Half day City Tour

The Half Day City Tour will give you an opportunity to orientate yourself in our beautiful mother city, Cape Town. What better way to do this then from the majestic Table Mountain. We ascend in a revolving state of the art Cable Car for 704m up to the top of the mountain, which is 1 067m above sea level. You will enjoy the most magnificent views from the rotating Cable Car on your way up. Once at the summit of this majestic mountain, you can see the beautiful City of Cape Town stretching out below you, Table  Bay Harbour, Lions Head, Signal Hill, Camps Bay, the Slangkop Light House and the majestic mountains of the Cape Winelands. Table Mountain is a World Heritage site and one of the 7  New Natural Wonders of the World, a fairly recent but much deserved accolade! There are 111 endemic plants on Table Mountain which you will not see anywhere else in the world.  You may be lucky and see a few Dassie’s (Hyrax) a rodent which is apparently related to the Elephant! On descending the mountain you will be driven through the streets of the thriving city of Cape Town, thronging with different cultures and traditions.

Should the Cable Car be closed due to adverse weather conditions, I will drive you along the Table Mountain Contour road so you are still treated to magnificent views of Cape Town City and Table Bay Harbour.  I will also take you to Signal Hill which also affords you lovely views of the City and Cape Town Stadium built for the 2015 World Cup. You may see some people paragliding off the hill which always great to see, most of them make it to the bottom unscathed!

On the Half Day Town City Tour, we would drive past The Castle of Good Hope which is the oldest building in the country and home to a few ghosts from the Castle’s very interesting past, as well as to the William Fehr Collection of outstanding historical artworks and antique furniture dating back from the late 17^th Century. The Military museum at the castle will give you South Africa’s history in a nutshell, from the arrival of the Portuguese in the Cape in 1488, The Dutch East Indian Company’s tenure from 1652 to the final takeover of the British in 1806.  You will get a very good idea about the frontier wars, Zulu wars and the Anglo Boer or South African War.  Take a leisurely walk through the Company Gardens, originally the vegetable and fruit orchard which supplied the passing ships. It is now a lovely green area which provides the city with a leafy sanctuary. Green Market Square offers a lively flea market with a variety arts and crafts, clothing and curios. There is some very fascinating cultural diversity when we meander through “Die Bo Kaap” previously known as the Cape Malay District, with its colourful houses and smells of fresh spices.

You can spend the rest of the day enjoying the City or the V&A Waterfront. It is a vibrant place where you can shop, eat, relax, drink and enjoy a host of activities, most of which I have mentioned under my Full Day City Tour.

You may wish to board a Ferry to Robben Island where you will be shown Nelson Mandela’s cell and learn about the island’s fascinating but chequered past as a dumping ground for unpopular people and criminals in the days of the Dutch East Indian Company.  It was also used as a leper colony and place for the mentally unstable.  In the apartheid era it became a maximum security prison for political prisoners.

It would be preferable for you to book Robben Island in advance directly on line as it is a very popular excursion.  The benefit of booking it on line is that you can be refunded directly if the weather conditions result in the cancellation of your tour.

Another option for you to enjoy in the afternoon if you do a Half Day City Tour is a half day Township Tour.