which we highly, highly recommend, and we were rewarded with the most beautiful views and colors in the sky. At times watching it we wondered if it was what heaven looked like, because it may have been the most beautiful thing we’d ever witnessed. We both agree if you only have time for one of the hikes, make it this one and time it for sunset.
Dinner at Asoka: For our last dinner in Cape Town we headed into town for the trendy Asian fusion restaurant Asoka. The décor at Asoka is spot on as it is owned by the same group at Kloof Street House. Asian lanterns hang throughout, there’s a banyan tree in the middle of the restaurant surrounded by fairy lights and it feels like you’re sitting outside. The food at Asoka is outstanding and so flavorful and their cocktails are inventive.
Read More Of Our Africa Travel Guides:
Where To Eat & Drink in Cape Town
How To Get A Reservation At Test Kitchen In Cape Town
Where To Say In Cape Town: The Twelve Apostles Hotel
Safari Fashion: How To Look Chic on Safari
Where To Stay In Hermanus: One Marine Drive Hotel
Hermanus, South Africa Travel Guide
Franschhoek & Stellenbosch Travel Guide
Our Safari In Sabi Sands
Read Our Europe Travel Guides:
The Ultimate Amsterdam Travel Guide
Travel Guide: Copenhagen, Denmark
Travel Guide: London’s Notting Hill
Travel Guide: Where to Eat & Apres Ski in Zermatt
Travel Guide: Zurich’s Hotel Glockenhof
Travel Guide: Zermatt’s Riffelalp Resort
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