If you’re traveling to South Africa, sooner or later, you’ll end up passing through Cape Town and it would be a crime not to. Not only for all the interesting places the country’s most modern metropolis offers, but for the incredible day trips from Cape Town you can take.
Because just by looking south, your eyes will meet the incredible Cape Peninsula and there you already have a collection of must-visit sites to escape to. But it’s not the only place to explore without going too far from the city, so get ready because I’m taking you to discover the best places to see around Cape Town
10 day trips from Cape Town
Take note of everything there is to see around Cape Town to plan your days in South Africa’s most modern metropolis to your liking. I stayed five nights with three very young children, so the pace was slower.
Camps Bay, the best viewpoint of the Twelve Apostles
Just over fifteen minutes from downtown Cape Town, Camps Bay beach awaits you with its spectacular backdrop, the mountain range known as the Twelve Apostles. Although if you go up Table Mountain, you will see this succession of peaks from another perspective; contemplating them from this white sand is a must.
Surrounded by spectacular houses, trendy restaurants, and charming cafes, Camps Bay beach is a place of pilgrimage for tourists, beautiful people, athletes, and anyone who wants to spend a great day at the beach under Table Mountain.
If you want to take a swim without the danger of currents and waves, at one end there is a saltwater pool that looked great. If you are going to go up Table Mountain, look closely because the aerial views from there are very beautiful.
Hout Bay and its sea lions
A little over half an hour from the center, you’ll find the town of Hout Bay which exudes a maritime atmosphere in every corner. This place is a good spot to stop if you are on a day trip from Cape Town around the peninsula. People come here to eat fresh fish, wander through the craft stalls, and see sea lions.
For the former, the place everyone recommends is Mariner’s Wharf, a small complex located next to Hout Bay beach, with a couple of restaurants, a bar, an antique shop, and a fish market, among other spots. Regarding the food, I can’t comment because it was still early when I was there, but do take a look inside because it’s a very curious place.
To see sea lions in Hout Bay, the best option is to take one of the boats that takes you to Duiker Island where a very large colony lives. At the port, you will find several companies with departures throughout the day, so you won’t need to book in advance, unless it’s a weekend in very high season, for example. The boat trip to Duiker lasts about an hour, round trip, and the price is around 100-130 rands, between €5 and €7, for adults and half for children. With luck, you can see dolphins on the way and, with great luck, come across a whale.
I do recommend booking if you want to do something more special, such as a kayak tour from Hout Bay or even snorkeling with sea lions at Duiker Island. To do this last activity they will take you by speedboat.
What I liked least about Hout Bay was coming across a couple of men at the port who had the sea lions completely trained. They offered them fish in exchange for letting them take photos with tourists. Please, do not participate in this atrocity, it is a form of slavery for the animals; they are living beings, not circus monkeys for your amusement. Always observe sea lions in the wild, from a distance and without touching or disturbing them. Always make sure that food is not used to attract them.
Drive along Chapman’s Peak Drive
From Hout Bay, you can take Chapman’s Peak Drive, which they say is one of the most spectacular scenic toll roads in the world. The route along the sea and hugging the cliff is very beautiful, but honestly, the previous label seems excessive to me. The journey is very short; don’t be disappointed.
Before starting and heading to Chapman’s Peak Drive, I recommend checking on their official website that the road is open, as wind and weather conditions sometimes cause it to close. The ideal is to drive in a northerly direction, that is, towards Hout Bay. That way, you will be in the lane closest to the bay and have better views, as, remember, in South Africa they drive on the right.
The final reward comes with breathtaking views of the beautiful wild beach of Noordhoek. Keep a close eye out the window so you don’t pass it by and can stop at the side of the road to contemplate a picture of such beauty. There is no viewpoint as such, so be very careful if you get out of the car. Did you know you can ride horses on this beach?
Cape of Good Hope
At the southernmost point of the Cape Peninsula, the Cape of Good Hope awaits you, a historic place that belongs to the Table Mountain National Park, so you will have to pay an entry fee to access it.
In this protected area where the national flower, the protea, blooms and elands, ostriches, and baboons live, you can take a photo in front of the famous sign with the coordinates that mark the exact point of the Cape of Good Hope, the southwesternmost point of the African continent.
Set out walking along the cliffs or take the funicular up to Cape Point to see the lighthouses, and peek out to contemplate that clash of oceans that has caused so many shipwrecks and which the Portuguese navigator Bartolomé Díaz named Cape of Storms.
- I recommend reading this article about the Cape of Good Hope with a lot of information and practical data to organize your visit.
Penguins at Boulders Beach
Watching penguins on a beach with crystal clear water and beautiful rounded rocks is not something you do every day. Without a doubt, heading to Boulders Beach, in the town of Simon’s Town, to meet the African penguin colony that lives there is one of the day trips from Cape Town that you cannot miss.
This place also belongs to the Table Mountain National Park, so to access the walkways from which these animals can be seen you have to pay a fee, unless you have the Wild Card. The entrance fee is 176 rand for adults (about €9) and 88 rand for children (about €5). These prices are valid until October 31, 2023. Children under 2 years old are free and children from 12 years old are already considered adults.
In my case, I didn’t actually go inside because from the terrace of the Seaforth Restaurant where we stopped for lunch, we were already lucky enough to see a few penguins swimming and even walking along the shore of Seaforth Beach. My kids couldn’t resist finishing without dessert to run down to the beach to meet these friendly animals. After this experience and having already seen the Stony Point colony in Bettys Bay, we didn’t need to enter Boulders.
Please respect the distance and do not pester them or stand in their way. However, there are guards in charge of protecting them.
- If you don’t have a car, a good option to see Camps Bay beach, Hout Bay in a single day, travel along Chapman’s Peak Drive, go down to the Cape of Good Hope, and greet the penguins is to book this private tour of the Cape Peninsula. You will be accompanied by a Spanish-speaking guide and they will pick you up from your hotel.
Muizenberg and its colorful houses
There is no more photogenic corner to see in the surroundings of Cape Town than the colorful houses of Muizenberg beach, in False Bay. Half an hour by car from Cape Town, driving either via the M3 or the M4, you will reach this charming town that boasts a long and beautiful sandy beach where surfers and sharks coexist with all the necessary precautions.
The beach has showers, toilets, a small playground with climbing ropes, and a flag system that alerts to the possible presence of sharks next to the information center where you will see the locations and dates of the most recent sightings.
At the beginning, you will already be able to see some of these brightly painted wooden huts, but I recommend walking to the furthest area to see the longest row of these picturesque structures. However, I warn you that the state of conservation of these huts leaves a lot to be desired. The first ones look beautiful, but the following ones are broken, faded, with nails and splinters. Be very careful if you go with small children because the place can be dangerous if you also add discarded alcohol bottles.
However, behind these huts there is a mini-golf course, a swimming pool, and a small water park. In addition, it is a very family-oriented beach where on weekends you will see locals swimming, relaxing, and having picnics.
This is one of the perfect day trips from Cape Town for a half-day outing. I recommend going to lunch in Muizenberg, as there are plenty of restaurants to choose from and the atmosphere is very festive. In my case, I can recommend The Shed Surfers Corner which is where we were. The pizzas are made in a wood-fired oven, they take their time, and they were very good, so I recommend them. Also, if you are craving sushi, they have huge platters with different types. To give you an idea of prices, the pizza was 129 rand, about €7, and about 18 assorted pieces of sushi were 199 rand, about €11.
Hermanus and its whales
One of the most worthwhile day trips from Cape Town, between the months of June and November, is Hermanus. This is because hundreds of whales swim in the waters of this South African town during the mating and calving season before heading to the cold southern waters.
While it is true that there are many points along the South African coast where this giant marine mammal can be spotted, Hermanus is the most special of all due to the large concentration of cetaceans. For this reason, driving for the hour and a half that separates it from Cape Town is more than justified if you might even be lucky enough to see a whale passing by from the coast along the path that starts from Gearing’s Point or from the sand of Grotto Beach.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClKBgKsPMX5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkIf you have a rental car to move around freely, my recommendation is to spend at least one night here, and preferably two, to ensure your boat trip, since it is quite common for it to be cancelled due to weather conditions.
However, if you have little time and haven’t rented a car, the best option is to book the day trip from Cape Town to Hermanus which picks you up from your hotel early in the morning and returns you in the afternoon.
The wine route
Wine tourism is becoming increasingly popular in South Africa. If you want to walk through vineyards and taste wines at the most prominent wineries, a good place to go near Cape Town is Stellenbosch, just under an hour’s drive away.
This historic city, which emerged in the 17th century as a European settlement, today houses hundreds of hectares of vineyards and, together with the towns of Franschhoek and Paarl, forms the Cape Winelands region. You can do these day trips from Cape Town on your own with your car, visiting wineries such as Peter Falke or Zevenwacht.
If you decide to treat yourself to a night’s sleep there in an idyllic hotel like Spier Hotel and Wine Farm you can take the opportunity to continue the next day by visiting the rest of the region and doing something different like an e-bike guided tour through Franschhoek.
If you have little time and don’t have a car, the solution would be to book a private tour of Stellenbosch or this excursion from Cape Town that combines Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Paarl.
- Did you know there is a double-decker tram that takes you from winery to winery through Franschhoek? Just like the classic tourist buses, here you can get on and off as many times as you like. If you don’t have your own vehicle, book a spot on this excursion from Cape Town.
Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa
If you dream of reaching the southernmost point of the African continent, you must head to Cape Agulhas where the Indian and Atlantic oceans overlap between wave and wave. However, getting there takes time, as it is more than two hours from the metropolis; it’s not exactly a place to see around Cape Town, but it’s not impossible to go and return in a day.
I really wanted to see it during my trip to South Africa, which is why I wouldn’t mind doing a bit of a road trek with this tour to Cape Agulhas from Cape Town to see the lighthouse and get to know this emblematic place.
Safari from Cape Town
Do you have only a few days to travel to South Africa and you won’t make it to the legendary Kruger National Park? Don’t worry because it is possible to satisfy your hunger for a safari with a place to see around Cape Town. It’s the Aquila Private Game Reserve, about two hours from the city, home to lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and many more animals, allowing you to go and return in the same day.
But if you have time to sleep away for a night, check out this excursion with two safaris at Garden Route Game Lodge where you will have the chance to stop in Hermanus and Cape Agulhas.
The importance of taking travel insurance to South Africa
South Africa is a very good destination if you want to start traveling through Africa. But although it is easy to get around and has good healthcare infrastructure, traveling with travel insurance seems essential to me for various reasons, but especially for the peace of mind of knowing that someone is there ready to help you in critical moments, whether for health, accidents, lost luggage, or trip cancellation, among other causes.
In my case, I had Mondo travel insurance which has worked great the times I’ve had to use it. I especially like this insurance because its app includes a 24-hour medical chat that solves many doubts and can save you a visit to the hospital. For me, traveling with small children, it gives me great peace of mind to know I can consult with a doctor at any time.
Take advantage of the 5% discount on Mondo travel insurance for being a reader of this blog.
Keep reading about South Africa: Travel to South Africa: practical guide Hotels in South Africa What to see in Cape Town Guide to visiting Table Mountain The best day trips from Cape Town Visiting the Cape of Good Hope What to see on the Panorama Route Wild Card, is it worth it? South Africa with kids 10 restaurants in South Africa to go with kids Guide to traveling to Eswatini Hlane National Park Hermanus, the paradise of whales
- Are you thinking of traveling to South Africa with children? I can help you organize your tailor-made adventure through my personalized consulting service designed exclusively for families. Write to me at deilusionarecuerdo@gmail.com
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