The original Khoi inhabitants named the iconic flat-topped ‘Hoerikwaggo’, Mountain of the Sea, and it is precisely this unique geography that is so seductive to tourists.
The African penguin colony that settled at Boulders beach in 1982 has become a prime stop on every peninsula tour, but those in the know pack a bather and join them in the waters.
3. Cape Dutch History and Winelands
The oldest winemaking region in the world is a delight to explore, albeit rather overwhelming – you could spend an entire year sampling your way through more than 500 wineries.
With some 350 paths to the summit, hiking up Table Mountain is a day well spent but those pushed for time ascend in five minutes via a rotating cable car that provides 360° views of the fast-receding city and the sandstone cliff face that dwarfs it.
Conveniently located next to the departure point for the Robben Island ferries, the MOCAA is the largest repository of the continent’s contemporary art, worth visiting to view the repurposed grain silo that houses it as much as the collection itself.
The redevelopment of the city’s industrial docklands into the mixed use V&A Waterfront is considered one of the most successful in the world, not least because – amongst the chi chi hotels, restaurants and shops – it is the beating heart of an authentic, gritty, working harbour.
A 7750-ha nature reserve within Table Mountain National Park, the most southwesterly tip of the continent is oft beset by vicious winds, its sheer, jagged cliffs pounded by a wild Atlantic that devoured many ships prior to the 1859 lighthouse, accessed today via the ‘Flying Dutchman’ funicular.
One of the world’s great botanical gardens, with manicured lawns that blend seamlessly into the dense indigenous forests that carpet the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch hosts sunset concerts in the summer – a backdrop that is worth a picnic, regardless of whose playing.
In a city that still suffers a geospatial hangover from apartheid, the predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of Bo Kaap is to be treasured, not least when the plangent call of the muezzin floats across the city, calling the faithful to prayer.
Generally speaking, summers are hot and sometimes windy but temperatures and cloud cover can vary enormously at any particular moment, depending on which side of the mountain you find yourself, or how far you are from the coast. One weather pattern that is predicable: when it rains, the locals rejoice.
