The Mother City between mountain and sea
Cape Town
Cape Town is regularly voted the world's most beautiful city, and it argues its case daily: Table Mountain's flat crown above city bowl and beaches, the Twelve Apostles marching down the Atlantic seaboard, and two oceans…
The destination
About Cape Town
Cape Town is regularly voted the world's most beautiful city, and it argues its case daily: Table Mountain's flat crown above city bowl and beaches, the Twelve Apostles marching down the Atlantic seaboard, and two oceans meeting off the Cape of Good Hope. Ride the cableway at dawn, meet the penguins at Boulders Beach, drive Chapman's Peak to Cape Point, and give Robben Island the reflective visit it deserves. The Constantia and Stellenbosch winelands begin twenty minutes away, the perfect civilised counterweight to a Kruger safari.
Highlights
- Table Mountain cableway and hikes
- Cape Point and Chapman's Peak drive
- Boulders Beach penguin colony
- Robben Island heritage site
- Winelands day trips
Wildlife to watch for
- African penguins
- Cape fur seals
- Southern right whales (Jun to Nov)
- Chacma baboons
- Fynbos endemic birds
Things to do
- City and peninsula tours
- Hiking
- Wine tasting
- Whale watching
- Museums and markets
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Seeing African penguins at Boulders Beach
Yes, there are penguins in Africa. The African penguin breeds only on the coasts of South Africa and Namibia, and the easiest place to see it is Boulders Beach in Simon's Town, about 45 minutes to an hour's drive south of central Cape Town.
Boulders is part of Table Mountain National Park. The colony started with a single pair in the early 1980s, and the June 2026 count found 790 breeding pairs, up from 698 a year earlier. The species is still listed as critically endangered, so you watch from wooden boardwalks above the nesting beach, often a couple of metres from birds that ignore you completely. Visitors pay a SANParks conservation fee at the gate. Check the current rate before you go, as it changes each year.
Go early in the morning, before the tour buses, and combine it with the drive to Cape Point. Our 10 Days Best of South Africa Safari spends two days in Cape Town before Kruger, and Boulders fits easily into one of them.
Find your bearings
Cape Town in context
Neighbouring destinations in South Africa, tap any marker.
Where to stay
Cape Town lodges
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Ready-made journeys
Safaris visiting Cape Town
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Cape Town is calling
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