3 Days in Cape Town

Cape Town offers beautiful scenery, history, vibrant culture, great food (and wine), beaches, adventure and wildlife. It’s a city that should be on everyone’s bucket list! We visited Cape Town as a stop on our honeymoon to South Africa and Mauritius. To read more about the trip as a whole, click here. During our 3-day stay in Cape Town, we rented a car and stayed in Cape Cadogan. Cape Cadogan is a boutique hotel located about 3 miles from Table Mountain, off Kloof St., near a lot of bars and restaurants.

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We had our list of must-dos for this trip, but we didn’t have a set itinerary, like we usually do. It was our honeymoon, so we were being a little more laid back than we normally would! We called a few places several times to try to book shark cage diving or whale watching, but the ocean was too rough and they weren’t going out any of the days we were there.

This is the downside of going to Cape Town in winter. Even though it’s the dry season in Kruger, it’s the wet season in Cape Town. The rain was not too much of an issue and temperatures were in the 60s, so for us this was completely fine. But it did mean that lounging on beaches or any water activities were basically a no go. (But, this is why we booked Mauritius as a separate part of our honeymoon.) The one thing we did plan in advance for our stay in Cape Town was the hike up Table Mountain. It’s recommended that you hire a guide, especially if you want to do a more adventurous route. More on that later. 

If we had more time in Cape Town, we would have definitely done the Garden Route. The Garden Route is a 186-mile stretch of road from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to Storms River in the Eastern Cape. This route offers gorgeous landscapes, scenic drives, hikes, and opportunities to interact with wildlife, such as ostriches, elephants and cheetahs. You really need at least 3 days just for the Garden Route, so this is a great option if you’re spending a longer time in Cape Town. 

So, here’s how we decided to spend our 3 days in Cape Town.

 Day 1 in Cape Town: Cape Peninsula Tour

The peninsula tour is a must-do if you’re visiting Cape Town. You can go with a tour company, but I recommend doing this drive yourself so you can take your time where you want it.  If you’re coming from the US, you will be driving on the opposite side of the road in South Africa. It definitely feels weird, but after an hour or so, you get used to it and it’s not so bad.

When doing this drive, there are so many great places to stop. Here are a few of the notable stops along the drive: 

• Camps Bay
• Hout Bay
• Chapmans Peak Drive (this was closed when we were there, so unfortunately we didn’t get to do this)
• Cape of Good Hope
• Cape Point
• Boulder Beach
• Simon’s Town

Give yourself enough time to explore around Cape of Good Hope. Stroll down to Cape Point, the southern most tip of the peninsula, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans collide. Here you’ll see ostriches and baboons. Baboons will steal your food, so make sure you eat indoors and keep any snacks inside your bag at all times. If there’s food in your car and you keep your windows down, the baboons will go inside your car and steal the food. They are not joking when they tell you to watch out for the baboons.

Boulders Beach is where you’ll get to see the penguin colony. They are here all year, so you’ll see them no matter when you go! There is a small entrance fee, no more than $3.

We ended our day hanging out and having dinner at the V&A Waterfront.

Day 2 in Cape Town: Cape Winelands

This was not originally super high on our list because we are not big wine drinkers. But when shark cage diving fell through, this was next up. This actually ended up being a highlight of our entire trip to South Africa and Mauritius. Wine or no wine (even though we did enjoy the wine), this place is so beautiful I could’ve stayed here for days, and I kind of wish we did.

We didn’t do a whole lot of planning for this day so we were a little overwhelmed when we got to Stellenbosch and there were SO many wineries. We didn’t know where to start, so we picked up a map from the information center in Stellenbosch Tourism Information Office in town and picked a view of the most popular wineries to visit.

Our first stop was Delaire Graff Estate. This place was absolutely stunning. We had 3 tastings and ended up buying two bottles (one was a gift, I swear).

Next, we headed to Waterford Estate, which had wine and chocolate pairings. I’m not a drinker, but I do love chocolate, so this was a really fun experience. We may have bought another bottle here too!

Last, we tried to find somewhere to have a late lunch.  We looked around a little, but we really just wanted to go back to Delaire Graff, so that’s what we did. The lunch here was phenomenal.  I had the ostrich fillet which I had no idea would taste similar to filet mignon. Chris got ram steak and we shared a side of truffle and parmesan fries with aioli and a soft boiled egg and a creme brulee dessert. Our waiter came to our table to see if we needed anything, saw our many empty plates, and said, “I can see you enjoyed your meal.” Chris and I were so embarrassed, we ate everything and we ate it pretty fast. This was the best meal we had on our entire honeymoon and we still talk about it today!

Day 3 in Cape Town: Hike Table Mountain

We had done our research and knew that we were going to hire a guide. I had read a lot about all of the different routes to the top (there are a LOT), and basically if you wanted to do it alone, the easiest trail to follow was also one of the least scenic and exciting. We definitely wanted to do a more adventurous route, and definitely didn’t want to get lost, so we hired a guide.

Once we got to Cape Town and I saw Table Mountain, I immediately went into panic mode. This mountain was ridiculously steep and I was starting to worry about picking an ‘adventurous’ route. 

We did the Blind Gully route with Hike Table Mountain. This route had rugged terrain, some really intense rock scrambling, and some significant exposure.  There was one part where I started to panic. We got to a point where I didn’t know where the trail went and when I asked which way we had to go, our guide pointed up. We literally had to climb (I wouldn’t call this a scramble) up a vertical cliff face. Luckily, it was easy climbing, and it was relatively short. But, still enough for me to panic. 

Overall, this hike was one of my favorite hikes I’ve ever done and this was definitely up there as a highlight of our entire honeymoon. All the anxiety and adrenaline was also a great way to end our time in Cape Town and head to Mauritius to relax on a beach for 4 days!

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