Day 1Mountain, sea and legends
Start early with "From the Company's Vegetable Patch to the Painted Houses": the Company's Garden, Greenmarket Square, the Auwal Mosque and the Bo-Kaap. Have bobotie at Biesmiellah, then Uber up to the Table Mountain cableway; if the wind shuts it, stretch out your beach time instead. From the station, drop down over Kloof Nek to Camps Bay for the sea. Head back to the centre in the last light for "Curses, Ghosts and Ships That Never Make Port", from the Castle to Tana Baru, and finish with Cape Malay curry at Bo-Kaap Kombuis.
-
Morning
From the Company's Vegetable Patch to the Painted Houses
- Company's GardenThe vegetable garden the Dutch East India Company planted in 1652 to supply its ships is now the great green heart of the city, with Table Mountain as a backdrop.
- Long Street and the Palm Tree MosqueWrought-iron balconies, bars and bookshops, and among them an 18th-century house that two former slaves turned into a mosque.
- Greenmarket Square and the Old Town HouseThe city's oldest market square, its 18th-century town hall and the afternoon in 1989 when the police dyed it purple.
- The Auwal MosqueSouth Africa's first mosque began in a warehouse on Dorp Street, and it was here that written Afrikaans was first taught… in Arabic script.
- Bo-Kaap and Wale StreetThe most photographed painted houses in Africa, and the story of the families who lived in them long before the cameras arrived.
-
Lunch
Try Bobotie at Biesmiellah. Wale Street con Pentz Street, Bo-Kaap
-
Afternoon
Table Mountain
The flat-topped mountain that rules the city, voted one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Ride the cableway, whose cars rotate as they climb, or hike up Platteklip Gorge, a steep 2–3 hours with little shade. The cableway often closes in high wind, so check before you go.
DirectionsCamps Bay
A white-sand beach beneath the peaks of the Twelve Apostles, a short drive down from the cableway via Kloof Nek. The Atlantic here is cold even in summer, so come for a stroll and a sundowner rather than a swim. The Clifton coves lie just to the north.
Directions -
Early evening
Curses, Ghosts and Ships That Never Make Port
- Castle of Good Hope: Ghosts of the FortressA curse hurled from the gallows, a dungeon called ‘the Dark Hole’ and a bell that, so the story goes, rang by itself.
- Church Square and the Slave TreeThe cursed governor's grave, a plaque worn almost smooth in the paving and eleven granite blocks bearing the names of those who were enslaved.
- Heerengracht and the Flying DutchmanWaves broke here when Van Riebeeck landed, and from these waters came the legend of the captain who swore to round the Cape even if it took him all eternity.
- The Lutheran Church on Strand StreetFor years the Cape's Lutherans worshipped in a building that was officially a warehouse. Today it is one of the oldest churches in the country.
- Tana Baru and the Circle of KramatsThe Muslim cemetery where Tuan Guru lies, defended by thousands of people in 1886 and, tradition says, part of a sacred circle that protects the city.
-
Dinner
Try Cape Malay curry at Bo-Kaap Kombuis. August Street, 7, Bo-Kaap