The No 1 Cape Town Day Tour
Visit the best City Highlights

This Cape Town Day Tour is a stunner... few cities in the world can boast a more spectacular setting than the ‘Mother City’ and it is certainly unrivalled in South Africa for its cosmopolitan ambience redolent with history. Cape Town is one of Africa’s most important cities and with Table Mountain in the background, Lion’s Head, Signal Hill, the Waterfront and Robben Island around the city bowl, then surely you cannot miss out on an opportunity like this.


DETAILS TO THIS CAPE TOWN DAY TOUR

Distance: 75 km / 47 miles

Duration: Half day

Best time: All year

Included: Certified driver/guide, a/c vehicle and gasoline

Excluded: Entrance fees to Castle of Good Hope, drinks

Price: R575.00 pp (min 2)

Approximate entrance fees: Castle of Good Hope R50.00 adult, R25.00 children

Note: All tours can be customized


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1. BO-KAAP
We start this Cape Town Day Tour with the Bo-Kaap. It is situated between Buitengracht street and the slopes of Signal Hill with its museum at number 71 Wale street. This building dates back to 1760 and was once owned by Abu Bakr Effendi, a scholar who published one of the first books in Afrikaans. The Bo-Kaap is a colorful, fascinating and historical rich residential area.


2. CAPE TOWN CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE
The Cape Town Castle of Good Hope is built between 1666 and 1679. This pentagonal fortification was constructed out of timber from Hout Bay, stone from Robben Island and lime. The Castle is the oldest surviving and occupied European building in South Africa. It serves as the Headquarters of the South African National Defence Force’s Western Province Command and is primarily a museum now. Within its fortified walls are the Good Hope Gallery, the Military Museum, the lovely Dolphin Pool and the William Fehr Collection. At 10:00 the opening Ceremony of the Keys takes place.


3. DISTRICT SIX IN CAPE TOWN
District Six is nestling in the embrace of the Table Mountain. It is a vacant stretch of land punctuated only by an isolated church and mosque. Under the apartheid laws, the “coloured” families who lived and worked in the area were relocated to outlying townships, and the neighbourhood was bulldozed down to the ground. The empty land was renamed Zonnebloem, but has recently reverted to the original designation of District Six. The land is given back to its original inhabitants and developments are going on to resettle the first families shortly.


4. CULTURAL HISTORY MUSEUM (SLAVE LODGE)
Louis Thibault, the noted French architect, designed certain sections of the original Dutch East Company (VOC) Slave Lodge. Today it serves as the Cultural History Museum and provides visitors with some insight into just a few of the peoples who lived at the Cape during the period of the early settlement.



5. THE CAPE TOWN COMPANY GARDENS
Not to be missed on this Cape Town day tour, the Company’s Gardens. They were originally laid out in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck and his gardener, Hendrik Boom, as a vegetable garden to provide fresh supplies to the ships of the Dutch East India Company when they called at the Cape. Today, the Botanical Gardens are home to magnificent stands of both indigenous and exotic vegetation.


6. SOUTH AFRICA'S HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
The imposing seat of South Africa’s legislature, the Houses of Parliament, is situated on the eastside of Government Avenue. The original design by Charles Freeman boasted porticos and pavilions and an impressive dome, which was modified by Henry Greaves to create the Victorian splendour we see today.


7. ST. GEORGES’ CATHEDRAL
The Gothic St. George’s Cathedral is built on the site of the original cathedral consecrated in 1848 and replaced in 1897 by the new design of Sir Herbert Baker and Francis Massey. This is the home congregation of Nobel laureate Arch bishop Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. The awe-inspiring cathedral boasts the lovely stained glass Rose Window by Francis Spear, the 8-metre window depicting early Anglican saints and pioneers and much more.


8. CAPE TOWN NOON GUN
The firing of the Noon Gun is the oldest tradition in South Africa and is still going strong. The old naval cannon is fired every day of the week (except Sundays) from a battery on Schottsekloof just below the summit of Signal Hill and the sound reverberates throughout the City Bowl. The Noon Gun signals midday but also serves as a reminder of those who lost their lives during the two world wars. In the early days flags were also raised here so that the town get ready for the arrival of ships in Table Bay.


9. VICTORIA AND ALFRED WATERFRONT
The last stop on this Cape Town Day Tour is the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. It's relatively close to the central business district of Cape Town. The bright and airy glass-topped mall is a stylish combination of up up-market shopping centre and celebrated restaurants. It houses the Agfa Amphitheatre (an intimate open-air venue in the heart of the complex which hosts a wide variety of entertainers), the Two Oceans Aquarium, South African Maritime Museum and Waterfront Craft Market. Official tours of Robben Island embark from the Mandela Gateway, situated in the Clock Tower building.

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